Johnson County ‘Firsts’.

Being the first at doing something doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re doing it the best. Yet, when it comes to historical events – most people want to know about the first person who accomplished something important, while rarely acknowledging the guy or gal who came in second or third. So, for all you “first-timers” – here’s a page that picks up on some of the “firsts” of Johnson County and Iowa City.

Our “firsts” source for many of the facts that you’ll find here come from an article found in the 1924-1925 Yearbook (above left) of the Old Settlers’ Association of Johnson County – who, BTW, lifted many of these facts from the classic resource book – History of Johnson County (above right) – published in 1883.

*In the annual OSA yearbook for 1924-1925, the editor gave his readers this brief introduction.*

Of course, this “first permanent white settler” title given to **Philip Clark** could be challenged by the 1835 arrival of fur-trader John Gilbert (John W. Prentice), but in truth, Clark was the earliest pioneer/farmer who put down long-time roots here in Johnson County – living to the ripe old age of 86 in 1891.

From the fore-mentioned resource guide – History of Johnson County (1883) – here is a run-down of those pioneer/farmers who followed in the footsteps of Philip Clark in 1837…

These early pioneers – arriving in 1837 – were settling in the uncharted prairie known as Des Moines County in the Iowa District of Wisconsin Territory. **Johnson County** wasn’t officially established until **December 21, 1837** by the legislature of the Wisconsin Territory – meeting in Burlington – one of thirteen new counties established by that body in a comprehensive act. Read more here.

See more early maps of Johnson County and Iowa City here.

As you can see (below) – the ‘First Prize’ award for the first pioneer child born in Johnson County was argued over from the very beginning. Apparently, there were four potential winners – Lucinda Hawkins, Lewis Earhart, Loren W. Harris, and Elizabeth Cain – all born here in the fall of 1837…

Of course, all this “first” business ignores the fact that, for centuries, there were numerous tribes of Native Iowans who produced more “firsts” than we can list here! For more details – check out this page – Ancient Iowa – Exploring the Land.

Click here to read about Chief Poweshiek and the Meskwaki tribe that lived in Johnson County prior to being pushed westward in 1838/1839.

Just as birth dates are important when tracking human history, so are weddings and funerals. So, once again, from the 1883 History of Johnson County volume comes these important “firsts”…

*These added details and photos come from the 1939 Centennial edition of The Iowa City Press-Citizen.*

Of course, Chauncey & Dolly Swan (below) are known to Johnson County historians as the “First Couple” of Iowa City. It was Chauncey Swan – the Father of Iowa City – who drove the wooden stake into the ground on May 4, 1839 – locating the historic site where Iowa’s new capitol building would be built. Read more here. And many forget that it was Dolly Swan who became the “Mother of Iowa City” as she served as the gracious host of The Swan Hotel during most of the first decade of Iowa City’s existence. Sadly, their little girl – Cordelia – represents the first death of a pioneer in Johnson County (September 1839), and Dolly suddenly passed away eight years later in 1847.

So – what’s a town without a doctor? Here are the “firsts” when it comes to the medical community of Johnson County. A tradition that, today, has blossomed into one of the nation’s finest hospital systems. Read more here.

While there were a handful of other pioneers who preceded him in assisting those with minor medical issues, it was the good Irishman – **Dr. Henry Murray** – arriving here in the spring of 1839 – who became Johnson County’s first resident physician. Dr. Murray’s obituary states it this way… “(Murray) settled in this place, then but an embryo village, for the purpose of practicing his profession, where he has remained up to the hour of his-death. For many years, Dr. Murray was active and prominent in his profession, and but few men were better known in this county.” Read more here.

This 1876 letter from pioneer **William McCormick** offers his memories of the early days of Johnson County (1839-1849) and was published in the Old Settlers’ Association (OSA) 1886 yearbook. McCormick was a civil engineer, surveyor, **Johnson County’s first probate judge – elected in October 1840**, and a member of Dr. Henry Murray’s medical firm – Murray, McCormick & Swan.

As the OSA article indicates (below), the first Johnson County court proceedings actually occurred in the little town of Napoleon on May 13, 1839, just days after Chauncey Swan sealed the fate of that community by choosing a new county seat – Iowa City. Judge Joseph Williams (above left) and his secretary, Thomas Parvin (above right), rode into town on horseback, arriving from Bloomington (Muscatine) just in time to set up court in John Gilbert’s Trading Post (pictured middle)…

By 1842, a new court house (pictured above) opened in Iowa City, and young pioneer lawyers like Gilman Folsom (above) – who built the first bridge over the Iowa River – moved from the East to set up their legal practices. In May 1840. writer J.B. Newhall, after a brief visit here, offered this first “inventory” of Iowa City – population 700.

A spacious city hotel, three or four brick buildings, and several others in progress, ten drygoods, grocery, and provision stores, one drug store, one saddlery, two blacksmiths, one gunsmith, three or four coffeehouses, four lawyers, three physicians, one church, and one primary school.

The first map of Iowa City, as it was laid out by **Leander (L.) Judson**, was one square mile (640 acres) of land – with 100 surveyed blocks, 31 out lot blocks, two public squares, three market squares, two public parks and reserves for churches and a school. *Click here to read more about the original layout of Iowa City and its street names.*

By July 4, 1839 (more on that later), the City of Iowa City had been laid out on a map (see above) and on August 18th, the first big land auction was held…

With many land-investors coming into town for the auction, some of the early settlers – like F.M. Irish and others – took advantage of the opportunity, throwing together a large temporary building called the Lean Back Hall.

But wait! Before Lean Back Hall was built – there was another “first” in Iowa City…

Two other pioneers – Asaph Allen and George T. Andrews had earlier (February 1839) built a claim cabin on Johnson County land near, what is today, the southwest corner of Brown Street and Gilbert Street (see map above). By June, they had built a second cabin about 20 feet away from the original one, placed a roof over the space in-between, and before long, they had opened up Iowa City’s first hotel/tavern. Read more here.

Of course, technically speaking, the first buildings of Johnson County were the trading posts of fur-traders Stephen Sumner Phelps and John Gilbert. Next came the ‘claim cabins‘ (above left) – simple, lean-to buildings that were later either enlarged and improved, or replaced completely with one-room log cabins. But, when it comes to Iowa City’s first permanent home – the prize goes to…

**Matthew & Salome Ten Eyck** not only 1) owned Iowa City’s first log cabin, and 2) lived in the city’s first two-story home, but they also had 3) the first baby born in Iowa City as well – Hannah TenEyek – born January 8, 1840! *Read more here.*

FYI: Another historical source gives us Hannah TenEyck’s full name – and, this report also offers us another “first” – **The first flag to fly in Johnson County** was made by Mary Hannah TenEyck’s grandmother – **Hannah Cole**! This flag is prominently mentioned in Cyrus Sanders first-hand report of the **July 4, 1839 celebration** – held two months after Chauncey Swan “founded” the city. Read more here. The **Cole family – Capt. J. and Hannah** – were among the early pioneers of Johnson County – arriving in 1838.

The first frame house and the first brick building in Iowa City came along in 1840. And thanks our community’s first brick-maker – Mr. Red Brick, Sylvanus Johnson (above left) – dozens of brick buildings were built for both Iowa City and the State University of Iowa. Read more here.

Speaking of Iowa City “first” entrepreneurs, there were the Switzer Brothers – David & Joshua – who built Johnson County’s first flouring mill – on Clear Creek, very near where it meets with the Iowa River.

And then, there’s Walter Butler – who set a few “firsts” as well – not only providing the land used to build the Coralville Mill & Dam – the first dam on the Iowa River (1843)…

…but, Butler also saved Iowa City from losing its “Capital City” status by building 1) our city’s first legitimate hotel/tavern on the corner Washington and Clinton Streets (see map above), and 2) “Butler’s Capitol” – a large two-story hall (above left) that served as the first home of the Iowa Territorial Legislature in 1841. You can read more here, but without this hall, a handful of partisan politicians from Des Moines & Henry Counties had threatened to pull the legislature away from Iowa City since the new capitol building – still under construction – was not yet ready to host the 1841-1842 Territorial Legislative sessions.

So, thanks to Walter Butler, Iowa City hosted its first Territorial Legislature in December 1841.

Of course, the 1924-25 OSA Yearbook couldn’t forget to mention its own “firsts”…

*The first OSA organizational meeting was held in January 1861 and the first picnic – as stated – was in June 1866.* *Read more about the OSA here.*

In **1887**, the OSA Yearbook took a look at their membership and put together a partial list of the names of its members who had moved into Iowa between 1834-1840. An interesting list of “firsts” that includes a lot of very familiar Johnson County names – yet we notice pioneers like Philip Clark, *Samuel C. Trowbridge, and Cyrus Sanders are missing. Hmmm?* *A “first” in clerical errors?*

We, simply, can’t talk about Johnson County & Iowa City firsts without mentioning some of the first celebrations…

*As we mentioned earlier – that ‘first flag’ that hung from the “small straight tree” came from the sewing prowess of Hannah Cole. Read more about these early July 4th celebrations here.*

Of course, these early Johnson County Fairs provided photographer Isaac Wetherby with ample opportunity to snap the very first photograph (below) of Old Capitol (1854) as the JC Fair was in progress in downtown Iowa City.

**The M&M Railroad Arrives In Iowa City – December 31, 1855**. Read all the details here. Between 1856 and 1860, Iowa City was, not only, the first station stop for Iowa railroads – but it was also the last stop in the American West! It wasn’t until 1860 when a railroad bridge was built over the Iowa River, opening up the rest of the West to the American railroad system – which finally became a transcontinental railroad in 1869!

And apparently, in 1867 – because of that same railroad line into Iowa City, which became the Rock Island Railroad (1866) – we have yet another “first” – but unfortunately, it’s not a “happy” one…