The Czech School

Every summer since the 1870s, the Czech community in Cedar Rapids has supported a native language school.

In the beginning, community organizations or residents supported the school to ensure that children would be taught the language and history of Bohemia. They wanted the children to learn to converse with their parents and to learn about the rich heritage of their families' native land.

The school's first teacher was John B. Suster.

Classes originally were held in teachers' homes, at Turner Hall at the corner of South First Street and 10th Avenue, and at the hall of the Bohemian Reading Society, also on South First Street.

Eventually, classrooms in public school buildings — Monroe, Tyler or Harrison — were used with the permission of the school board.

Seeking Permanence

On Sept. 25, 1892, a group of women established the Damska Matice Skolska lodge to raise money for a permanent building specifically for the Czech school.

The lodge was formed with 14 charter members, who elected Miss Marie B. Skvor (later Mrs. A.W. Matyk) as their president. Vice president was Mrs. L.J. Palda; secretary, Mrs. K.T. Kirchner; financial secretary, Mrs. Joseph Basek; and treasurer, Mrs. V.A. Jung.

The first of many fundraisers the lodge sponsored was a bazaar held in the Ceska Beseda club rooms in the Magnus block on South Second Street. This was followed by programs, lectures and more bazaars. The proceeds of each event were designated for the building.

In 1898, the lodge established a free reading room and library for Czech children on the second floor of the C.S.P.S. Hall on South Third Street. The library included the best in children's literature translated into Czech as well as original Czech works.

The Bohemian Reading Society made an offer to the Damska Matice Skolska lodge. In exchange for the reading society's support, the lodge's proposed Czech school building would include a library room for the society's books.

On July 13, 1900, a building committee was formed. Dieman & Fiske, Cedar Rapids, were the school's architects, and Fred J. Brown became the contractor and builder. Brown, also from Cedar Rapids and a partner with Louis Zika, was the builder of the city's Auditorium and the Old Ladies' Home.

Construction began at the corner of Tenth Avenue and Second Street on a 60-by-140-foot lot owned by the lodge. Most of the school's construction cost of more than $10,000 had been raised. Druggist W.F. Severa supplied the school's furniture.

Bustling School

On Jan. 1, 1901, the 2½-story brick building, the first in the United States erected specifically to be used as a Czech school, was dedicated.

Floor plans for the basement allowed for one school room with a 10-foot ceiling, a hall and cloak room, a furnace room and bathrooms. The classroom was used for a sewing room and to accommodate night classes.

The main floor had two school rooms, each 23 by 32 feet, divided by a hall with four cloak rooms. The top floor had a school room and a library and reading room. Eight dividers could be folded back to allow for one large room for assemblies.

When public school was in session, classes were held Saturdays or Sundays. But when public schools closed for summer, the Bohemian school opened for half-day sessions on weekdays as well.

The Bohemian school was non-sectarian and open to everyone. Because the Czech language was prevalent in Cedar Rapids, parents of other nationalities decided to send their children to the school to learn the language.

While in the United States for an international conference in 1907, Prague University professor Thomas Masaryk gave a lecture at the school. The topic was 'The Ideals of Progressive Bohemian Youth.'

He told his audience, 'You who come to America should first of all learn to speak the English language. … But while you should work indefatigably for the advancement and good of the community in which you live, you need not therefore abandon your Bohemian traditions and your interest in Bohemian history and institutions.'

Masaryk became president of Czechoslovakia after World War I.

Building Re-purposed

The school was popular and well-attended for nearly half a century, but eventually interest waned. In 1951, building repairs and sparse attendance led to the sale of the school building to Andrew Pohlena, and Czech classes returned to public school classrooms.

Pohlena preserved the school's original cornerstone when he and his partner Bob Kapoun remodeled it into a sausage factory. He had an alcove built around it in the wall of the passage from the new retail section to the wholesale and factory part of the building. The remodel and three additions increased floor space by almost four times and cost $20,000. Added were a retail store, a kitchen and smokehouse and a ramp. It had an annual output of about 6 million hot dogs delivered by two refrigerated trucks to Cedar Rapids and surrounding areas.

Three years later, Andrew Pohlena was the sole owner, operating the business with his son, Milton.

Pohlena retired Dec. 1, 1970, selling the business to Donald Cerwick of Cedar Rapids. The business retained the Pohlena name for a few years before it became D&N Markets.

Since the 1980s, several companies operated from the building until the Floods of 2008, when the building's lower level was inundated by floodwaters.

Marshall Godwin opened the Czech School Deli out of the former Pohlena retail store in 2011.

l Comments: (319) 398-8338; diane.langton@sourcemedia.net