muscatine history and industry center

This is a small but loaded with info about the city of Muscatine on the Mississippi River and the industries that grew from this city. The history of the lumber and button companies is remarkable. The old button machines and photos are unique. This is a MUST if you visit Muscatine. Plus there are some places to eat near by and some gift shops all within walking distance, good parking nearby too. Canb be a fun day of museum, eat, and shop.

This museum gives a nice look into the history of the Muscatine area. It's a real must see if you are ever in the area.

The first floor of this museum is dedicated to the pearl button making industry that gave identification to this city for several generations. Terry Egal guided us through the entire history. We found it fascinating. Just wandering around the building would not have been anywhere near as good. This is not a "Button Museum". This is a history of the industry. That's what made it so interesting.

This is a gem of a museum. We were fortunate to be there when a museum staff member (we did not get her name) took the time to show us the exhibits and explain how the button industry impacted the people and town. The first floor of the museum is set up to take you through both the timeline of the pearl button industry and the different jobs involved in preparing the pearl into buttons.

Well represents three phases of Muscatine industry from lumber from pearl buttons to present day locally owned big business.Extreme;y well done, knowledgeable staff and truly interesting

Interesting "local history" museum with a staff clearly committed to the facility's mission. The "button" industry museum on the first floor was very instructive and interesting, While the 2nd floor local industry exhibit seemed a bit dated.

The main level of this museum is focused on the pearl button industry in Muscatine. The displays are very well done with exhibits showing all the phases of mussel shell button production and includes numerous real machines used in button production. Signage for the various displays is informative, well written and useful. I very much enjoyed this part of the museum.Upstairs is dedicated to other Muscatine industries including HNI, Carver Pump and Kent feeds. The displays are also very well done and informative, but less interesting to me since I don't live in Muscatine. These are important local industries and the are very well represented here.

Very interesting story of the pearl button industry. Industry part boring except the walk-on games by Kent Feeds.

If you lived in Muscatine or the surrounding area you MUST see these fabulous exhibits! If you are from out of town it gives a great overview of the town's history as "Pearl City" and the industry that created it at the turn of the last century. The lower floor is a very professional recreation of the button industry including historical devices used to gather clams, machines used to drill the shell blanks, and other contraptions developed to drill, surface, and polish the pearl buttons that abounded in the early 1900's dress.Upstairs there are exhibits of the history and current day industry - all sponsored by the firms that make up present day Muscatine. My dad and I enjoyed this as well as he spent most of his professional life at one of the companies. The sponsoring firms include Stanley Consultants, Musco Lighting, Kent Feeds & Grain Processing Corporation, HON Office Furniture, Bandag Industries, and Carver Pump. I may have missed one but it was all informative and nostalgic for a local.The second floor also is accessed by a modern elevator or steps. This is a great place to take a senior who remembers the "good old days" to relive their past.

Loved seeing the history of muscatine and being the Pearl Button factory of the world. It's a hidden, unknown gem in town and close to the water front.

Great place to visit if you are interested in the industrial history of Muscatine. Interactive displays and much more await you.

Button are everywhere - right? You do them up on your shirt, your coat, whatever, and never think about where they come from or how they're made. Well walk into this little museum in downtown Muscatine, and a whole new world of history, family business, industry, intrigue, labor unrest, and murder will open up before you. Pearl buttons are hard to find anymore, but some of us remember the sheen to them, the little oddities of their imperfections and concave or wavy shapes. Today most buttons are made of synthetics, but in the 19th century they were drilled out of clam shells, and a lot of those clam shells came from the rivers around Muscatine Iowa which earned it the nickname of Pearl City. The museum is free and has a wealth of photos, memories, artifacts, machines and buttons themselves as both utilitarian and decorative items. I especially loved digging my hand into bins of pearl buttons and then into synthetic buttons - the texture and weight differences were amazing. Also amazing was the fact that women used to be paid pennies for sewing a dozen buttons onto a card in perfect symmetry. You will discover that people used to dig clams, scrape clams, dangle bits of metal or even their toes along the river bottoms to gather the shells. This odd bit of history points out the difference between mass production of artificial things and true artisan craftsmanship.