Our Iowa Heritage: An Introduction. We might suggest you start here! Here’s how & why I got started collecting stamps, coins, and other Iowa memorabilia.
February 25, 1847 – SUI Begins With A Bang. Was it just a coincidence? Or was it a heavenly sign of holy confirmation? We report. You decide. On February 25, 1847, the Iowa Legislature, meeting in Iowa City, proclaimed that our state, only 59 days old at the time, would develop a university of higher learning, a place where doctors, lawyers, and other professionals would be trained for service to our state. Within a few hours of that proclamation, the heavens opened and the Marion Meteorite passed over Iowa City before striking the ground with a mighty boom. Let it be. S.U.I. Amen.
SUI – The Early Days 1847-1860. On February 25, 1847 the State Legislature, meeting in the Old Stone Capitol in Iowa City, approved the recommendation that the State of Iowa sponsor a new University. While the idea might have sounded very lofty, making the dream into a reality was quite another story. Here’s some of the details behind those first 13 years when the State University of Iowa barely survived!
1855-1860 – Everything’s ‘Normal’ in Iowa City. In February 1847 the State Legislature approved the recommendation that the State of Iowa sponsor a new University. Yet, nothing much happened in Iowa City until 1855 – and even then, only the Normal School was finding any success at all. From 1855 to 1860, it was the SUI Normal Department that literally kept this fledgling university alive. Come find out what ‘normal’ was at SUI.
D.F. Wells – It Is Well With SUI. When SUI began classes in 1855, it was only the Normal School that kept the university afloat. Behind this success story was one young man – D. Franklin Wells – who literally gave his life for the advancement of state-supported public education across Iowa. Come meet Professor Wells – the teacher from Muscatine who started the Iowa State Teacher’s Association and so much more.
1857 – A Capitol Moving Day. From day one of statehood in 1846, there were those who wanted to see Iowa’s capital moved westward. Finally, in 1857, a deal was cut. The capitol would go to Des Moines while the university was exclusively secured for Iowa City. As one newspaper writer quipped, “Des Moines can have the politicians, we’ll take the professors!” Come read this “moving” story.
Iowa City – The Hospitals. Outside of the Mayo Clinic, there is no larger or more prestigious medical center in the Midwest than the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics. See how it all started with three dedicated men and four compassionate nuns.
SUI’s Wise Choice – Picking Dr. Peck. In 1864, a young 23-year-old doctor, fresh from serving as an army surgeon in the Civil War, came to Davenport, Iowa to open a medical practice in the expanding West. Over the next twenty-seven years, he helped start two hospitals – Mercy Hospital in Davenport & Iowa City, a home for orphans in Davenport, and maybe most importantly, became the founder and first director of the State University of Iowa School of Medicine.
1870 – Meet Iowa City’s Shrader Family. In 1865, following his three years of service as an army surgeon during the Civil War, Dr. J.C. Shrader moved to Iowa City. Over the next 65 years, he and his family would make a major impact on our city. Shrader was instrumental in getting the SUI Medical Department established in 1870, a few years later, his son William successfully opened Shrader Drugs which served Iowa Citians well into the 1930’s, and his other son, Charles, became Iowa City’s postmaster during the 1920’s!
Boerner & Sons – Iowa City’s Prussian Poppa of Pharmacy. It’s 1876 and the Boerner family, who moved here from Prussia in 1867, opens one of Iowa City’s first drug stores. In 1883, Boerner’s Pharmacy moves into a shop on Washington Street, and from that location, services our city for 63 years! And BTW, in his spare time, Emil Boerner single-handedly starts SUI’s College of Pharmacy, serving as its dean and only faculty member in 1885.
Meet Rose – Old Capitol’s 1876 Grand Steinway. In 1878, Frederick & Matilda Schmieg purchased a beautiful Steinway Concert Grand Piano built in 1876 for their home in Burlington, Iowa. 130 years later, Rose, as this rosewood grand piano is affectionately called, found a new home making beautiful music in the Senate Chamber of Old Capitol in Iowa City.
The Wonderful World of SUI Colors – Black & Golden. In 1887, a handful of SUI students started asking some tough questions like ‘why do we not have any school colors?’ or ‘why do other colleges have a school song and we’re just singing about corn?’ Good questions, don’t you think? Join us for the colorful story about how SUI answered these burning questions.
Two Ohio Friends – One SUI Law Library Letter. Charles B. Elliott and Oscar L. Watkins: two young men – born in eastern Ohio in 1861 – who took two different life paths but remained true friends for nearly 70 years. Elliott became a law student at SUI – serving as the school’s librarian before becoming a successful lawyer in Minneapolis. Oscar went into education – eventually becoming a traveling textbook salesman. Follow Charles’ correspondence with Oscar through seven personal letters written throughout the 1880’s.
Charles B. Elliott: Romancing the Forest City Meteorite. Read this entertaining side-story about SUI Law School graduate – Judge Charles B. Elliott – and his meteorite adventure from Minnesota into Iowa.
Our Iowa Heritage 