Iowa City, IA

Iowa City’s Old Capitol has served two governments and a university from the same address. The territorial capitol site was chosen in 1839, and lawmakers first met in the building in 1842. When state government moved to Des Moines in 1857, Old Capitol became the University of Iowa’s first permanent home. It remains at the center of the Pentacrest, where the city’s governmental origin and university identity occupy the same ground. Today it is the Old Capitol Museum, placing Iowa’s territorial and early state history in the middle of the university campus. Downtown begins just east of the Pentacrest.

ATTRBillwhittaker ( talk ) / CC BY-SA 3.0

The writing culture that grew around the university now reaches far beyond its classrooms. Formally established in 1936, the Iowa Writers’ Workshop was the first U.S. program to grant an advanced creative degree in fiction and poetry. Iowa City joined UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network as a City of Literature in 2008. The International Writing Program, founded in 1967 by Paul Engle and Hualing Nieh Engle, added a global residency and exchange program. It has welcomed writers from over 160 countries. The local City of Literature organization now supports an Iowa City Book Festival, a children’s literature festival, a Literature Walk, and writers groups. The February 2026 One Book Two Book program placed children’s literature activities at FilmScene and MERGE downtown. On Sunday, it scheduled an honors event for 29 area student writers at the university’s Macbride Hall, carrying the weekend into a campus auditorium.

ATTRSculpture by Mario Korbel (1882–1954). Photograph by Billwhittaker ( talk ) / CC BY-SA 3.0

Education and health care also organize working life. In 2020, those sectors accounted for 32 percent of local jobs; arts, entertainment, and accommodations accounted for another 16 percent. The University of Iowa and its hospitals were the city’s largest employers in that 2020 snapshot. UI Health Care combines patient care with medical education and research, making hospital work part of the university’s regional role. The Iowa River divides those activities. Many graduate and professional programs and the health-care complex lie on the west bank, while Old Capitol and the downtown cultural district sit east of the river. Teaching, medical shifts, research, and cultural production run on overlapping calendars on both sides of the water.

ATTRBillwhittaker ( talk ) / CC BY-SA 3.0

Downtown turns those calendars into street activity. The Pedestrian Mall, Iowa City Public Library, FilmScene, Englert Theatre, and independent businesses sit within a compact group of blocks east of the Pentacrest. Free Week’s February 2026 program linked many of those venues with the Stanley Museum of Art, Public Space One, and Prairie Lights for admission-free performances and workshops. The Iowa Arts Festival closed downtown streets from June 5 through 7, 2026, and the Downtown Block Party did so on June 27. Iowa City Transit kept every city route fare-free in its February 2026 schedule. On July 13, 2026, the downtown interchange returned to Washington Street beside Old Capitol Town Center. City routes converge there from neighborhoods across Iowa City. A bus arriving there stops within a few blocks of the Ped Mall, the library, festival streets, and the former territorial capitol.