Edgewood

Built in 1911, Edgewood is a historic building in Iowa Falls associated with women's history and the progressive reform movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During that period, individual philanthropy, the welfare of women, and empowering people through education were key aims of the movement. Edgewood was originally a school for girls and women called the Edgewood School of Domestic Arts, which was established by philanthropist Eva Simplot in 1896. Over 900 girls and women attended the school over the next four decades. Today, Edgewood operates as a community center and also has four apartments on the second floor. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

Eva Simplot was born in 1856 on a farm near Hazelton, Iowa. Farm life was challenging for her and her family and it informed her ideas about philanthropy as an adult. The oldest of ten children, she worked as a seamstress as a teenager to earn extra income. After a short marriage, she moved to Iowa Falls in 1880 where she opened a small dressmaking shop. Six years later, she married Walter Simplot. It is unclear if she kept running the shop. At some point in the coming years she experienced a severe illness that gave her a new a new outlook on life. From that point forward she dedicated her life to "helping others help themselves."

To this end, Simplot took dressmaking and domestic arts classes at the Armour Institute in Chicago to obtain the formal training needed to open her own school. As stated above, she established the Edgewood School of Domestic Arts in 1896 and it was originally located in two houses overlooking the Iowa River. Construction of the Edgewood building began in 1909 and was completed in 1911 (the school was officially incorporated in 1910). Simplot, her husband and the community all contributed funds, furniture, and equipment to the school. It offered classes in cooking, music, laundry, sewing, and millinery (hat making).

By the early 1930s, the need for domestic schools was in decline. After domestic classes became part of the curriculum in the Iowa Falls public schools, Simplot realized that Edgewood school would need to close. In preparing her will, she decided to give the school to the women and girls of the community and stipulated that it be used for educational, charitable, and cultural purposes. The school officially closed after she died in 1935 and has been an important community center ever since.

Bowers, M.H. "Edgewood School of Domestic Arts." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. April 19, 1979. https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/79000897_text.

"Edgewood School of Domestic Arts." National Park Service. Accessed November 5, 2021. https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/hardin/esd.htm.

"History." Edgewood. Accessed November 5, 2021. http://www.edgewoodiowafalls.com/history.