April 13, 1856 – A newspaper clipping from a Chicago newspaper advertises the Rock Island Railroad’s direct service to Iowa City and the west.

In January 1856, the Mississippi & Missouri (M&M) Railroad rolled into Iowa City from Davenport, but it wasn’t until April when the final link of our railroad connection to the East was completed. The construction involved three sections—a bridge across a narrow portion of the Mississippi between the Illinois shore and Rock Island (the island not the city), a line of tracks across the island, and the long bridge between the island and the Iowa shore.

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April 12, 1893 – William E. Ijams – the teacher who helped start Iowa’s first School for the Deaf in Iowa City – passes away at age 62 in Zanesville, Ohio.

In 1854, with the help of the newspaper editor Edmund Booth, William E. Ijams comes to Iowa City to open Iowa’s first School for the Deaf. The following year, the State of Iowa adds on-going financial support and over the next twelve years, attendance triples in size: growing from twenty-one students to seventy-five.

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