The town of Walnut Hill represents a post-Civil War community in the Iowa farm belt. The major interpretive theme of the town is the interdependence between farmers and the craftsmen and merchants of the town. The 1876 town of Walnut Hill is a supply center for the farmers in the surrounding area.
In Walnut Hill, craftsmen have opened shops, such as Matthias’s Blacksmith Shop and Walnut Hill Broom Works. Greteman Brothers General Store is stocked with many reproductions of 1876 items and has a large inventory of small items for sale. The town also includes the Walnut Hill School, Dr. Armstrong’s Office, Taylor’s Law Office, Heck Vet Clinic, Walnut Hill Bank, The Advocate Newspaper, Mrs. Elliott’s Millinery, Schafer Drug Store, The Church of the Land, New Hope Cemetery, Tangen Implement Warehouse and the Tangen Family Home.
In the 1876 town, you can see evidence of the Industrial Revolution in the mass-produced furniture of the upper-class home and the factory goods in the general store. When railroads arrived at towns like this, the craftsmen gradually disappeared, being undersold by eastern factories, and the towns shifted even more heavily to service and retail functions. The railroad will always be a few years away for Walnut Hill.
Near Walnut Hill, guests can discover the Italianate Victorian Flynn Mansion and adjoining Flynn Barn. This elegant home and barn were built in 1870 by Martin and Ellen Flynn as the cornerstone of a large and prosperous farming operation. Both structures are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
