Dearborn Street History

The Dearborn Street area was once farmland owned by Leroy and Alice Rundell. Most of area

between Dearborn and Grant Street to the west and north of the hill in the 700 block was a low

basin that was prone to flooding. Dearborn Street was mapped in 1908 when the Rundell

subdivision was registered with the County. The meandering channel of Ralston Creek ran

eastward across what is now the 700 block of Dearborn Street, and then back to the west near the

location of Center Avenue. Seasonal and flash floods slowed development in the Rundell

subdivision. Several efforts were made to control the floods from around 1910 into the 1930s. At

some point, the excavated material from the newly channeled creek bed was used to fill part of the

old channel along Dearborn Street and other locations.

From north to south these are the principal locations of historic interest. 1630 Muscatine

Avenue was built as a Neighborhood grocery store that was most recently known as Watts

Grocery. These stores began to open in neighborhoods after World War I and offered fresh cut

meat, produce, and hand-packed ice cream and sundries. Gus Pusateri ran a well-known fresh fruit

store on S. Clinton St. He and his wife lived at 622 Dearborn Street. That house, the one to the

north, and three to the east are all Moffitt Houses. The 700 block of Dearborn Street also holds

many Moffitt Houses. Moffitt was concerned about issues such as affordable housing, reuse of

materials, and energy conservation. 1530 Sheridan Avenue is the former home of Della Grizel, a

life-long resident and author of a short, unpublished reminiscence of life in the Longfellow

Neighborhood. Grizel founded the Rundell Women’s Association, which was active into the

1980s. Rundell Park baseball stadium was formerly located along both sides of Dearborn

between Jackson Ave. and Sheridan Ave. The Stadium included a large covered grandstand and a

tall wooden outfield fence. Local folks played at a ball diamond there before then. Players on

strike from professional teams played for the Iowa City Gold Sox in 1912. The stadium was soon

taken down to allow homes to be built on this section of high ground along Dearborn as the

flooding of Ralston Creek was slowly brought under control. 903 Dearborn Street is the location

of the King-Palmer-Littrell house. The House built by Irving King around 1920. He was an

English professor who raised chickens and ran a hobby farm at the south end of Dearborn Street.

The house is a good example of a Dutch Colonial Revival house, and it continues to utilize one of

the color schemes popular in the first third of the Twentieth Century. Take note of the stately old

tulip tree in the front lawn. To the west at 1515 Jackson Avenue, and extending to the creek in

both directions, was the King-Palmer-Littrell Hatchery. Local hatcheries provided fresh eggs and

chickens for sale in town and across the Midwest. Lloyd Palmer, who built the Palmer Houses on

7th Avenue, bought King’s home and small hatchery from King’s widow around 1940. Ralph D.

Littrell, an ISU graduate and poet, bought the house and hatchery in 1946, greatly expanding it.

Before then, the Littrell family had owned a white bungalow in the 900 block of Dearborn Street.

The Littrell hatchery closed around 1986. More about the Hatchery and Rundell Park baseball

stadium can be read at the historic marker on Jackson Avenue.

Adapted from “A Dearborn Street History,” The Long View, June 2007, Longfellow Neighborhood Association, by Tim Weitzel.