February 20, 1843 – U. S. Army announces that a temporary military post would be established at the Raccoon Fork of the Des Moines River.

Above is an early map of the second Fort Des Moines – located where the Raccoon River meets the Des Moines River. The first Ft. Des Moines was located on the Mississippi River in Lee County (1834-1837).

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February 19, 1881 – The Iowa City Daily Republican publishes the city’s first telephone directory – a listing card with fifty-four names and a promise of more persons ready to join.

In 1881, editors of The Iowa City Daily Republican were busy compiling a directory of phone owners, advising all who desired phones to notify the company at once. This directory became a card listing the names and numbers of subscribers.  As additional telephone were installed, the Republican promised to give notice to its readers to add the new names and numbers to their directories.

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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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February 18, 1918 – Legendary Iowa Football Coach – Forest “Evy” Evashevski – is born in Detroit, Michigan.

Forest “Evy” Evashevski – 1952-1960, 83 games coached at Iowa, 52-27-4 record, .607 winning percentage, Three Big Ten Conference championships (one tie), Two Rose Bowl Championships, One National Championship, inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000.

From 1889 to today – over 130+ years – the University of Iowa has been playing football here in Iowa City. Did you know that there have been 25 different men who have coached Hawkeye football over those many decades? Here are the top five – the elite ones – based on the number of games coached, their winning percentages, and the number of conference championships they’ve won.

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