"Was Iowa ever American Gothic?"

"The house is still there, but is the much-parodied icon still relevant to the Midwest?" Bill Glauber tells the story.

"To really understand the grip the painting has on the imagination of Iowans, and by extension Midwesterners, it pays to visit Eldon, population 956, around 100 miles southeast of Des Moines. Here are the keepers of the “American Gothic” flame, the people who live with the original home that forms the backdrop to the painting."