Located 10 minutes east of Iowa City, West Branch contains 16 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places and many shops and antique stores.

The Herbert Hoover National Historic Site is the town's biggest attraction. It houses the public papers, personal correspondence, books, manuscripts, audiovisual material and memorabilia of former president and West Branch native Herbert Clark Hoover (1874-1964), the first U.S. president born west of the Mississippi River.