Iowa City Iowa History & Facts

Iowa City, officially the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time of the 2020 census the population was 74,828, making it the state's fifth-largest city. The metropolitan area, which encompasses Johnson and Washington counties, has a population of over 171,000. The Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is also a part of a Combined Statistical Area (CSA) with the Cedar Rapids MSA. This CSA plus two additional counties are known as the Iowa City-Cedar Rapids region which collectively has a population of nearly 500,000.

Iowa City was the second capital of the Iowa Territory and the first capital city of the State of Iowa. The Old Capitol building is a National Historic Landmark in the center of the University of Iowa campus. The University of Iowa Art Museum and Plum Grove, the home of the first Governor of Iowa, are also tourist attractions. In 2008, Forbes magazine named Iowa City the second-best small metropolitan area for doing business in the United States.

Iowa City was created by an act of Legislative Assembly of the Iowa Territory on January 21, 1839, fulfilling the desire of Governor Robert Lucas to move the capital out of Burlington and closer to the center of the territory. This act began:

An Act to locate the Seat of Government of the Territory of Iowa ... so soon as the place shall be selected, and the consent of the United States obtained, the commissioners shall proceed to lay out a town to be called "Iowa City".

Commissioners Chauncey Swan and John Ronalds met on May 1 in the small settlement of Napoleon, south of present-day Iowa City, to select a site for the new capital city. The following day the commissioners selected a site on bluffs above the Iowa River north of Napoleon, placed a stake in the center of the proposed site and began planning the new capital city. Commissioner Swan, in a report to the legislature in Burlington, described the site:

Iowa City is located on a section of land laying in the form of an amphitheater. There is an eminence on the west near the river, running parallel with it."

Iowa City is located in eastern Iowa, along the Iowa River, on Interstate 80, approximately 60 miles (97 km) west of the Quad Cities (Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, and Moline and Rock Island, Illinois).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 25.28 square miles (65.47 km2), of which 25.01 square miles (64.78 km2) is land and 0.27 square miles (0.70 km2) is water.

The elevation at the Iowa City Municipal Airport is 668 ft (203.6 m) above sea level.

Iowa City has a humid continental climate, hot-summer subtype (Dfa in the Köppen climate classification). Average monthly temperatures range from about 22.8 °F (−5.1 °C) in January to 75.8 °F (24.3 °C) in July. Average monthly precipitation is lowest in winter and peaks significantly from May to August, with June being the average wettest month. Showers and thunderstorms are common from May to September, and can be severe, especially from May to July. In winter, snowfall is moderate, occasionally heavy in single storms. Snow cover is occasional in drier and/or warmer winter seasons, but (rarely) can be continuous in the coldest seasons, such as that of 1978–79. The Iowa City area was struck by a severe hailstorm on May 18, 1997, and by tornadoes on April 13, 2006. Overall, Iowa City's tornado risk is lower than that of areas to the south and southwest, such as Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri.

Famous Peoples From Iowa City Iowa

Nate Ruess

is an American singer and songwriter. He is best known as the founder and lead singer of the indie pop band Fun, and of The Format. As of 2015, he also performs as a solo musician.

Ruess was born the second child of Larry Ruess and Bess Zinger. His uncle, John Ruess, was a performer on Broadway and served as an influence for Ruess's musical ventures.

In 1986, his family moved to a farm in Glendale, Arizona, due to repeated bouts of pneumonia Ruess faced as a child. Ruess's pneumonia and the move are referenced in the lyrics of the song "The Gambler". Ruess remained in Arizona throughout his childhood and attended Deer Valley High School, graduating in 2000. During his time in school, Ruess played in punk bands and upon graduation chose to pursue music professionally. In an interview with American Songwriter Ruess states, "I'm not one to take lessons, so I decided that the only way I was going to learn how to sing, if what they were saying was true, was to go in my car and put on any sort of music from a vocalist that might be really hard to mimic, turn it on as loud as possible and try to hit all those notes". He took a job in a law firm as a way to support himself while he pursued his musical ambitions.

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