Courting Johnson County. Read more at our website.
May 13, 1839 – The first Johnson County District Court proceedings are held in the trading house of John Gilbert of Napoleon with Judge Joseph Williams presiding.
The first white settlement in Johnson County was the small community of Napoleon – developed by the entrepreneur/fur trader John Gilbert in 1837. By the fall of 1839, Iowa City was chosen as Johnson County’s new county seat, thus Napoleon soon disappeared.
A Day-by-Day Calendar of Historical Events In Iowa, William J. Petersen, State Historical Society of Iowa, 1946, p 47
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.
1852 map of M&M’s proposed route across Iowa. Read more at our website.
May 12, 1869 – After much financial difficulty, the Chicago & Rock Island (C&RI) Railroad – formerly the Mississippi & Missouri (M&M) Railroad – completes the goal of reaching Council Bluffs/Omaha – connecting Iowa City with the west.
Finally reaching Des Moines in 1866, the M&M was bought out by the Chicago & Rock Island (C&RI), completing their tracks into Council Bluffs/Omaha on May 12, 1869 – just as the Transcontinental Railroad was being completed in Utah.
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 11, 1921 – George E. Boller. Read more at our website.
May 11, 1921 – My father, George E. Boller, is born in Wayland, Iowa.
George Edward Boller loved Iowa City. Though born and raised in Wayland, Iowa, a little town in Henry County, about 45 miles south of here, Iowa City was the place Dad truly called home.
His dad, Waldo Emerson Boller, took little George to his first Iowa football game in 1926, when he was but five years old. I remember Dad talking about those early days of the long trips up the newly-graveled, sometimes muddy Red Ball Route (Hwy 218). With the games always starting at 1 pm, it was an all-day experience to trek from Wayland to Iowa City and back again.
George Edward Boller was one fine man. One fine father. He was 30 when I came around in 1951, and we only had him until April of 1994. Way too short of time.
Here’s to George Edward Boller – Happy Birthday, Dad!
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.
