March 26, 1913 – Iowa newspapers announce the death of Joshua M. Shaffer – the brave abolitionist who helped set the pace for radical change across Iowa, and was also the key leader who helped pull together Iowa’s very first State Fair!

Did you know that in the late 1850’s, Republicans were the “awakened” party, with thousands of young voters joining “Wide-Awake” chapters in nearly every county of every Northern “Free” state? It’s this awakened generation that played a huge part in electing a relatively-unknown senator from Illinois, named Abraham Lincoln, to be the 16th President of the U.S. Here in Iowa, brave abolitionists like Dr. J.M. Shaffer of Fairfield helped set the pace for such radical change, and by the way – Dr. Shaffer was also the key leader that helped pull together Iowa’s very first State Fair!

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March 25, 1846 – James B. Harlan makes his move westward – arriving in Iowa City to oversee the struggling Iowa City College.

Iowa’s famous 19th-century statesman from Mt. Pleasant – James B. Harlan – was an educator, a surveyor, an attorney and a politician. He served as a member of the United States Senate (1855-1865 and 1867-1873), Cabinet Secretary at the United States Department of Interior (1865-1866), and as a Federal Judge (1882-1886). Yet many don’t realize that it was his Iowa City years – 1846-1853 – that actually got his illustrious career off the ground.

Harlan’s first full-time position in education came via an invitation to oversee the struggling Iowa City College – which was connected with the Methodist-Episcopal Church and Harlan’s alma mater – Asbury College – back in Indiana. The college had gone through a number of different administrators since its inception in 1843, so James and his wife – Ann Eliza – made the big move – a twelve-day buggy ride across Illinois, crossing the Mississippi River into Bloomington, and finally arriving in Iowa City on March 25, 1846.

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March 24, 1864 – General Assembly of Iowa appropriates $20,000 to erect a building at the State University which would include a chapel and a tower “suitable for an astronomical observatory”.

North Hall was constructed in 1865, to be used, in part, as a University Chapel. The original recommendation, made by Governor Samuel Kirkwood, requested funds for a chemistry laboratory, chapel and astronomical observatory, and over the years, North Hall, the two-and-a-half-story, red-brick classic, certainly became a multi-use facility. Until it was demolished during the summer of 1949, its greatest distinction was that of being the oldest existing structure actually built for the University’s use – grandfathered into on-going campus purposes from its glory days to 1949. During its lifetime, North Hall was also called Chapel Hall and Library Hall.

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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.

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