April 28, 1992 – Frederick M. Irish’s home – Rose Hill – located at 1415 E. Davenport Street – is saved from the wrecking ball, being listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Frederick M. Irish arrived in Johnson County in 1838, built a log cabin on timbered land located just north and east of Iowa City in 1839. That first log cabin became the host for Johnson County business meetings until 1842. In the meantime, Irish purchased an additional thirty acres of land adjacent to his cabin and began calling his, now, slightly-enlarged log cabin and the surrounding grounds – Rose Hill.
In 1849, Irish decided to build a much larger red-brick home just south and east of his log cabin, calling it the new Rose Hill once the Irish family moved in around 1850. Many historians believe Rose Hill – located at today’s 1415 E. Davenport – was part of the Underground Railroad during the Civil War era, since the Irish family sided with the many anti-slavery abolitionists living in Iowa City at the time.
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.
Pingback: Be Back Soon! | Our Iowa Heritage