Cedar Rapids

By Mark Stoffer Hunter, Caitlin Treece and Carl & Mary Koehler History Center

Incorporated as a town in 1849 and then reincorporated as a city in 1856, Cedar Rapids has never stopped progressing. It earned its place as the second-largest city in Iowa through continuous attention to innovative growth and development of where people work and live. Images of Modern America: Cedar Rapids highlights modern-day Cedar Rapids, focusing on changes and events from around 1960 to the earliest years of the 21st century. This “City of Five Seasons,” now building anew with respect for its history, continues to move forward with increasing business, cultural, and recreational opportunities for the entire community.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Jun 9, 2014
• ISBN: 9781439645604

Mark Stoffer Hunter

The Carl and Mary Koehler History Center in Cedar Rapids collects, preserves, and exhibits the rich history of Linn County. Caitlin Treece received her bachelor’s degree in history from Beloit College and her master’s in local history from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She began working at the history center in 2010 and was promoted to director in May 2013. Cedar Rapids native Mark Stoffer Hunter has a bachelor’s degree in art history from the University of Iowa and is employed by the history center. He has been a specialist in Cedar Rapids history for more than 25 years.

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INTRODUCTION

Cedar Rapids of today continues to carry on the spirit of the progressive vision of its early founders. The dream of Cedar Rapids developing into a major Midwest city was established as early as 1843 by George Greene, Nicholas Brown, and the Ely family. The emerging town was incorporated in 1849 and then reincorporated as a city in 1856.

Innovative efforts to attract railroad lines to the young city included the involvement of members of the Bever and Higley families. The result was the arrival of the first train on June 15, 1859. Following the Civil War, significant additional railroad lines were connected to Cedar Rapids, resulting in an explosion of industrial development in the 1870s.

The population of Cedar Rapids more than tripled between 1870 and 1900, as large employers, such as the Sinclair Packinghouse, J.G. Cherry, and the Quaker Oats Company, quickly expanded their operations. During the same time period, there was extensive growth in educational and cultural assets. Coe College was established as early as 1851, and Greene’s Opera House, seating over 1,500 people, opened in December 1880.

In 1900, Cedar Rapids had 16 miles of city streetcar tracks. By 1920, the population was already over 45,000 people. As new 20th-century technologies and ideas came along, Cedar Rapids was always open to the creation of new companies that adapted to the changing times.

The early 20th century saw the addition of large public parks on both sides of Cedar Rapids. Bever Park in the southeast (SE) quadrant and Ellis Park in the northwest (NW) quadrant were possible due to the willingness of the old Cedar Rapids families that formerly owned these natural sites to make them available for public parks.

Construction of substantial new buildings in the Roaring Twenties in Cedar Rapids was astonishing. Between 1920 and 1930, four new junior high schools were built, as well as the 12-story Merchants National Bank Building, the 12-story Roosevelt Hotel, a new Linn County Courthouse, the unique Veteran’s Memorial Building (city hall) on May’s Island, Scottish Rite Temple, Commonwealth Apartments, and two new movie palaces, the Iowa and the Capitol (Paramount).

By the 1930s, the city had at least four factories, led by Howard Hall’s Iowa Manufacturing Company, which produced equipment to pave America’s roads. Arthur Collins established the Collins Radio Company at a time when radio communications was in its early stages as cutting-edge technology.

The unsurpassed level of growth and building in the 1920s meant that many downtown Cedar Rapids construction projects, such as a new post office and federal building, continued into 1931 and 1932. A careful economic recovery strategy allowed Cedar Rapids to be far less affected by the Great Depression than other cities of its size in the United States.

Following World War II, plans for modern Cedar Rapids began to be implemented. Companies, such as Collins Radio and Cherry Burrell, moved to new facilities in the fast-growing suburban areas. Throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, new companies like Square D, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), and General Mills opened their doors. The job base continued to grow and diversify.

Suburban growth exploded on both the east and west sides of Cedar Rapids in the 1950s and 1960s. Thousands of new homes were constructed in addition to new religious centers and an abundance of new elementary schools, two new middle schools, and four new high school buildings. New Cedar Rapids Municipal Airport terminals in 1953 and 1987 offered a new level of transportation options for Cedar Rapids residents and businesses.

New public parks were created in the suburban areas, most notably Noelridge Park in the northeast (NE) quadrant and Jones Park in the southwest (SW) quadrant. New public swimming pools were built in Jones, Bever, and Noelridge Parks in 1960 and again in 2000–2001. New public pools also were built in Cherry Hill Park and in Ellis Park.

Downtown Cedar Rapids saw unique patterns of development. Known as a popular regional shopping center since the 1890s, the downtown retail area actually expanded with the opening of the new Armstrong’s Department Store building in 1959 and a major addition to Killian’s Department Store in 1964. Competition from the new Lindale Plaza shopping center and the growing issue of available parking for automobiles brought additional changes to the city center.

Multiple public and private urban renewal projects between 1960 and 1975 resulted in the demolition of nearly a third of all older downtown structures in less than 25 years. Primary areas destroyed included the north side of First Avenue and most of both sides of First Streets East and West between B and F Avenues and Fourth Avenue.

Many of the blocks that were demolished