Browse Items (264 total)

Four cottages from the Blue Top Motel sitting in a half circle, surrounded by fully grown trees. The Motel was run by the Smith family for 44 years from the time of purchase in 1952 until December 31, 1996. (Wiederrecht-Finke, p. 6, 13).

Judy (Howe) Smith, a co-owner of the Blue Top Motel, sits with a phone to her ear as she looks down at her desk. On the walls behind her is another phone, a file organizer, and two plaques.

Larry Smith, the co-owner and manager of the Blue Top Motel, was an avid Hawkeye fan. In this photograph, he stands with his personal collection of Hawkeye memorabilia, including buttons, a clock, a Herky, and a clown (Wiederrecht-Finke, p. 22).

A group of seven University of Iowa students and football players pose for a photograph. The young men wear their football uniforms and grin at the different cameras taking their pictures. Two of the young men kneel while the other five stand behind;…

About twenty men stand in and around the ruins of the Close Paper Mill. A lone smokestack stands tall in the center of the photograph; collapsed stone, wooden planks, and destroyed boilers lay in piles around its base. Coral Mills can be seen…

The student photographs of the graduating class of University High School in 1923. The name of the photographer, Newberg-Breece, sits at the lower right hand corner.

The transcription of the hand-written list on the back of the matting of the…

A formal photograph of Olivette "Ollie" or "Olive" (Laufer) Miller. She wears a heavy dark fur coat, the sleeves so long they cover her hands. Her hair is done up, a hat with two curling feathers perched on top. A wicker chair can be seen in the left…

The family home of Valentine and Minna (Zeisler) Miller. Located at 205 Fifth Street, this house was built during the early 1870s, after the family moved back to Coralville after living in Marshalltown.

Valentine and Minna raised seven children…

A matted portrait of Joseph Kimbal Hemphill. The writing on the bottom right hand corner reads "Townsend 22 Clinton Street, Iowa City, IA," indicating the photo was taken by Timothy (Theo) Wesley Townsend, a photographer who owned a studio in Iowa…

A formal portrait of Violet S. (Hankins) Williams. She wears a high collared dress. The photographer's name, Townsend, is typed on the bottom of portrait, along with his studio address: "22 Clinton Street, Ground Floor, I.C. IA".

Violet Selena…

Joseph Kimbal Hemphill's family as they celebrate Independence Day in front of their home at 1011 Eight Street. This is one of the earliest photographs of Coralville taken on the Fourth of July (Walch, p. 116).

Front row, left to right: Nathaniel…

Coralville residents gather outside Koser's Store before embarking on an expedition to see the flooded riverbanks of the Iowa River. Flood water can be seen flowing through the street; two men work with a chain in front of a parked truck, while two…

Three men stand on top of a truck bed to look at the Iowa River water that floods 1st Avenue. Koser's Store can be seen in the background. A tractor carrying two other men faces the other direction.

A city fire engine from the Coralville Volunteer Fire Department sits parked outside the open fenced gate of the Econogas Company. Inside the fence, a large fire emits a black cloud of smoke into the sky.

The Econogas Company serviced surrounding…

Two volunteer firefighters, marked in pen as 'Dick Clinite (retired)' and 'Bill Lee (moved)', observe as the Econogas fire overtakes a truck further away. Clinite stands behind a fire engine with an partially unraveled fire hose at his feet while…

Mayor Alvin Green, wearing a coat, stands next to a snow-covered hose cart. The two-wheeled cart had 1,000 feet of hose, and could be hitched onto a car or pulled by hand according to George Prehoda, Coralville's first fire chief. Rex Brandstatter…

Two fire engines park on a street in front of a two-storied house. A ladder is leaned against the side of the house, over a smoking window on the second story.

Fire hoses are stretched out in the street, laying in puddles of water. These hoses…

The churning waters of the Iowa River has overtaken the bridge above the dam and heads towards Iowa City (Walch, p. 23).

The excursion boat Coralville Queen sits stuck on the bridge over the dam after slipping its mooring during a 1960s flood (Walch, p. 23).

Koser's Store, located on 1st Avenue from 1903-1970, acted as both a grocery store and a community center for Coralville residents. Originally called Wilson's Store after store manager Charles Wilson, the name changed when owner Edward Koser took…