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April 6, 1853 – Three months after Iowa City was finally incorporated, our first mayor – Jacob P. DeForest – and his city council are installed.
Iowa City Mayor #1 – According to his records in Find-A-Grave, Jacob Peter DeForest was born on December 2, 1791 in Rensselaer County, New York. We assume that he must have been a farmer, since in the March 30, 1853 Iowa (City) Republican, we find that he – along with many other Iowa City pioneers – were involved in the formation of the first Johnson County Agricultural Society, just days before being named our city’s first mayor.
J.P. DeForest died on February 18, 1854 (age 62), and is buried in Oakland Cemetery in Iowa City. Historian, Irving Weber, tells us that DeForest Street is named for our first mayor, and while it is only ten blocks long, running from Marcy on the west to Muscatine Avenue on the east, its one claim to fame is that it’s the location of Mark Twain Elementary School, located at 1355 DeForest Street.
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.
