Sifting through Kingston's history, pondering its future

A while back, I wrote about the city's new push to boost the area on the west side of the Cedar River across from downtown, including the possibility of dubbing it the “West Village.”

I wasn't keen on the name. Neither was reader Dale Brodt, who suggested Kingston Village, invoking the name of the once separate town that occupied that patch of west side real estate. I liked it. Seems fitting, with or without the “village.”

Yes, it's true. The west side was once its own town. Not everyone knows that.

“When they find out about that, they say, ‘No wonder we don't get along,'?” said local history expert Mark Hunter.

According to the “History of Linn County Iowa,” published in 1911, “Kingston City” had 350 residents, with three “religious societies,” two mills, two groceries, two blacksmiths and a “commodious building for school purposes.”

It was named after David W. King, who drove an ox team from Michigan to get here in 1839. King was not the first settler on the west bank. O. Bowling and Robert Ellis were already nearby. The Lichtebargers, Isaac, John and Joseph, were on the scene.

But King was the first to operate a ferry across the river. He was “a real promoter,” “liberal and public spirited,” freely giving away parcels of land for business and industry.

Unfortunately, King died in 1854 at age 46 after fighting a brushfire. In 1870, citizens of Kingston, regarded as that poor little village by its neighbors on the more prosperous east side, voted 441-13 to be annexed by Cedar Rapids. Hunter says the margin was wide, but Kingston's decision was driven largely by resignation, mixed with more than a little resentment. Some voters challenged the annexation, but the Iowa Supreme Court shot down their claims.

The seeds of an enduring east-west grudge, it seems, were planted.

What if King, that hustling namesake, had lived longer? What if the railroad from Cedar Rapids had gone through Kingston, instead of, curiously, crossing the Cedar farther north? Things could have been different.

Hunter is intrigued by the railroad's fateful Kingston bypass. He can't figure out why, exactly, it took that route. Could it be that Cedar Rapids leaders weighed in? Railroad fights were pretty dirty back in the day.

“The railroads were money. The railroads were opportunity. It was hard to let go of that once you had it. Cedar Rapids wanted to make sure it had control of this area,” Hunter speculates. Perhaps one of you has the evidence in your attic.

West-side pride revived around the turn of the last century. Hunter said between 1900 and 1930, residents tried to develop a thriving downtown commercial area in old Kingston's core, with the Louis Sullivan-designed Peoples Savings Bank as its anchor. There were successes, such as a new Smulekoff's store near the bank, and failures. Ultimately, World War I and the Great Depression dashed the effort.

Now, 80-plus years later, city leaders are trying again, with the same historic bank as an anchor. The idea is certainly public spirited, but will the private investment follow? Where's D.W. King when we need him?

But maybe, just maybe the 21st will be the west side's century. With redevelopment in its older neighborhoods, including Kingston, growth out west and prospects for a dramatically revived Westdale Mall, who knows?

By the way, Hunter is leading a walking tour of the Kingston area July 5 at 6 p.m. It starts at the Convention and Visitors Bureau.