Grand Days Of Grand Hotel

In its day, the Cedar Springs Hotel at Upper Palisades near Mount Vernon must have been a grand place to stay. Problem was, those days ended in 1938, although a restaurant continued in the hotel until 1965. (See today's Ramblin' column in The Gazette.) And now, because of additional flood damage, the hotel and several surrounding buildings are slated to be demolished.

Ah, yes. Located along the scenic Cedar River just up river from today's Palisades-Kepler State Park,  the Cedar Springs Hotel had resort written all over it when Adolf Biderman bought it in 1914. Built in 1884 by the Northwestern Railroad, the two-story hotel overlooking the river had served workers in a nearby rock quarry. When large rocks could no longer be mined, the quarry and hotel were closed. The railroad tracks that served the area were later torn up and sold for scrap during World War I.

Adolf, who died in 1957,  is survived today by his granddaughter, Pat Biderman, 64, (left) who owns the property. The hotel was brought to my attention by Kerry Koch (with Pat), an amateur metal detector who had asked Pat for permission to scour the grounds for hidden treasure. While Kerry, 49, of Marion, had little luck in his hunt, he became fascinated by the old hotel's story. His exhaustive research turned up many old articles and some photographs.

I wish I'd had more room in today's newspaper column to explore some of those other details. That's what's great about being online, too. So, here's more of the background on the 125-year-old hotel and the Biderman family that has owned it for 95 years.

A 1953 interview of Adolf indicated his optimism that the hotel/resort area would be revived by the new Highway 30 (today's route) that replaced the old route, now Mount Vernon Road between Cedar Rapids and Mount Vernon. Until that route was completed, many visitors took the interurban train near the entrance to Upper Palisades and then relied on Biderman or some of his help to transport them by horse and buggy the additional mile to the resort.

Adopf began working at the resort in 1898 for 25 cents a day. He'd harness up to 42 horses kept there, groom them and feed them. When he wasn't busy doing that, he'd make 5 cents an hour pumping water from the spring to a reservoir 50 feet above ground that served the hotel. He was also a bellhop and made root beer from scratch. Hard work, indeed.

Later years were more fun, Adolf said in that interview. He recalled when people swam on the beach or took boats out on the water. He once had 35 rowboats for rent and on Sundays, most were on the water. By 1953 he had but two rowboats, hardly used.

Baseball was a popoular pasttime in the early days, too, with the teams brings kegs of beer on wagons to enjoy while they played in the hot sun.

The resort was run down when Adolf bought it but, being a carpenter, he fixed it up. He added a southern-style veranda around the second floor and installed two bathrooms upstairs -- a men's and a women's bathroom -- since the original 11 rooms didn't have private baths. (In the old days you used the outhouse out back.) In addition, Adolf recalled in another interview cutting and hauling up to 150 tons of ice from the river to the ice house up the hill. (The ice house is gone but part of its foundation remains.)

Adolf recalled selling all-you-can-eat family-style meals for 25 cents each, in the days when you could buy chicken for 12 cents a pound. He said they once served 380 meals on a Fourth of July.

Adolf also said Collin Radio, in its earliest days, would hold a picnic on the grounds. At first, 36 people attended. Two years later attendance swelled to more than 200 which was too big for the resort to handle, so those picnics stopped.

Pat recalls that her grandfather also built cabins, hoping that would increase business, but it only did so much. Still, there are a variety of winterized homes on the higher ground of the 19-acre property unaffected by the floods that remain residences. Other buildings closer to the river, down near the remnants of the dance pavilion and playground equipment, will be razed along with the hotel because they've been flooded too often.

Pat rattles off the years she can recall floods, from 1953 to 1993 to last year.

"2008," Pat says sadly, "will go down in history as the one that did this place in."