History · Cedar Rapids
Cedar Rapids’s history is
mostly unwritten
The public archives hold just one old photo of Cedar Rapids. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.
1849established
1old images & papers
63historic places
0recent photos
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗The location of present-day Cedar Rapids was in the territory of the Meskwaki and Sauk peoples at the time of European American settlement.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items below1849Established
1868Birds eye view of the city of Cedar Rapids and …Commons
Be one of the first
Start Cedar Rapids’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cedar Rapids’s history is told.
0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewBirds eye view of the city of Ced…, 1868: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Cedar Rapids
See all 43 →
By decade
Cedar Rapids, decade by decade
National Register of Historic Places
63 historic places in Cedar Rapids
Cedar Rapids has 63 listings on the National Register, and they protect 958 historic buildings, because Redmond Park-Grande Avenue Historic District alone counts 193.
#5
Among Iowa’s most-listed townsby listings · most towns there have none
63places listed46 buildings · 13 districts · 4 other
0National Historic LandmarksNone here yet
958historic buildings protectedcounting each building in a district
1976first listedParamount Theater Building · newest: Luther A. and Elinore T. Brewer House, 2024
Where they are
Tap a dot for a photo and link. Districts show at their center.
BuildingsDistrictsStructuresObjects
Architectural styles
From each listing’s National Archives record · 8 of 63 name a style
When they were listed
The Register began in 1966. Cedar Rapids’s busiest decade was the 2010s.
60s
1170s
880s
1190s
600s
2310s
420s
Listed 1976Paramount Theater Building
Listed 1976Seminole Valley Farmstead
Listed 1976Caroline Sinclair Mansion (Additional Documentation)
Listed 1977Highwater Rock
Listed 1977Security Building
Listed 1978Calder Houses
Listed 1978People's Savings Bank
Listed 1978First Universalist Church of Cedar Rapids
Listed 1978May's Island Historic District
Listed 1978A. T. Averill House
Listed 1978C.S.P.S. Hall
Listed 1982George B. Douglas House
Listed 1982Philip A. Wolff House and Carriage House
Listed 1982Cedar Rapids Post Office and Public Building
Listed 1983Iowa Building
Listed 1983Lattner Auditorium Building
Listed 1985St. Paul Methodist Episcopal Church
Listed 1985Taylor-Van Note
Listed 1989Robert and Esther Armstrong House
Listed 1991Hotel Roosevelt
Listed 1994Hamilton Brothers Building
Listed 1996Moslem Temple
Listed 1997William and Sue Damour House
Listed 1997Lesinger Block
Listed 1998Witwer Grocery Company Building
Listed 1998First Avenue Bridge
Listed 1998IANR Railroad Underpass
Listed 1998Indian Creek Bridge
Listed 1998Consistory Building No. 2
Listed 1999Evans Manufacturing Company Building
Listed 2001Redmond Park-Grande Avenue Historic District
Listed 2002Charles W. and Nellie Perkins House
Listed 2002Bohemian Commercial Historic District
Listed 2004Lustron Home #02102
Listed 2004Ausadie Building
Listed 2010Brown Apartments
Listed 2012Iowa Wind Mill and Pump Company Office and Warehouse
Listed 2012Cedar Rapids Pump Company Factory and Warehouse
Listed 2013Oak Hill Cemetery Historic District
Listed 2013Sokol Gymnasium
Listed 2013B Avenue NE Historic District
Listed 2013Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church
Listed 2014Cedar Rapids Central Fire Station
Listed 2014West Side Third Avenue SW. Commercial Historic District
Listed 2014Best Oil and Refining Company Service Station
Listed 2015Our Mother of Sorrows Grotto Historic District
Listed 2015Glenn M. and Edith Averill House
Listed 2015Grant Vocational High School
Listed 2015Cedar Rapids 2nd Avenue SE. Automobile Row Historic District
Listed 2015Monroe Elementary School Historic District
Listed 2015Cedar Rapids Central Business District Commercial Historic District
Listed 2015Harper and McIntire Company Warehouse
Listed 2015St. James United Methodist Church
Listed 2016Sinclair Building-Smulekoffs Furniture Store
Listed 2017Iowa State Highway Commission, District 6 Building
Listed 2017Cedar Rapids Milk Condensing Company
Listed 2017First Church of Christ, Scientist
Listed 2020Shores-Mueller CompanyListed 2000Second and Third Avenue Historic DistrictListed 2012Bohemian Commercial Historic DistrictListed 2021Dr. Percy and Lileah Harris HouseListed 2023Bever Woods Historic DistrictListed 2024Luther A. and Elinore T. Brewer HouseNational Park Service, National Register of Historic Places (05/22/2026) · styles from the National Archives catalog · photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Birds eye view of the city of Cedar Rapids and Kingston, Linn Co., Iowa 1868 (1868) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (1) and the National Register (5). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.