As one would expect, the confluence of the Mississippi and Iowa rivers was a site of importance both before and after the European settlement of the area. At this location, the community of Toolesboro was platted, with the usual high expectations that it would quickly develop into a major city, but somehow this never came about. Today Toolesboro is still a small, pleasant river town.
Adjacent to the community is an extensive group of prehistoric Indian mounds. These low conical mounds (originally there were approximately 100 of them) are arranged to form a gentle crescent. They were constructed between 500 B.C.E. and 300 C.E. by the Hopewell people. A number of these mounds were excavated in the 1870s by the Davenport Academy of Science, and materials from these excavations may be seen at the Putnam Museum in Davenport (1717 West Twelfth Street). In 1963 the Iowa State Historical Society acquired 15.6 acres of this site, and in the early 1970s a visitors' center was built.
Writing Credits
If SAH Archipedia has been useful to you, please consider supporting it.
SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment. But the Society of Architectural Historians, which created SAH Archipedia with University of Virginia Press, needs your support to maintain the high-caliber research, writing, photography, cartography, editing, design, and programming that make SAH Archipedia a trusted online resource available to all who value the history of place, heritage tourism, and learning.