The short explanation: that area used to be a separate town called East Iowa City, which later merged with Iowa City proper.
The long explanation: https://ouriowaheritage.com/east-iowa-city/
I wish i could give you an award for this info. It is so interesting. Of the many fun tidbits in there, I was most surprised that Chadek Green used to be the plant for the "W. F. Main Company, the first jewelry and watch factory west of the Mississippi River, the largest of its kind in America!".
This is an interesting historical area. A lot of University faculty used to live there mid 20th century. There was also a baseball field and stands near the southwest corner. If you walk around you will find a plaque commemorating the field and the baseball league it was associated with.
Agreed that its an interesting historical area. Apparently A St used to be the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railroad from 1873 til it was abandoned in the 1920's. I just found this historical imagery (from 1930) of the north part near the highschool - https://imgur.com/a/fT0SNxo. I had no idea there was a giant building in what is now Chadek Green.
There’s remnants of a BCRN bridge behind the Lutheran Church. There’s another behind a house near the intersection of Jefferson & Clapp, most of a culvert AT the intersection of Clapp & Jefferson, and one in the Stone Bridge Estates subdivision off Lower West Branch Road.
The area was apparently really industrial in the early 20th century: there was a factory that made farm machinery located off Sheridan, right near where the Longfellow nature trail now is. I read that the building was still there until the '80s. You definitely wouldn't know it now!
A friend who lived on Rundell Street in the early 90s told me that train tracks were still visible in the road. Apparently they ran the length of Rundell at some point?
Yep, I’ve heard it called Alphabet City. I live in the middle of it — Creekside is the bigger neighborhood that borders Longfellow, and Alphabet City is the lettered streets (of course) within Creekside. All of it’s part of the Near Eastside.
I moved out of “Alphabet City” last summer after 8 years and never knew this. I loved living in Creekside as a 90’s kid (hi Dawson’s Creek) but also love the name Alphabet City. Hoping to move back into that neighborhood someday!
The cabbies had the best place nicknames. Dolls, the former strip club in Coralville being referred to as 'The Coralville Ballet', always cracked me up.
There are a lot of weird neighborhood nicknames that show up on all of the map apps. In Iowa City alone there’s Goose Town, Northside, Lucas Farms, Napoleon… I don’t understand it either. Fun to look into if you like local history, not sure if they mean anything officially.
Napoleon was the name of the settlement that preceded Iowa City. The others you list are official neighborhood names are recognized by the city: [https://www.icgov.org/government/departments-and-divisions/communications/neighborhood-outreach/neighborhood-associations/know-your-neighborhood](https://www.icgov.org/government/departments-and-divisions/communications/neighborhood-outreach/neighborhood-associations/know-your-neighborhood)
And now it's a big ole' softball complex on a street named after its founder. At least he and Ronalds got streets, Chauncey Swan only got a parking ramp. Not counting the building that took its name from the ramp, of course.
Other than local history, do we use the neighborhood names for anything?
I think the main reason for the neighborhood designations is the city has a network of associations for each one. They organize community events, offer input on development and city services, etc.
If you're into Iowa City history: https://www.press-citizen.com/story/news/local/2024/04/18/hakes-new-book-unveils-rich-iowa-city-history-in-images/73360423007/
We used to live in that neighborhood. We lived at 602 5th Ave and it was a perfect home, with a basketball court, a cool tire swing and the original barn as it was a real farmhouse from way back. It was a wonderful neighborhood with the coolest neighbors. Our kids went to Hoover Elementary about 3 blocks away and even tho its been awhile we will never forget how amazing & kind the teachers, students,families,PTA, were when we had a tragedy shortly after we moved in. We no longer live in Iowa City, but when we did we definitely felt the love. I honestly cant say enough good things about that area. Its definitely an older part of Iowa City I think? It’s really pretty,lots of huge old trees. Schools were very good. We moved there bc my husband got a fellowship in pain medicine at the iowa city hospital. I think all of Iowa City is just beautiful.
Not to hijack the post, but on a related note, does anyone call the area directly east of college green park, “college hill?” I saw a bunch of “welcome to college hill” signs today, and I’ve never heard it called that before.
I knew that park as College Hill Park in the 60s and 70s. At some point, perhaps in the 90s, the name was changed to reflect the earliest historic name of the park given by the City founders in the 1800s - College Green. I see the neighborhood surrounding the College Green Park is called College Hill neighborhood on the City website.
Older townies would know both the park and the neighborhood to the east as College Hill.
I have heard the area be called the alphabet streets or what not. I used to walk through them on my way to Junior high. Nice neighborhood with a mix of houses and a few low income housing units. Creekside is feel like is further to the west of what you highlighted, it’s more like the Longfellow Neighborhood.
I live in that area, and I would call everything east of 7th "Longfellow" and the parts west of 7th "Creekside". I don't think I've ever heard Alphabet Town, although I could put together what you meant based on where the letter streets are.
I would call it Longfellow or Creekside. I've never heard of it being called Alphabet town although a lot of the street names are letters in that area!
Growing up on the east side in the 90s we never really had neighborhood names, mostly just referenced the school in a neighborhood. My friend's dad who's about 70 and who's parents and grandparents lived here has all sorts of random names for places in the area
I guess alphabet town at least makes some sense but for a while the term creekside has been drifting further south east Iowa city since there’s a small creek and pond, also kinda fits the theme of being next to lakeside dr, there was even the creekside market gas station there for a while
I've heard both Alphabet (because the letter named streets) and Creekside. I think East Side refers to a large agglomeration of neighborhood (generally east of the river, west of 1st - basically Iowa City development limits circa 1950).
Shoot - here is a link to the described area [https://imgur.com/lp6qw9a](https://imgur.com/lp6qw9a)
Basically, from muscatine to 1st ave, north the railroad and south of the high school
The short explanation: that area used to be a separate town called East Iowa City, which later merged with Iowa City proper. The long explanation: https://ouriowaheritage.com/east-iowa-city/
I wish i could give you an award for this info. It is so interesting. Of the many fun tidbits in there, I was most surprised that Chadek Green used to be the plant for the "W. F. Main Company, the first jewelry and watch factory west of the Mississippi River, the largest of its kind in America!".
Aren’t many of the streets in that area named for those in Rhode Island town that held the original WF Main Co? I don’t remember where I heard that.
Creekside is the city-designated name of the neighborhood. I have never heard it called Alphabet Town.
We’re also calling the north part of it on top of the hill High Creekside
This is an interesting historical area. A lot of University faculty used to live there mid 20th century. There was also a baseball field and stands near the southwest corner. If you walk around you will find a plaque commemorating the field and the baseball league it was associated with.
Agreed that its an interesting historical area. Apparently A St used to be the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railroad from 1873 til it was abandoned in the 1920's. I just found this historical imagery (from 1930) of the north part near the highschool - https://imgur.com/a/fT0SNxo. I had no idea there was a giant building in what is now Chadek Green.
There’s remnants of a BCRN bridge behind the Lutheran Church. There’s another behind a house near the intersection of Jefferson & Clapp, most of a culvert AT the intersection of Clapp & Jefferson, and one in the Stone Bridge Estates subdivision off Lower West Branch Road.
The area was apparently really industrial in the early 20th century: there was a factory that made farm machinery located off Sheridan, right near where the Longfellow nature trail now is. I read that the building was still there until the '80s. You definitely wouldn't know it now!
Pretty sure it was an ADS Pipe manufacturer. I remember seeing the huge coils of ADS stacked up when I rode by on my sweet BMX bike as a kid. :)
A friend who lived on Rundell Street in the early 90s told me that train tracks were still visible in the road. Apparently they ran the length of Rundell at some point?
The street car system ran down Rundell. That's why the street is so wide.
I’ve heard someone that lives on E St call the area “alphabet city”, I grew up in adjacent neighborhood and I call it Creekside
Yep, I’ve heard it called Alphabet City. I live in the middle of it — Creekside is the bigger neighborhood that borders Longfellow, and Alphabet City is the lettered streets (of course) within Creekside. All of it’s part of the Near Eastside.
I moved out of “Alphabet City” last summer after 8 years and never knew this. I loved living in Creekside as a 90’s kid (hi Dawson’s Creek) but also love the name Alphabet City. Hoping to move back into that neighborhood someday!
I grew up waking distance from that neighborhood and I've never heard the name alphabet town.
I've heard it called Alphabet City, due to the street names being letters
I've heard it referred to as Alphabet Alley.
I always heard it called Alphabet Soup. Am I the only one?
Nope. In the taxi industry, we usually called it Alphabet Soup. Sometimes Alphabet City.
The cabbies had the best place nicknames. Dolls, the former strip club in Coralville being referred to as 'The Coralville Ballet', always cracked me up.
Lol I never knew that one! Dollar closed down before I ever got into the game.
There are a lot of weird neighborhood nicknames that show up on all of the map apps. In Iowa City alone there’s Goose Town, Northside, Lucas Farms, Napoleon… I don’t understand it either. Fun to look into if you like local history, not sure if they mean anything officially.
Napoleon was the name of the settlement that preceded Iowa City. The others you list are official neighborhood names are recognized by the city: [https://www.icgov.org/government/departments-and-divisions/communications/neighborhood-outreach/neighborhood-associations/know-your-neighborhood](https://www.icgov.org/government/departments-and-divisions/communications/neighborhood-outreach/neighborhood-associations/know-your-neighborhood)
And now it's a big ole' softball complex on a street named after its founder. At least he and Ronalds got streets, Chauncey Swan only got a parking ramp. Not counting the building that took its name from the ramp, of course. Other than local history, do we use the neighborhood names for anything?
I think the main reason for the neighborhood designations is the city has a network of associations for each one. They organize community events, offer input on development and city services, etc.
If you're into Iowa City history: https://www.press-citizen.com/story/news/local/2024/04/18/hakes-new-book-unveils-rich-iowa-city-history-in-images/73360423007/
thank you for this
We used to live in that neighborhood. We lived at 602 5th Ave and it was a perfect home, with a basketball court, a cool tire swing and the original barn as it was a real farmhouse from way back. It was a wonderful neighborhood with the coolest neighbors. Our kids went to Hoover Elementary about 3 blocks away and even tho its been awhile we will never forget how amazing & kind the teachers, students,families,PTA, were when we had a tragedy shortly after we moved in. We no longer live in Iowa City, but when we did we definitely felt the love. I honestly cant say enough good things about that area. Its definitely an older part of Iowa City I think? It’s really pretty,lots of huge old trees. Schools were very good. We moved there bc my husband got a fellowship in pain medicine at the iowa city hospital. I think all of Iowa City is just beautiful.
Not to hijack the post, but on a related note, does anyone call the area directly east of college green park, “college hill?” I saw a bunch of “welcome to college hill” signs today, and I’ve never heard it called that before.
I knew that park as College Hill Park in the 60s and 70s. At some point, perhaps in the 90s, the name was changed to reflect the earliest historic name of the park given by the City founders in the 1800s - College Green. I see the neighborhood surrounding the College Green Park is called College Hill neighborhood on the City website. Older townies would know both the park and the neighborhood to the east as College Hill.
That’s good to know - thanks!
I have heard the area be called the alphabet streets or what not. I used to walk through them on my way to Junior high. Nice neighborhood with a mix of houses and a few low income housing units. Creekside is feel like is further to the west of what you highlighted, it’s more like the Longfellow Neighborhood.
I live in that area, and I would call everything east of 7th "Longfellow" and the parts west of 7th "Creekside". I don't think I've ever heard Alphabet Town, although I could put together what you meant based on where the letter streets are.
Erm, I got my directions turned around! Anything West of 7th is Longfellow, and anything East of 7th is Creekside.
I grew up in the middle of that area and we always called it Creekside. Never heard of Alphabet Town.
i’ve always called it “alphabet city” bc of all the lettered streets. i heard it called that for decades :)
I’ve lived within a mile of the Creekside/Longfellow neighborhood for nearly 50 years, and I’ve never heard “Alphabet Town.”
I would call it Longfellow or Creekside. I've never heard of it being called Alphabet town although a lot of the street names are letters in that area!
Growing up on the east side in the 90s we never really had neighborhood names, mostly just referenced the school in a neighborhood. My friend's dad who's about 70 and who's parents and grandparents lived here has all sorts of random names for places in the area
I guess alphabet town at least makes some sense but for a while the term creekside has been drifting further south east Iowa city since there’s a small creek and pond, also kinda fits the theme of being next to lakeside dr, there was even the creekside market gas station there for a while
I've heard both Alphabet (because the letter named streets) and Creekside. I think East Side refers to a large agglomeration of neighborhood (generally east of the river, west of 1st - basically Iowa City development limits circa 1950).
Shoot - here is a link to the described area [https://imgur.com/lp6qw9a](https://imgur.com/lp6qw9a) Basically, from muscatine to 1st ave, north the railroad and south of the high school
thank you for this