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James McCollister Farmstead

Farms on the National Register of Historic Places in IowaHouses completed in 1880Iowa building and structure stubsJohnson County, Iowa Registered Historic Place stubsNational Register of Historic Places in Johnson County, Iowa
Victorian architecture in Iowa
IowaCityIA JAmesMcCollisterFarmstead
IowaCityIA JAmesMcCollisterFarmstead

The James McCollister Farmstead, also known as the Old Charlie Showers Place, is a historic farmstead located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. This property was first settled in 1840 by Philip Clark. He laid a claim on the land in 1836, but it was not available until after the Second Black Hawk Purchase of land from the Sauk, Meskwaki (Fox), and Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) tribes in 1837. The claim was secured by The Claim Association of Johnson County until the land was put up for sale in 1840. This was the first farm listed in Johnson County. Clark sold the farm to James McCollister in 1863, and he expanded it to 750 acres (300 ha). He also built the house and the barn, which are the subjects of the historical designation. The farm was owned by his descendants until 1974. The first section of the two-story brick house was completed in 1864, with an expansion built onto the front in 1880. That gave the house an Italianate appearance. The wood-frame barn is built on a limestone foundation, just like the house. At the time of the historic nomination the foundation and fire pit for the smokehouse were in existence. The farmstead was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article James McCollister Farmstead (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

James McCollister Farmstead
Covered Wagon Drive, Iowa City

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Latitude Longitude
N 41.634166666667 ° E -91.529166666667 °
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Sand Prairie

Covered Wagon Drive
52240 Iowa City
Iowa, United States
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IowaCityIA JAmesMcCollisterFarmstead
IowaCityIA JAmesMcCollisterFarmstead
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Tate Arms

Tate Arms, also known as the Charles and Dorothy Alberts House and the Williams Hotel, is a historic building located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. The University of Iowa started to admit African American students in the 1870s, but they were rare before the 1910s. The university constructed dormitories in the 1910s, but they did not allow African Americans to live in them until 1946. Completed in 1914 for Charles and Dorothy Alberts, this house was Iowa City's first rooming house that was built for black tenants and owned by black landlords. Charles Alberts was a stonemason and he operated a cement block manufacturing business. He might have built the house himself. The first black university student started to reside here in 1920. The building was acquired by local attorney Edward F. Rate, who was white, in the 1920s and he continued to rent to African Americans. From c. 1928 to c. 1932 the house was known as the Williams Hotel after its proprietor James Williams, who also owned a car wash. Elizabeth “Bettye” Tate and Junious “Bud” Tate bought the house in 1940. Bud operated a janitorial service, and Bettye had operated a rooming house for black male students in their previous home at East Prentiss Street. She later spent 22 years working at the University of Iowa's cardiovascular laboratory. After the Tate's bought this 12-room house they changed the name to the Tate Arms and housed up to 20 male students a year. Bettye was known for her disciplined residence and did not permit liquor, women in the bedrooms, and tenants were expected to make their beds. The Tate Arms continued as a black student boarding house until 1961 when the Tates divorced. It continued to house students after this time, but they were not necessarily black. Housing discrimination in Iowa City continued until the Fair Housing Amendment to the Iowa Civil Rights Act was passed in 1967. Prior to that there was no history of city ordinances requiring racial segregation in housing, it was just a fact. In 1979 Bettye Tate sold the building, which had been vacant since 1970, and it was slated for demolition several times until 2014 when it was designated an Iowa City Historic Landmark. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2019.

Hawthorne Glove and Novelty Company–Shrader Drug Company Building
Hawthorne Glove and Novelty Company–Shrader Drug Company Building

The Hawthorne Glove and Novelty Company–Shrader Drug Company Building is a historic building located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Completed in 1906, this utilitarian three-story brick structure is located in the city's original railroad and industrial corridor south of the central business district. This was an industrial area from the 1870s to the 1940s. It replaced a recently built building on the same site by the Hawthorne Glove and Novelty Company that had been destroyed in a fire. The back of the building opened upon the rail sidings of a branch line of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway, later the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific. By the start of World War I the Shrader Drug Company occupied the building. It was one of three drug related factories that were located along the South Gilbert Street corridor at that time. The company name changed to the Hewell-Shrader Drug Company in 1930 and then the Hewell-Shrader Company in 1945 after farm fertilizer was added to its product line. The company closed in 1956, and the building was sold to the Thompson Transfer and Storage Company who used it for a warehouse. Whipple House Furniture Store took over the building three years later, and remained until 1975. In the intervening years a variety of businesses occupied the building until the 1980s when it was vacant for a period of time. In the mid-1980s The Vine Tavern occupied the basement level and the upper floors were used for artist studios. In 2012 the upper floors were converted into apartments. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.