Iowa Almanac
Iowa Almanac -- Thursday, September 19, 2024
Reopening the University. More from the Iowa Almanac in a moment. Make plans to attend the annual Camp Courageous Waffle Breakfast and Open House Sunday, September 29th from 8am until noon at the Camp Courageous Main Lodge. Enjoy made-to-order Belgian waffles and pork sausage and tour this unique facility. Train rides, live music, zip-line rides and more. See you for the waffle breakfast and open house Sunday, September 29th at Camp Courageous near Monticello, Iowa. Camp Courageous.org. Many mark the birth date of the University of Iowa as February 25th, 1847, the date when the first General Assembly passed a law establishing a state university in Iowa City, then the state's capital. But Iowa has had a unique history and more than one state constitution. Each time a new constitution was adopted, changes in state government structure came about, and those affected what we now call higher education. The original state University of Iowa suffered from being in the same city as the state's government, which tended to micromanage things. For a time there were branches of the University in Fairfield and Dubuque, which were on an equal footing with the Iowa City campus with regard to funding. All the while the state University of Iowa held classes, but the governing Board of Trustees was ineffective and its members kept changing. Another new state constitution went into effect in the fall of 1857, the third and final one our state has had. The document specifically placed the state capital in Des Moines and the state university in Iowa City. A new Board of Trustees decided to close the university that was in existence until proper funding could be obtained and until buildings could be remodeled. That included the old capital building, which had only been vacated by the state government not long before. The university was closed for two years. In the summer of 1860 a full faculty was appointed and the university reopened that fall. This remained open ever since. The first classes may have been held in prior years, but classes began for good at the state University of Iowa in Iowa City when it reopened on this state in 1860. And that's Iowa Almanac for September 19th. There's more online at IowaAlmanac.com. Until tomorrow, I'm Jeff Stein.