DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge Visitors' Center (formerly Bertrand Museum/DeSoto Wildlife Refuge Visitors’ Center)

• Address

  1434 316th Lane, Missouri Valley, Iowa 51555

• Year Completed

  1980

• Building Type

  Art Center/Museums

• Architect:

  Neil LaMonte Astle

• Firm/Partnership

  Astle/Ericson & Associates

• Project Description

  Mr. Astle described the design for the Visitors’ Center, which stretches across the Missouri River between Iowa and Nebraska, as follows, “This award-winning facility includes public space for interpretative exhibits and audiovisual presentations; a sophisticated laboratory and visible storage area to allow the staff to display, preserve, and study the artifacts recovered from the steamship Bertrand, which sank in 1865 in the area that is now the refuge; wildlife habitat and feeding areas and nature walks; administrative office space; a reference library; and a viewing gallery that allows visitors to observe the refuge habitat. The design allows visitors to understand the purpose and nature of the refuge, the impact of human history on the delicate ecology of the region, and the need for preservation of these resources. Sophisticated technical and laboratory facilities were an essential component of this project. The stabilization, preservation, and restoration of the Bertrand artifacts, which had been underwater for a century, required labs that could provide controlled temperature and humidity, storage under water, dust-free storage, and other specialized features.”¹




• Sources

  1. Resume booklet from Astle/Ericson & Associates, “U of U Eye Clinic, 1988,” from The Neil L. Astle Papers, accn 1930, box 90, folder 1, pp. 16-17. From the Special Collections and Archives Department, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah.

  2. “A Visitor Center that Fits into a Natural Site,” Architectural Record (May 1982), 102, 105. “Misc. Publications,” from The Neil L. Astle Papers, accn 1930, box 106, folder 14. From the Special Collections and Archives Department, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah.