Did you know that Burlington was once known as the Crinoid Capital of the world? And did you know that crinoids were first described west of the Mississippi in Burlington, in 1850?
Some 400 million years ago, Burlington was a lot closer to the equator. And, it also happened to be under roughly 200 feet of water. In that warm, tropical shallow sea, exotic creatures like sea stars, sea lilies, blastoids, cystoids, sea urchins and snails, among others, thrived. And fortunately for us, they left a record of their existence in the form of their fossilized remains. Crinoids, colloquially known as “sea lilies”, are relatives of star fish and sand dollars. They have a stalk a ‘hold fast’ (kind of a like a root system) that holds them on the ocean floor), and a body with tentacles that catch and move food to their mouths. And, they are incredibly abundant in the Des Moines County area. If you look at rock from the Burlington limestone formation, the odds are that you will find stone discs with a hole in the center. Those are the remains of the animals stalks.
Frank Springer and Charles Wachsmuth would put Burlington on the map when they decided to team up, and describe the roughly 250 native species of crinoids that can be found in the Burlington limestone formation. And, in the process, they built world class collections that were housed right here in Burlington.
Unfortunately, 111 years ago, Burlington lost our collection of crinoids. The collections from Wachsmuth and Springer were eventually donated to Harvard and the Smithsonian after their deaths, where they are kept behind closed doors.
Fast forward to 2019, Dr. Forest Gahn (PhD., BYU-ID), spoke with Kenneth and Linda Tibbits, who were long time collectors of fossilized echinoderms thanks to Ken’s work at a local quarry. The Tibbit’s wanted their incredible collection to be available to not just researchers, but also the general public. So, together they decided to donate the collection to the Des Moines County Historical Society, with the proviso that the collection would be available to the public.
The collection was finally donated to DMCHS in April of 2022, and the process of cataloging began. It is worth noting that the Tibbits Collection, at over 3,000 pieces, is the 3rd largest research collection after Harvard and the Smithsonian, Several specimens from the new collection were chosen for an exhibit that would be built around the Tibbits Collection, as part of the world’s largest exhibit of fossilized echinoderms. And, it is worth noting that the display features a crinoid that is unknown to science as of June, 2022!
The Tibbits Collection is now part of the world’s largest display of crinoids and other echinoderms, and is available to researchers. Want to see the collection for yourself? Come down to the Heritage Museum during regular business hours! They are currently located in the Grand Gallery, until we can finish the Hall of Crinoids exhibit/storage space.