Iowa City’s Grocery Stores – The First 60 Years.

From the very beginning (1839), right up until today, Iowa Citians have always loved the variety of grocery stores offered to our fair community.

Did you know, for example, that in 1839 – Iowa City’s first year of existence – at least four different businessmen opened small dry goods stores in freshly-built log cabins scattered around town?

Did you know that by 1869, a city business directory listed: six bakers, four butchers, two butter & egg vendors, two canned & green fruit vendors, twenty grocers, and one oyster vendor?

Did you know that, over the years, there have been thirty-one different grocers that have set up shop on South Dubuque Street alone?

Well, here on this page, besides a bit of grocery store trivia, we’d like to give you a brief overview of the first sixty years of Iowa City grocery history (roughly 1839-1899).

Iowa City’s first merchant’s license – as distinguished from a license to sell alcohol – was granted on October 7th, 1839 to Edward Foster for $20. Other city records indicate that there was a Charles Foster involved as well – possibly a brother to Edward? The Fosters sold dry goods from a log cabin on Jefferson Street – just north of Capitol Square (see map above), perhaps the same cabin that later is identified as Iowa City’s first post office. Following the opening of Foster’s business, a number of other pioneers were quickly approved for a license to sell dry goods – with Robert McKee being licensed to open a general store in a small log cabin near the northwest corner of Clinton and Burlington Streets; while Charles Drury was approved for another general store as well (location unknown). By the mid-1840’s, Christopher Henry (C.H.) Buck had opened a dry goods store in a log cabin on the east side of Dubuque Street between College & Burlington, calling it Buck Grocery. Known by the set of deer antlers hung above the door, Buck’s (see 1847 ad below) was a popular store because you could also buy up to one gallon of whiskey as well! You can read more details here.

Before the days of refrigeration, grocery stores were called “dry goods” stores because they would sell only items that were stored dry – such as coffee, sugar, flour, crackers, tobacco, etc.. The exception might be items like pickles or sardines which were preserved & shipped in wooden barrels filled with a salty brine. Until refrigeration became easily accessed, a shopper would need to go to other stores that specialized in meats, breads, and dairy products. Notice in the pics below how sugar was sold. It came to the dry goods store in a large hardened cone and then the grocer would slice off pieces and sell to customers by weight.

During the 1850’s, Iowa City grew exponentially, and with that growth came a big increase in grocery stores of all kind. As you can see from the two ads (below) from 1857, grocers would stock a variety of supplies – from food items to boots, hardware to clothing, and Queensware (fine china) to Yankee Notions (products made in New England).

With the coming of the railroad in 1856, grocers were now able to stock a wider selection of products, and with faster shipping times, it became easier for merchants to keep their inventory fresh and in stock. Below are some statistics about Iowa City’s grocery stores during the 1860’s…

*This photograph – circa 1868 – shows **John Seydel’s Grocery** located on the northeast corner of Clinton & College Streets.*

Here are a few grocery ads from Iowa City newspapers in the 1870’s & 80’s…

(C-0042) Here’s a rare postal cover dated February 4, 1879 in Iowa City. It comes from Star Grocery – Willard J. Welch, Proprietor. Wholesale & Retail Grocery at 13 & 15 Dubuque Street – across from Ham’s Hall.

Iowa City historian – Irving Weber – who wrote over 800 columns for The Iowa City Press-Citizen from 1973-1997 – published several articles on the subject of Iowa City grocery stores. We covered his informative 1986 article, When Ma and Pa minded the store – which looked at Iowa City’s neighborhood grocery stores in 1933 – Read more here & here.

On this post, let’s revisit Weber’s December 11, 1974 article – ‘How’s Your History IQ‘ – which covered a lot of Iowa City grocery store history – beginning with the story of J.J. Lefevre and his long-time store located in the Odd Fellows Building (southwest corner of Dubuque & College Street)…

Weber continued with a bit of history about what grocery stores were like in the latter part of the 19th century…

Pictured above (left) is Clifford Rittenmeyer’s bakery located at 124 E. Iowa Avenue – Circa 1876.

As we stated earlier, most “dry goods” stores didn’t handle “fresh” items such as baked goods, meats, butter & dairy products. Separate stores – like Rittenmeyer’s and others – became popular for those types of specialty items. Below, Weber tells us more…

*Some of these grocery stores Weber mentions here thrived for decades, being known by Iowa Citians well into the first half of the 20th century. Read more here.*

Above: **George W. Lewis Grocery – 108 S. Clinton Street – Circa 1895.** Below: Between 1868 and 1884, Samuel Baker ran a successful grocery store known, first, as the Second Ward Grocery, moving to his new building at 401 E. Market Street in 1878, and calling it The Baker House. This building (in 1948) became the home for today’s John’s Grocery. *Read more here.*

***Sangster’s Grocery on College Street – Circa 1900.***

Before we close, allow me to tell you about two special grocery stores in Iowa City’s long history of grocers. Both stories begin at the turn of the century and find completion in the 20th century…

In the 1920’s, the State University of Iowa purchased much of the land directly west of Old Capitol (Blocks 96-99), developing it for multiple purposes. On another post, we tell you about The Good People of Block 98 who were forced out of their neighborhood when SUI purchased their land. Two of those “good people” were Joseph & Josephine Rinella, who moved to Iowa City from Sicily around 1895 to join three of Josephine’s brothers who had settled here a decade prior. Their local grocery store (see pictured below) became a prominent neighborhood business during the turn of the century. As a matter of fact, because of this store’s popularity, some today refer to Blocks 96-98 as the old Rinella Neighborhood. Read more here.

In the 1880’s, four buildings – under one roof – were built on and around the corner of Clinton & College Streets in downtown Iowa City. While a number of businesses came and went over the years, in the fall of 1942, Whiteway Super Market opened at 212 S. Clinton, becoming one of the city’s most popular grocery stores over the next 40+ years. But, as the grocery business evolved, so did downtown Iowa City.

Once the home to dozens of neighborhood stores, when urban renewal came in the 1970’s (see pics below), many long-time Clinton Street businesses suffered.

By the early 1980’s, it was becoming clear that there was little to no future for small, neighborhood grocery stores like Whiteway, so despite a major remodel in the summer of 1984, the store closed its doors in September 1984. With its closing, so the 145-year chapter of traditional downtown grocery stores in Iowa City came to a close as well.

Want to read more about Iowa City neighborhood grocery stores?

– Iowa City Neighborhood Grocery Stores -1933.

– Revisiting 1933 Iowa City Neighborhood Grocery Stores.

– 1878 – Samuel Baker: Iowa City’s Second Ward Grocer.

To be fair, Iowa City has not been left high & dry without its share of quality grocery stores. Here (on the left) from the University of Iowa website is a listing of “Off-Campus” grocery stores in 2023. On the right – Yelp has its ten best grocery stores in Iowa City. Check ’em out!

On July 1, 1976, The Iowa City Press-Citizen published a special 76-page Bicentennial edition. In that edition there were articles and pictures related to stories found on this page. You can read more here.