The McKee Button Company building was constructed in 1907 as the McKee and Bliven Button Company factory. It served as the company’s headquarters and primary
manufacturing facility until operations ceased in 2019, representing more than 110
years of continuous industrial use.

The property is nationally significant for its association with the freshwater pearl button industry, which was centered in Muscatine from the late nineteenth century through the midt-wentieth century. At its peak, Muscatine produced the majority of freshwater pearl buttons used in the United States, supplying garment manufacturers nationwide and earning recognition as the “Pearl Button Capital of the World.”

Architecturally, the building is a threestory, loadbearing brick industrial structure
designed in the Late Victorian / Romanesque Revival style. Characterdefining features include arched window openings, decorative brick pilasters, parapets, and symmetrical massing. The structure combines a heavy masonry exterior with an interior timber
postandbeam framing system, reflecting advanced earlytwentiethcentury industrial
engineering.

Today, it remains the most complete and significant surviving resource associated with the freshwater pearl button industry in the United States.