Across the street from Bloomer School, at 722 Willow Avenue, stands a large red-brick Italianate house that was home to Joseph Mueller, his wife and eight children. Born in 1837 in Lobendose, Bohemia, he came to America in 1857 (age 20), settling in New York. Two...

At the bend in the street where Madison Avenue becomes South First Street, or South First Street becomes Madison Avenue– depending on which direction you are driving, is this attractive two-story house with an eye-catching bowed window. This subdued (or simplified)...

Not every grand house with impressive architecture has an interesting history. Sometimes it’s the little cottages that hold the surprises. So it is with this very old side-gabled cottage with a front gable centered over the porch. It appears that it may have started...

H.G. (Harry) McGee came here in 1874. “Council Bluffs had become a city of some 10,000 people”, he recalled in 1940. “It had few of the conveniences now considered essential; no water works, sewers, electric lights or paved streets – not even a filling station or...

The story of Finley Adams Burke and his family is as colorful as his most unusual house, built c.1886. Burke was born in Monongahela, Pennsylvania on July 17, 1815. His father was Patrick Burke, “a native of Philadelphia of Irish parentage and a Revolutionary War...

Once upon a time there was a town called Quick, located about twelve miles east of Council Bluffs on Highway 6. It was named after its founder, Elias Quick. Elias Quick was born in Ohio in 1845. According to his obituary, he came to Council Bluffs in 1856. He was 11...

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! And to new readers of this column: “Céad míle fáilte”. No single family contributed more to the building of Council Buffs (literally) than the family of Patrick and Cecelia Wickham. From commercial buildings to houses to streets and roads to...

Jeweler – inventor – sculptor – landowner. Maurice Wollman was all of these. Born in Baltimore, MD he came to came to Council Bluffs in 1880 and started a jewelry business in which he remained for 25 years. In his book, Iowa’s Automobiles, Bill Jepsen writes: “It was...

Although educational opportunities for young women existed in Council Bluffs in 1867, many of its wealthier citizens believed that young ladies should be educated privately and study subjects “appropriate to their station in life”. Enter the Reverend George Little, a...

The first owner of this historic Italianate house was one of the most colorful of Council Bluffs’ early settlers. Dr. Thomas Jefferis wore several hats – homeopathic physician, entrepreneur, buyer and seller of land, promoter of a nation-wide lottery – but perhaps he...

J. Chris Jensen, Council Bluffs architect, considered himself a privileged man. In a Nonpareil interview on his 75th birthday, the designer of 773 buildings “ sat in his favorite chair in his apartment, put out his cigar, laid down his book and stated quietly: “I’ve...

All decked out for the Fourth of July, this stately mansion with its commanding view of the Missouri river and the Omaha skyline was built in 1887 for attorney Finley Burke. The second owner was John G. Woodward, founder of the Woodward Candy Company. Finley Burke was...