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Lou Henry Hoover usually appears in Palo Alto history as half of a famous couple. She was more than that. She was a trained geologist at a time when almost no women were. She spoke several languages, translated a Latin mining classic, designed a house that architects still discuss and built one of the country's largest youth organizations. A cabin near Rinconada Park still carries her name and children still meet there every week.
Our page on Herbert Hoover in Palo Alto covers the couple's shared Stanford story and our page on the Lou Henry Hoover House covers the home in detail. This page focuses on Lou herself, drawing on the National Park Service, the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Girl Scout sources.
An outdoor girl from Iowa
Lou Henry was born in Waterloo, Iowa, in 1874. Most sources, including our Herbert Hoover page, give March 29. The National Park Service's biography gives March 28. Her father, Charles Henry, was a banker. The family moved to California in 1885, according to the presidential library. They later settled in Monterey.
The Park Service describes her as skilled in athletics, with an analytical mind and an independent spirit. She earned a teaching credential in 1893. Then she did something unusual for a young woman of her time and enrolled at Stanford to study geology.
A geology degree in 1898
Lou Henry entered Stanford in 1894 and studied under Professor John Casper Branner, the geologist who would later become the university's second president. In Branner's lab she met a senior named Herbert Hoover. One magazine profile notes that she was the only woman studying geology on campus at the time.
In 1898 she became the first woman to earn a bachelor's degree in geology at Stanford. Herbert was by then working abroad as a mining engineer. They married on February 10, 1899, at her family's home in Monterey and left for China the next day.
- Mining camps. Over about 14 years the couple developed mines in places including Burma, Russia, Australia and South Africa, according to the presidential library.
- Languages. She learned Mandarin in China and lived through the Boxer Rebellion there in 1900.
- Scholarship. With Herbert she translated De Re Metallica, Georgius Agricola's 16th century Latin mining encyclopedia. The translation earned them a gold medal in 1914.
War relief and a return to California
When World War I began in 1914, Lou Henry Hoover helped thousands of stranded Americans get home from Europe. She organized a California branch of the Commission for Relief in Belgium, which her husband led. She also raised money for food shipments. After the United States entered the war in 1917 she urged American women to conserve food.
The war years also brought the Hoovers home to Stanford for good. They had long wanted a permanent house near the university and Lou took charge of building it.
The house she designed
Her best-known work on campus is the house on San Juan Hill. Arthur B. Clark, a Stanford art professor, agreed to serve as architect only on condition that she lead the design. His son Birge Clark and draftsman Charles Davus advised. The result, finished in June 1920, is a stack of flat-roofed white blocks stepping down the hillside, years ahead of the International Style that made such shapes famous.
It was the Hoovers' only permanent home. Herbert heard the results of his 1928 victory and his 1932 defeat there. After her death he gave it to Stanford. It is now the president's residence and a National Historic Landmark. It is not open to visitors. Our Hoover House page has the full story of the design. The National Park Service also credits her with designing the cabins at Camp Rapidan, the presidential retreat in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains.
The Girl Scouts and the Palo Alto scout house
Lou Henry Hoover met Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts, late in World War I and joined the movement in 1917. She saw scouting as a way to get girls outdoors and give them skills and confidence. According to the presidential library, she served as a troop leader in Washington and in Palo Alto. She was national president of the Girl Scouts from 1922 to 1925 and again from 1935 to 1937. During her second term the national leadership approved a plan for a national cookie sale.
Girl Scout sources credit her with starting the first Girl Scout troop on the West Coast, in Palo Alto. In 1926 the local scouts got a home of their own: the Lou Henry Hoover Girl Scout House at 1120 Hopkins Avenue, a short walk from the Junior Museum and Zoo and Rinconada Park.
- The design. Birge Clark drew the plans for the cabin-style building, according to a profile in Punch magazine.
- The money. Lou Henry Hoover gave $500 toward construction.
- The fireplace. It uses sandstone salvaged from a Palm Drive arch that collapsed in the 1906 earthquake. Our 1906 earthquake page covers what fell on campus.
- The display case. The entry hall holds some of her notebooks and early photographs.
- Today. Girl Scouts of Northern California describes it as the oldest active Girl Scout meeting house. Palo Alto troops still use it and youth-serving nonprofits can rent it, but it is not open for drop-in visits.
First Lady, 1929 to 1933
As First Lady she made what the presidential library calls "the first radio broadcast given by a First Lady." She began a careful study of the White House's furnishings and rooms that later historians built on. She also invited Jessie DePriest, the wife of Black congressman Oscar DePriest, to the White House for tea. The press attacks that followed made her wary of reporters for the rest of her husband's term.
After the 1932 defeat the Hoovers came back to the Stanford house. In the late 1930s they split their time between Palo Alto and New York. In 1937 she returned to Stanford's musical life and backed the Friends of Music program. After 1940 they lived mostly at the Waldorf Towers in New York.
Death and legacy
Lou Henry Hoover died of a heart attack in New York City on January 7, 1944, at 69. After a service in New York, a second service was held in Palo Alto, where she was buried. When Herbert died in 1964, she was moved to lie beside him at the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site in West Branch, Iowa.
Her name stayed on the campus she loved. The Hoover House is officially the Lou Henry Hoover House. Hoover Tower has a room named for her. The Hoover Institution Library and Archives keeps a research guide to material on her life. Our Hoover Institution Library and Archives page explains how the public can see exhibits there.
Good to know
- The Lou Henry Hoover House on Mirada Road is a private residence. Do not enter the grounds.
- The Girl Scout House is a working youth facility. Admire it from the sidewalk unless you are there for a scheduled program.
- Hoover Tower's galleries are open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through January 25, 2027. The observation deck is closed until then.
Frequently asked questions
What did Lou Henry Hoover study at Stanford?
Geology. She studied under Professor John Casper Branner and in 1898 became the first woman to earn a bachelor's degree in geology at Stanford. She met Herbert Hoover, a senior, in Branner's lab.
What is the Lou Henry Hoover Girl Scout House?
It is a cabin-style meeting house at 1120 Hopkins Avenue in Palo Alto, near the Junior Museum and Zoo. It was dedicated in 1926, drawn by Birge Clark and helped by a $500 gift from Lou Henry Hoover. Girl Scouts of Northern California describes it as the oldest active Girl Scout meeting house.
Did Lou Henry Hoover design the Hoover House at Stanford?
Yes. Architect Arthur B. Clark agreed to take the job only if she led the design. The house on San Juan Hill was finished in June 1920 and is now the Stanford president's residence. It is a National Historic Landmark and is not open to the public.
When did Lou Henry Hoover die?
She died of a heart attack in New York City on January 7, 1944, at 69. She was first buried in Palo Alto. After Herbert Hoover died in 1964 she was moved to lie beside him in West Branch, Iowa.
Was Lou Henry Hoover a Girl Scout leader?
Yes. She led troops in Washington and Palo Alto and served twice as national president of the Girl Scouts, from 1922 to 1925 and from 1935 to 1937. The Hoover Presidential Library notes that the national cookie sale plan was approved during her second term.