Herbert Steele first arrived in Scott County in 1888 and built a home for his family on the ideal land. It was a simple dugout, later updated to a four-room house using sandstone gathered from the surrounding bluffs. The Steele Home has been preserved much as it was a hundred years ago, and now serves as a museum that displays the furnishings and tools used by early settlers.
The museum is located in Lake Scott State Park, and the Steele homestead comprises 640 of the 1180 acres.