April 17, 1979 – The United States Post Office – located at 28 S. Linn Street in Iowa City – is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The original U.S. Post Office in Iowa City is a Beaux Arts-style building, built of Indiana Limestone in 1904. This post card from 1906 shows the original building before expansion in 1931. It remained the city’s central post office until 1975.

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April 16, 1999 – The Cedar Rapids Gazette publishes an article detailing the delicate work of restoring Isaac Wetherby’s iconic 1854 photograph of Old Capitol.

On August 1, 1854, Wetherby’s first Iowa City customer walked up the stairs to his new studio, and from that first day through the end of October, business was brisk. Throughout that first fall in Iowa City, when Isaac wasn’t pre-occupied with customers, he would venture about Clinton Street, experimenting with “non-professional” outdoor pictures near his studio – photos which, at the time, had little market value. But today, these outdoor shots, taken between August and October of 1854, have become Wetherby’s best known photographs, and by far, the most history-laden pictures historians have of early Iowa City.

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April 15, 1850 – After saving North Presbyterian Church’s bell from the former pastor – Rev. Michael Hummer, who tried to steal it away – a handful of Iowa Citians leave Iowa City, on their way westward to search for California gold – taking Hummer’s Bell with them.

The 1848-1850 Hummer’s Bell Story was one of the biggest news stories of early Iowa City. When the former pastor – Rev. Michael Hummer – tried to steal the church bell from the North Presbyterian church belfry, quick-thinking parishioners abducted it, hiding it near the banks of the Iowa River until Hummer left town. In April, 1850, several Iowa Citians took the bell with them as they were headed westward for California gold. During their stop in Salt Lake City, they sold the bell to the Mormon Church for $600. You can read the full story here…

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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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