The House
The American Gothic House in Eldon, Iowa is famous as the backdrop of Grant Wood's 1930 painting American Gothic. Since completion, the painting has become an American icon and the model for an unknown number of parodies. The American Gothic House is located in a small rural community in southeast Wapello County.
The American Gothic House was listed on the National Register in 1974. The common name is listed as the American Gothic House and the historic name as "Dibble House." Dibble was the owner of the property at the time of construction in 1881-1882. The National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form, prepared by Alvin Harding, Eldon, Iowa Heritage Committeeman and Director, Wapello County Bicentennial Association, Inc., in February 8, 1974, has the following paragraph:
The Dibble House
"The Dibble, or American Gothic House, served as a model for the small white frame building which appeared in the background of American painter Grant Wood's painting American Gothic (1930). A year before his painting which now hangs in the Chicago Art Institute [sic] was completed, the Iowa bom painter was invited by a gallery in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to give a sketching exhibition in Eldon which is located in Wapello County south of Cedar Rapids. Apparently Wood's search for the right house with the proper window to appear in his next painting ended upon first sight of this small frame house in Eldon. And, indeed, his faithful rendering of the building in his painting testifies to his choice. Wood sketched the window and part of the house on the back of an envelope and upon his return north requested that a photo be provided him as well. The resulting composition with frontal views of two figures dressed in farm attire standing before the frame house reveals how essential the gentle curve mullions of the central window in the house were to the overall composition. A three pronged arrangement of lines is repeated both in the pitchfork held by the male figure and in the seams of that figure's clothing. Also, the arched nature of the window itself is reflected in the elongated oval shapes of the figures' faces."