116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Time Machine: The Killian way
Store was downtown Cedar Rapids mainstay from 1911 to 1982
The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
It was 1908 and time for the old Empire House Hotel at Third Avenue and Second Street SE in Cedar Rapids to make way for new development. The old hotel had been built in 1854 and remodeled into a temporary City Hall in 1899. The city sold the land where the hotel sat for $66,500 to Cedar Rapids contractor Mike Ford, and moved City Hall to the former Smulekoff’s building on May’s Island.
The Third Avenue lot was considered prime development land. In 1910, the Fidelity Realty Co. chose it as the site for the new Fidelity building. Elmer A. Higley, Samuel G. Armstrong and U.S. Rep. James W. Good of Iowa were the principal stockholders.
The 120-by-140-foot, six-story, fireproof mercantile building would house Killian’s, one of the largest department stores in downtown Cedar Rapids and the largest store in the Killian chain.
Killian Co. first established its presence in Cedar Rapids when it bought the John H. Taft & Co. dry goods store on First Avenue East in 1911.
The Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette carried Killian’s statement of policy: “Our great aim will be to make trading with us a pleasure; new creations, up-to-date methods and merchandise worthy of this city’s demands will be our main object and pride.
“In short, it is our intention to maintain a store that will compare favorably with similar institutions in the larger cities, a store which will enable the shoppers of Cedar Rapids and adjacent territory to make their selections and buy their merchandise satisfactorily from a stock that will compare favorably in both quality and variety to those in larger cities.
“Every piece of merchandise that goes from the store is with the guarantee of the firm, to be returned if not satisfactory. That is the Killian way.”
Nebraska brothers
After two years of rapid growth, Killian’s leased the newly completed Fidelity Building.
The Killian brothers were from Nebraska, where they owned department stores in Wahoo, Cedar Bluffs and Norfolk. Edward Killian chose to move to Cedar Rapids to run the new store, with help from his brother A.L. and cousin James Killian.
Getting the new store ready was a gargantuan task. The staff and owners “work all day in the present store and all the night in the new store,” The Gazette reported. “The Killians themselves work all night. Yesterday at 10:30, one of them, after working all night, had not even had time to go to breakfast.”
In the process of moving from the old First Avenue store, the big electric Killian sign was to be removed from the building, but the ropes holding the sign slipped and it fell to the sidewalk. One of the heavy timbers holding the sign hit a worker, causing a head injury, though he survived.
Signs, sales, expansion
In 1925, Killian’s petitioned the city council for permission to erect a new double-faced vertical electric sign, 36 feet high and 6 feet wide, to be hung at the corner of the building. It would be the largest electric sign in the city, and the dimensions exceeded the building code at the time.
The code was soon changed, and the sign went up two months later.
One of the annual traditions in the Killian store’s early years was the “9-day, 9-cent sale.” It started with William Lawrence, who headed the house furnishings department. Lawrence thought up the special sale in 1911, during which all prices included the number 9.
In January 1964, Herbert Killian, A.L.’s son and president of the new Metro Development Co., announced plans to build a 312-car parking ramp connected to the Killian store. The price tag was $1 million.
Killian’s Corridor presence expanded to Lindale Mall in 1959 and to Sycamore Mall in Iowa City in 1969.
Stories originating from the Killian store included ones about the Grill, originally called the Men’s Grill in 1932. It was the place for card games and conversations. A table in the Grill’s rear corner became the domain of businessmen who liked to debate the events of the day.
Another story, published in The Gazette in 1981, concerned a young boy’s wish for a Christmas gift for his mother. There was no dad in the home, just his mom and three older brothers. There also was no money for a tree or presents.
He had a $1 food stamp, so he offered that to the Killian store clerk for a flower-filled glass globe. Sadly, it cost $4. But store employees who had observed the youngster’s plight hatched a plan.
They gathered donations of a small tree, decorations, money for gifts, and pledges of clothes and toys for the family.
Closing in 1982
By 1981, the economy and retail environment had changed. Killian’s had sold its stores in Iowa City and Lindale Mall. Killian CEO Harold Wendorf said the company planned to expand its downtown store, but on Sept. 2, 1982, the store closed its doors. In mid-December, the property was sold to Bohemian Savings & Loan.
The huge Killian sign came down in January 1984.
The Killian building is now an office building known as 201 Town Centre.
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