October 21, 1816 – My ggg grandfather – George F. Boller – arrives in America in 1816 – onboard the ship Ceres, which arrives in Philadelphia on this day.

George F. Boller, age 22, arrived in America, from Bavaria, in October, 1816, establishing our Boller family in the United States. Shown above is his application for naturalization (citizenship) filed in the Wayne County Court of Common Pleas on March 7, 1837. In that application George, age 43, is applying for U.S. citizenship and is stating that he came to America from the Kingdom of Bavaria in October of 1816. This application is an exciting find since it not only helps confirm George’s birth in November 1793, but it also gives us the time frame – October 1816 – when our Boller family first arrived in America! Other records indicate that George left Amsterdam on May 9, 1816, sailing on the ship Ceres, which arrived in Philadelphia on October 21, 1816.

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Renamed Kinnick Stadium in 1972, Iowa Stadium first opened in 1929, replacing Iowa Field. It was constructed in only seven months with groundbreaking and construction beginning in March, 1929. Workers labored around the clock using lights by night with horses and mules as the primary heavy-equipment movers. The first football game was played here on October 5th. The opponent is Monmouth College, with the Hawkeyes winning the game, 46–0.

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Our Picture of the Week 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.

GREAT NEWS! On October 14, 2026, the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) officially announced that our application for listing had been accepted. Thus, the Iowa City Municipal Airport Terminal now becomes the 96th iconic building in Johnson County, Iowa to be honored with a NRHP listing! Kudos to Friends of Historic Preservation (FHP) – who sponsored this project, Keiran Reynolds – our FHP student intern who spent hours researching for us, and to the architectural historian and preservationist, Paula Mohr – who helped guide us through this project over a lengthy application process!

Fact is that over one million people fly in and out of the Eastern Iowa Airport – located in Cedar Rapids – each year. Yet, did you know, when the original plans for a regional airport were created back in the early-to-mid 1950’s – Iowa City was to be the location for that busy airport?

Designed by Iowa City’s famed architect – Henry L. Fisk – the Iowa City Municipal Airport’s Administration Building & Terminal opened to the public in June 1953.

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