Johnson County Historical Society (JCHS)

Click here to visit the JCHS website!

As a new board member of Johnson County Historical Society, I want to personally invite you to visit the JCHS Museum in Coralville or one of the four historical sites that are part of our organization.

Click on the links below to find out more and to plan your visit…

JCHS Museum – 202 E. 9th Street – Suite 101 at Iowa River Landing in Coralville. Nearly 4,000 years before Johnson County existed, the land that is today called Iowa River Landing belonged to indigenous tribes who used the area as a camping site! Read more here.

Plum Grove Historic Home – 1030 Carroll Street in Iowa City. In 1844, Governor Robert Lucas built a home for his family on 461 acres south and east of Iowa City. That homestead would later come to be known as Plum Grove. Read more here.

1876 Coralville School House – 310 5th Street in Coralville. The city of Coralville was built around a dam and flour mill run by Ezekiel Clark and his brother-in-law – Samuel Kirkwood. In 1866, the little village was named for the rich deposits of fossilized coral found near the Iowa River. Read more here.

Johnson County Poor Farm – 4811 Melrose Avenue in Iowa City. Like all diverse communities, Johnson County has had its share of good – and not so good – moments in caring for those in need. The first neighborhood in Iowa City where poverty raised its ugly head was Block 98 – near the Iowa River, directly west of the Capitol building. Read more here.

Coralvillle Old Town Hall – 407 5th Street in Coralville. Did you know that despite being incorporated in 1873, the maps of the area from 1900 still called the northern section of the city – Clarksville – after one of its founders – Ezekiel Clark? Read more here.
The Johnson County Historical Society was organized in 1967 as the Mormon Trek Memorial Foundation. Its purpose was to commemorate the Mormon Handcart Expeditions, which departed Johnson County for Salt Lake City in 1856 and 1857. The Foundation identified the site of the Handcart Expedition Campground, created a park and monument and renamed a street – Mormon Trek Boulevard. The Foundation resolved to create a local history museum, and to reflect this new purpose, the name was changed to the Johnson County Historical Society (JCHS).

JCHS found a permanent home when a lease was signed for the Old Coralville Public School, a badly deteriorated two-story brick schoolhouse built in 1876. Restoration of the building began in 1977 and on July 4, 1983 the building opened to the public as the Johnson County Heritage Museum.

In 2006, JCHS moved to a temporary location at 860 Quarry Road in Coralville’s Iowa River Landing District.

In 2021, JCHS moved to it’s new location, still in the Iowa River Landing, to the Xtream Arena, a highly accessible venue for concerts, family shows, and special events.
Click here to visit the JCHS website. Johnson County, Iowa was incorporated on December 21, 1837, and at the time, the population included nearly 2,000 Meskwaki people and less than 50 white settlers. By 1838, when Iowa became a U.S. Territory, there were 237 pioneers living here, but sadly, very few Native Iowans remained. By 1840, the population had grown to 1,504, ballooned to 4,472 in 1850, and by 1860, Johnson County had 17,573 inhabitants. Read more here.

Did you know that the very first business meeting held in Johnson County – January 1838 – included a Native American woman – named Jennie, and an African-American man – named Mogawk? Read more here.

Did you know that in 2021, Johnson County changed its eponym (namesake), placing Lulu Merle Johnson (1907-1995) into that lofty position? Johnson was a BA and MA graduate of the State University of Iowa (1930), the second African-American woman in the U.S. to earn a Ph.D. in History, and the first to receive a Doctorate of any kind in Iowa! Read more here.

Click here to visit JCHS on Facebook!

Interested in Johnson County History? Join the Johnson County Historical Society today!

Got Johnson County-related research questions? Visit our JCHS Research & Collections Page.

(BH-163) – The Johnson County Historical Society took the entire collection of Old Settlers’ Association yearbooks (1866-1925) and published them all in a one-volume book (see above). While the publication date is not listed in the volume, we believe it to be a valuable resource in our collection.

DYK-December 21, 2023