Happy Birthday to the City of Corals!
From an Ocean in the Middle of Iowa
Today (October 3, 2023) is the 150th birthday of Coralville, the city I’ve called home for more than 30 years. 150 years is a sesquicentennial, which is a fun word to say.
“Coralville” might seem like an unlikely name for a city in Iowa, which is known to be pretty landlocked. It wasn’t always so, of course.
385 million years ago, in the Devonian age, Iowa was underwater. The corals that were fossilized under that sea were the basis for the name of our city.
In 1993, Iowa experienced a devastating flood. Out of that horrible event came good things: a city plan to raise a main road into Iowa City that often flooded, and the discovery of a fossil gorge near the Coralville dam. My kids have all been on field trips to the Devonian Fossil Gorge.
One of the ways our city is celebrating is with wheat-pasted historical photos of the town’s founders on buildings throughout the area. These three women, who helped found Coralville’s library, are also currently on the side of the library building.
I doubt I’ll make it to Coralville’s bicentennial, but it’s been a fun ride celebrating 150 years. Happy birthday, Coralville, Iowa!
