GRANT WOOD

1891-1942

NAN GRAHAM WOOD

1899-1990

BYRON H. McKEEBY

1867—1950

Few paintings in American history have the power to create a tourist attraction but that is exactly what American Gothic has done for the very small Iowa town of Eldon.

Eldon is the home of the small house built by the Dibble family between 1881 and 1882, which became the backdrop for one of the most famous and most parodied paintings in America, if not the world.  

The house caught Grant Wood’s eye because of the pointed-arch window which was likely purchased from a Sears catalog and built in the mid-19^th century architectural Carpenter Gothic style—hence the name of the painting—American Gothic.  Wood thought the Gothic-style window on the modest farmhouse looked pretentious. 

According to a placard at what is now a museum that maintains the house and features details about the artist and the famous painting, “The style grew out of a need for quickly built homes and a desire for fanciful details.  The price to add these details to wood-framed structures decreased significantly during this period, so even modest homes were able to incorporate extra elements.

Now tourists visiting the American Gothic House Museum, take turns renting the costumes that resemble what Nan Wood, Grant wood’s sister, and his dentist, Dr. Byron McKeeby, are wearing in the famous painting.  My wife and I couldn’t resist—we donned the attire, too! 

The pair in the painting are Grant’s image of a father and daughter who he imagined might have lived in the farmhouse behind them, though most think the painting is of a farm couple. 

Grant Wood and his sister, Nan, are buried in the Riverside Cemetery at Anamosa, Iowa. Dr. Byron McKeeby is buried in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, at the Oak Hill Cemetery.