Adapted from “A Dearborn Street History,” The Long View, June 2007, Longfellow Neighborhood Association, by Tim Weitzel for the 2997 Longfellow Neighborhood Garden Walkabout. The Longfellow Neighborhood has a long history and a tradition of telling that history, describing important events, persons, architecture and gardens.

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life-long resident and author of a short, unpublished reminiscence of life in the Longfellow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