We found out we missed the wheat paste murals posted on various buildings in Coralville this past summer. It’s the 150th anniversary of the city of Coralville in Iowa this year. You can find out more about it on the Coralville Public Library web site.
We drove around and found some of the murals were still up. They generally last about 2-3 months. There were murals on West Music and the Coralville Recreation Center, but they were gone.
In our YouTube, the murals we found are in order of appearance on the video:
The ice block mural is on Randy’s Flooring on 2nd Street. It’s a picture of the Jacob C. Hotz Ice Company Employees circa 1900s-1910s. They’re on the Iowa River. Workers were paid 10 cents an hour. Talk about your minimum wage.
The mural of 3 ladies who we don’t know anything about and the “Watch It Grow” image are on the Coralville Public Library in the 5th St. Plaza.
The long timeline mural is on the Coralville Community Food Pantry on 13th Avenue.
The Blue Top Motel mural is on Chong’s Supermarket on 2nd Street. According to the Coralville Public Library, the Blue Top motor court was built in the 1940s. No mention whether lodgers were abducted by extraterrestrials.
The mural of two fishermen with the two huge flathead catfish as big as a man’s leg they landed in the 1920s in the Iowa River is on the Iowa River Power Restaurant on 1st Avenue. This is my personal favorite. All I ever caught in my wasted childhood were bullhead as big as my fist.
You can see fishline and bobbers floating in the Iowa River. You can even see a handsome sculpture of a dragonfly sitting on a bobber on one side of the river. We saw one guy with at least three fishing poles rushing around to different spots next to the Iowa River Power Restaurant. I think he was hoping to land a big flathead—but all we saw him catch was a snag.
Happy 150th birthday, Coralville!
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