Cedar Rapids seeks grant funds for repairs at historic Seminole Valley Farm

CEDAR RAPIDS — The Seminole Valley Farm is many things: A turn-of-the-century farmstead, a nationally recognized historic site and a physical reminder of the agrarian lifestyle that dominated early Cedar Rapids history.

It’s also starting to show its age.

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“If you go out there today, the northwest corner of the (livestock) barn has holes in both the north elevation and the west elevation, and the foundation in that corner has collapsed,” said Cedar Rapids Parks & Recreation Director Carrie Mardorf. “A lot of the structural support for that corner is now gone, so you can see a lot of buckling and bowing in the roof as well.”

The 110-year-old barn is one of six buildings located at the farm site, which sits within Seminole Valley Park in northeast Cedar Rapids. It’s the largest building on the property — and the one most in need of repair.

The city recently applied for $50,000 in grant funding from the Iowa Barn Foundation to do just that, and staff are awaiting word on whether that application was successful. The matching grant would cover half the repair costs, with the city providing an additional $50,000 for the work.

Mardorf said those funds would support “emergency stabilization” at the site to ensure it remains safe and stable while city staff draft a more robust restoration plan for the barn and the surrounding farmstead.

“This funding, if we’re successful, is really just to shore the building up for the next five to 10 years to buy us some time to do a longer-term sort of preservation plan to truly look at what the barn needs overall,” she said.

If unsuccessful in obtaining the Iowa Barn Foundation funds, Mardorf said staff will continue to look for new funding sources to support both the emergency stabilization and long-term restoration.

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What is Seminole Valley Farm?

Going back to the mid-19th century, the land around Seminole Valley was primarily farmland and timber claims. It includes the area now known as Ushers Ferry Historic Village, as well as the Seminole Valley Farm.

Early development at the farm site included a log cabin built by Lafayette Franks in the late 19th century. The site was later sold to a Czech family who built a farmhouse in 1902 that still stands today.

Cedar Rapids special program and facility supervisor Ann Cejka said legend has it that the farmhouse was built using salvaged timber from a Cedar Rapids hotel that had served for a time as City Hall prior to its demolition.

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Other buildings came in time — including the addition of the livestock barn in 1915. Other structures still found at the site today include a windmill, two machine sheds, a summer kitchen and a chicken coop.

“There’s a lot of lore and history down there,” Cejka said. “From about 1902 when the farmhouse was built up, I’m going to guess the latest buildings there were probably built around 1950 or so.”

The city purchased the farmstead and the land around it in the 1960s and turned it into Seminole Valley Park. In 1976, the Seminole Valley Farm was listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its representation of a transitional era in Iowa’s agricultural history.

When still operational, the farm was a “truck farm" where produce was grown for direct-to-consumer sales at local markets. Fruits and vegetables would be grown on the farm and then trucked off to the surrounding areas for sale.

Now, the city leases the farmstead to a local nonprofit, The Seminole Valley Farm Museum, which helps educate the public on the space and use the surrounding land for historic reenactments.

By stabilizing the livestock barn and preparing a restoration plan for the site, Mardorf said the plan is to continue sharing the history of the Seminole Valley Farm for generations to come.

“This is the last intact and standing barn and farm in the Seminole Valley that was really used to grow all the food for Cedar Rapids” at one point, she said. “People may not know it, but it’s a pretty crucial part of our history, and we need to preserve it.”

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