Iowa life: New book showcases Cedar Rapids’ history

Two local authors have released a new book that focuses on Cedar Rapids history from the 1960s to present day.

The book 'Cedar Rapids” was written by Mark Stoffer Hunter and Caitlin Treece, who started the project a year ago.

'Basically, once we agreed to do it, Mark and I sat down and just came up with the chapters and the chapter headings,” says Treece, director of The Carl and Mary Koehler History Center.

The book is in full color in all but one photo. Finding the photos was harder than the pair anticipated.

'You'd think it'd be easy to find color pictures from the '60s, '70s and even '80s, but it's not,” says Stoffer Hunter, research historian at History Center. Most of the images in the book came from Stoffer Hunter's personal collection or from The History Center's collection of pictures. Stoffer Hunter has been taking photos of Cedar Rapids for 35 years.

While Stoffer Hunter has a long history with the city, Treece only has been living in the area for the last three and a half years. The differing perspectives helped in writing the book.

'We've tried to make it readable,” says Stoffer Hunter. 'Working with Caitlin was a great experience because you want to make sure when you're doing local history books like this, that you make it as readable for the newcomer as to the person that has lived here all their life.”

The book is targeted toward baby boomers, but Stoffer Hunter said he thought that younger individuals would find interest in the book as well with the inclusion of more recent events.

'We really wanted this book to evoke memories through the images and discussion,” says Treece.

Stoffer Hunter and Treece also hope that the book will help showcase the collection of photographs at The History Center and encourage others to come forward with new photos.

'It's kind of our collective initiative to get things from the 1960s to the present,” Treece says. 'A lot of people don't realize that that's the kind of stuff that we (The History Center) want now.”

Treece and Stoffer Hunter were careful to make sure that the book did not duplicate too much on subjects that have been written about in the three other books that The History Center has previously released.

'Cedar Rapids” can be found at local bookstores, as well as at The History Center.