Three miles northeast of the community of Missouri Valley, on Iowa 30, is the Harrison County Historical Village. A number of buildings have been moved to this site, among them an 1853 log cabin, an 1856 stage depot, a schoolhouse, and a small chapel. The village is open to the public during the summer months.
To the west of Missouri Valley is a section of the extensive Missouri River floodplain. Off Iowa 30, 5 miles west of town, is the DeSoto Wildlife Refuge. The refuge centers on a wide oxbow of the river that is no longer the major channel. Within the refuge is the Bertrand Steamboat Museum and Visitors Center. The museum houses artifacts recovered from the steamboat Bertrand, which struck a snag and sank at this site on April 1, 1865. The museum building was designed by Astle Ericson and Associates, and it was opened to the public in 1981. Since the building is located in the floodplain, it was placed on clustered pilings that mirror the verticality of the surrounding tree trunks. The interior exhibition spaces are open and airy, and they provide continuous views of the adjacent water and landscape.
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