Historic Downtown Muscatine
Our Story
The West Had Its’ Gold Rush..the Midwest its’ Pearl Button Boom
Just as unique as its’ name, Historic Downtown Muscatine, Iowa is a unique destination. The only “Muscatine” in the world it’s something you have to experience for yourself…it truly is the Pearl of the Mississippi. The heart of this community is complete with beautifully new renovated riverfront including the only LED lit bridge spanning the great Mississippi, historical buildings steep with heritage, shopping, dining, and so many other wonderful attractions to see.
On this site, you’ll catch a glimpse of Downtown Muscatine and find some of the best places to shop, eat, visit and spend a leisurely day … or perhaps locate and choose a service or professional business to meet your needs.
Come Meet Us In Muscatine-Downtown!
MUSCATINE-THE PEARL of the MISSISSIPPI
It all began in 1890 when a man named Boepple, from Germany, cut his foot on a shell
while swimming in the Mississippi. Boepple had made buttons from horn in Germany and noticed that the shell had a pearly color and was quite hard. He determined it would make ideal material for buttons.
He gathered up a few shells, rigged up an old lathe at home and proceeded to cut a dozen
buttons. He sold these to a Muscatine store for ten cents. Prior to this time most of the buttons used in America were imported.
Boepple sold a man named Molis on the potential money to be made using clam shells for buttons. He asked Molis to lend him $10 to get started. The two men went to New York to obtain orders and as they traveled, told the story of the plentiful supply of clams in the Muscatine area. People came from all over to make their fortune in the Button Business.
A BUTTON BOOM TOWN IS BORN…THE PEARL BUTTON RUSH WAS ON
First the young men of the town became interested, and then women, children, old people
and anyone who could get free to join the potential for fortune came. The rush brought houseboats, button shops and more excitement than Muscatine had ever known! A thousand houseboats were built that summer on the Mississippi shores. Thousands of families came from the east. Nearly every wood shed in town became a private button factory. In the files of button history of Muscatine are recorded over 300 names of button companies and individuals working form their own wood sheds, along with their addresses and the years in which they operated.
There was a setback, due to poor quality machinery and inefficiency, the quality of the buttons being produced was very poor. The market became flooded with buttons no one would buy, but then came the “Barry Miracle Machine” which was created in a plumbing shop run by Nick, Pat, and Tom Barry. They perfected a machine which would accept blanks cut from shells and turn them into buttons drilled and ready for polishing.
In 1914, Muscatine was declared the Pearl Button Center of the United States and as the industry grew it earned it’s distinction as the Button Capital of the World. Now only a few of these companies remain.
Adapted from the writing of Sally Exbom
(Information obtained from files at Musser Library and history supplied by Ted McKee of McKee Button Company)