Our Picture Of The Week is an Our Iowa Heritage blog series that offers you a little bit of Iowa trivia from a large selection of stories on our website. Subscribe to this FREE blog and you’ll get a new email from us daily. Click to learn more.
This Day In History is an Our Iowa Heritage blog series that offers you a little bit of Iowa trivia from a large selection of stories on our website. Subscribe to this FREE blog and you’ll get a new email from us daily. Click to learn more.
May 17, 1839 – In the official diary of Theodore S. Parvin – who was serving as secretary for Johnson County’s first District Court proceedings – we find the phrase “City of Iowa” being used to identify this new community of Iowa City.
The name “Iowa City” first appears in the January 21, 1839 proclamation (law) approved by the First Territorial Legislative Assembly meeting in Burlington. Interestingly, in his May 17, 1839 entry in the official diary of Theodore S. Parvin, we find that Parvin sketched out a map of the city in his journal, labeling it… “a map of the City of Iowa.” Parvin, who served as secretary to Governor Robert Lucas, had been sent out from Bloomington (Muscatine) with the Judge Joseph Williams, Territorial Judge to oversee the first District Court proceedings in Johnson County held on May 13th.
This Day In History is an Our Iowa Heritage blog series that offers you a little bit of Iowa trivia from a large selection of stories on our website. Subscribe to this FREE blog and you’ll get a new email from us daily. Click to learn more.
May 16, 1977 – A group of second-grade students from Robert Lucas school become Old Capitol guides for the day in the newly-restored iconic statehouse.
While Iowa’s new capitol building opened for business in 1842, it took another seven years before the second floor was fully accessible. In 1849, a beautiful reverse-spiral staircase was finally completed and with it the most iconic building in Iowa gained not just a flight of stairs but an architectural classic that still amazes visitors today.
This Day In History is an Our Iowa Heritage blog series that offers you a little bit of Iowa trivia from a large selection of stories on our website. Subscribe to this FREE blog and you’ll get a new email from us daily. Click to learn more.