March 10, 1804 – Captain Amos Stoddard represents Napoleon and also the United States in the transfer of Upper Louisiana to the United States. The Louisiana Purchase is now complete.

1803. Iowa is part of the Louisiana Purchase. 1804. Iowa is part of the District of Louisiana (Upper Louisiana), administered by Indiana Territory, governed from St. Louis. 1805. Iowa is part of the Territory of Louisiana, with the capital in St. Louis.

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March 9, 1966 – Kenneth Belle of H.D. Short’s & Sons relays some of his memories of growing up in Iowa City to The Press-Citizen – while an ad from that same time period invites customers to “an optimistic shoeshine”.

From owning a shoeshine box to accumulating a real estate portfolio, H.D. Short, his sons and grandson comprised three generations of Iowa City African-Americans whose legacy cannot be replicated. The building that now stands at 18 South Clinton was the family’s first acquisition and remains a vital part of the history of Iowa City’s downtown.

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Burch was an American black bear cub, imported from Wisconsin to serve as the mascot for the Iowa Hawkeyes football team in 1908. The team grew fond of Burch, taking him on the road with them, wrestling playfully with the bear and hoping he would bring them good luck as he prowled the sidelines of opponents’ fields across the Midwest.

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