The City of Coralville, Iowa is celebrating its Sesquicentennial – 1873-2023 – 150 years since being incorporated as a community in Johnson County.
Did you know that Coralville’s name is derived from the fossilized coral that is found within the limestone on which the mills and dam on the Iowa River were built. In 1864, Louis Agassiz, a Harvard University zoologist, gave two lectures at the nearby State University of Iowa – one being titled The Coral Reefs of Iowa City. During the lecture, Agassiz presented local samples of fossilized Devonian period coral, and the lecture was so well received, in 1866, as more coral samples were discovered at the site of yet another new mill, area citizens were inspired to name their little settlement – once known as Clarksville on the Iowa River – Coralville.
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