Weber’s Winners – Iowa City’s Finest.

On February 9, 1979 – The Iowa City Press Citizen ran a special seven-page section called…

This feature was written by the famed Iowa City historian Irving Weber – writing a short blurb on the top 25 people who left their stamp on Iowa City. The seven pages also offer a wonderful chronological listing of 145 Iowa City businesses – from 1841 (The Iowa City Press Citizen) through 1979 (Artistic License II) Read more about Iowa City historian, Irving Weber here.

With a tip of the old hat to Irving Weber, I’ve decided to take Weber’s Winners – his list of 25 famous Iowa Citians – and write up a webpage on each of them. This may take some time, so come back often and see how we’re doing with this Our Iowa Heritage writing project. Click on the links (below) to read more about each person. Note that if there are numerous links beside a name, that person is mentioned in several different articles we’ve done. For a complete Person/Place/Thing index for our entire website, click here.

Chief Poweshiek – The Roused Bear. (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7)

Will The Real John Gilbert – Please Stand Up? (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7)

Philip Clark – Johnson County’s Irish Settler. (2), (3), (4)

Welcome to Iowa, Governor Robert Lucas. (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8)

Chauncey Swan – The Father of Iowa City. (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7)

Frederick Irish – Ahoy, Frederick Irish – The Iowa City Sea Captain.

Lyman Dillon – Plowing the Straight & Narrow. (1)

Sylvanus Johnson – Mr. Red Brick. (2), (3)

John F. Rague – Creator Of A Classic. (2), (3), (4)

Walter Butler – A True Servant’s Heart. (2), (3)

Walter Terrell & His Waterworks. (2), (3), (4), (5)

William Crum – The Iowa City Newspaper Wars. (2)

Louis Englert – Iowa City’s Bavarian Beer Man.

H.D. Downey – Iowa City Esquire. (2), (3)

LeGrand Byington, (2)

Anton Linder

M.T. Close, (2)

Samuel J. Kirkwood – Iowa’s Civil War Governor, (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), (10)

Thomas Carson

Peter Dey

Nicholas Oaks

Moses Bloom

Thomas Macbride, (2), (3), (4), (5), (6)

George Maclean, (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7)

Teresa Feldevert

Watch this video from the Iowa City Public Library: Irving Weber’s Iowa City: Iowa City Area History. A one-and-a-half hour slide presentation given by Irving Weber at Earnest Horn School in Iowa City in March 1978.

Check out our list of Johnson County Historical Resources and our Iowa Historian Hall of Fame.

Kudos to the amazing resources below for the many quotes, photographs, etc. used on this page.

Chronology – 1841/1979, Iowa City Press Citizen, February 9, 1979, pp 17-23

Review all of Irving Weber’s written material – thanks to The University of Iowa Digital Library

Click here to go on to the next section…

Click here for a complete INDEX of Our Iowa Heritage stories…