McKee Button Company

McKee Button Company
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Location	1000 Hershey Ave. Muscatine, Iowa
Coordinates	41°24′53.5″N 91°03′19″W
Built	1907
NRHP reference No.	100005784[1]
Added to NRHP	November 16, 2020

The McKee Button Company is a historic building in Muscatine, Iowa, United States. The city was known as the Pearl Button Capital of the World because of the numerous firms that produced the buttons here through the 1960s.^[2] The Peerless Button Company was established by James McKee and his brother-in-law William Bliven in 1895. Two years later the company's name was changed to the McKee and Bliven Button Company. They built this building in 1907.^[2] The company has been known as the McKee Button Company since 1925. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020^[1] and was purchased by Kent Corporation of Muscatine, Iowa.^[3]

In March of 2022, Kent Corporation announced that they would begin transforming the McKee building into offices while focusing on preserving the building's history.^[3] They estimated the project would be complete in the spring of 2024.^[3]

References

1. "National Register of Historic Places Program: Weekly List". National Park Service. 2021-04-09. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
2. "Whose Got the Button?". Muscatine, Iowa: National Pearl Button Museum. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
3. Hurlbert, Margaret. "Kent to rehabilitate McKee Button Factory into offices". Discover Muscatine. Retrieved 1 June 2023.