Pearl Buttons
What are the pros and cons of making buttons out of mussel shells versus plastic?
Today, buttons are made of plastic. But not too long ago, Muscatine, Iowa was the button capitol of the world. They specialized in making pearl buttons.
Transcript
[Abby Brown] The Mississippi River runs along the eastern side of Iowa and has played a very important role in our history. Button up and come along with me as we discover how something so big had such a great part and something so small.
(Map marking Muscatine County in the southeastern part of the state.)
This is the city of Muscatine, in Muscatine County. We're at the National Pearl Button Museum. Once upon a time Muscatine was the pearl button capital of the world; that's right, buttons! These small round objects that keep our clothes fastened.
(Rows of different types of pearl buttons on black velvet under glass.)
How does the Mississippi River, just right down the street from here, play a role in the history of buttons? The answer is mussel shells, but everybody calls them clamshells.
In 1890, John Bepple, a German immigrant and button maker, started making pearl buttons from clam shells he found in the Mississippi River. It wasn't the pearl inside the shell that made the button, it was the beautiful mother of pearl lining.
(Abby opens a large, glossy black mussel shell showing the white lining on the inside of each side of the mussel shell.)
(A pen and ink drawing on yellowed paper of several women in a row wearing high necked, long sleeve, floor length gowns.)
(A pen and ink drawing of long sleeved, high collared, waist length women’s tops with different button configurations and stylings. Description and cost of each top is provided below its drawing.)
Back then buttons were very high fashion. If you had fancy buttons, you were very cool.
Later on, the Barry Company invented machinery that modernized Bepple's hand-made button-making process. Other people figured out they could harvest clamshells too. Soon boats and workers flooded the area.
The process of cutting and drilling holes and clam shells, previously done by hand, became a cutting-edge automated industry that created a job for half of the local workforce in Muscatine.
In 1905, Muscatine made 1.5 billion pearl buttons a year for people to use all around the world.
Eventually, for many different reasons, the Muscatine button making companies died out. Plastic buttons, produced all over the world, took the place of pearl buttons.
But for a very interesting few decades, pearl button production was big business here. You can relive those interesting times at the National Pearl Button Museum and see lots and lots of... you guessed it, pearl buttons!
Every county in Iowa has a fascinating story to tell. Thanks for discovering Muscatine County with me.
Funding for FIND Iowa has been provided by The Coons Foundation, Pella and the Gilchrist Foundation