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Time Machine: Forgotten landmark

1869 linseed oil building razed in 1961

Diane Fannon-Langton

Feb. 10, 2026 5:00 am, Updated: Feb. 10, 2026 7:42 am

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While the old linseed oil plant on Sixth Street NE was mainly of stone construction, this photo, taken in January 1961, shows some brick was used, too. It was solid construction and probably could have stood for another 100 years if there had been use for it.
While the old linseed oil plant on Sixth Street NE in Cedar Rapids was mainly of stone construction, this photo, taken in January 1961, shows some brick was used, too. It was solid construction and probably could have stood for another 100 years if there had been use for it. (Gazette archives)

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The photos, published in the Jan. 29, 1961, Gazette were stark. The headline was, too: Death of a landmark.

The photos, by longtime Gazette photographer John McIvor, showed the demolition of a nearly century-old, five-story manufacturing plant on Sixth Street NE that was deemed solid enough to stand another hundred years, if only a use could have been found for it.

Linseed oil

The land was once owned by early real estate developer Nicholas B. Brown, Judge George Greene and the Ely family.

Cedar Rapids Oil and Lint Works bought the property in 1869 to process linseed oil from flax. Ads in area newspapers solicited local farmers to plant the company’s seed. “The company loans seed to good farmers and contracts the crop,” according to the ad in the Marion Register, signed by W. B. Mack, secretary of the company.

This 1886 photo shows the Cedar Rapids Linseed Oil Co. building (left).
This 1886 photo shows the Cedar Rapids Linseed Oil Co. building (left). (Photo from collection of George M. Schmidt)

In August 1881, the company was reorganized as Cedar Rapids Linseed Oil Co. under Mack’s management.

The building, The Gazette reported in December 1885, “is built of Anamosa stone and is 60x34 feet, five stories high, with a wing 40x30 feet of the same height as the main building and a one-story engine room 20x20 feet.”

The brick warehouse had an iron roof, “40x120 feet with a storage capacity of 100,000 bushels of seed, and tankage capacity for 50,000 gallons of oil, besides their storage capacity for oil after it is barreled, which is from 20,000 to 25,000 gallons.”

The company was part of the American Linseed Oil Co., which was dismantled in 1898 in an antitrust suit.

Furniture next

The property sat empty until 1901, when George N. Leach decided to move his company from Independence to the Cedar Rapids building. G.N. Leach Manufacturing made indoor and outdoor furniture, retail store and bank fixtures, and specialized in lawn swings.

“Mr. G. N. Leach came to the city yesterday morning,” The Gazette reported Feb. 2, 1901, “and held a consultation with Directors (Samuel G.) Armstrong and (Robert A.) Wallace of the Commercial Club, who had determined to risk their own money in the necessary property, taking chances on being relieved of their burden by other members of the club later on.”

An unusual feature of the old linseed oil plant building on Sixth Street NE was the corners. The January 1961 photo shows pieces of stone sticking out in the same manner as logs on a log cabin.
An unusual feature of the old linseed oil plant building on Sixth Street NE was the corners. The January 1961 photo shows pieces of stone sticking out in the same manner as logs on a log cabin. (Gazette archives)

Leach learned that by moving to Cedar Rapids, he could save $600 — about $23,000 in today’s dollars — on shipping lumber.

The purchase wasn’t finalized until April because the property had to be released from a $6 million mortgage filed by American Linseed on all its property.

Leach repaired the buildings and began installing machinery to produce his products.

Manure spreaders

The building changed hands in 1904, when Cedar Rapids Implement Works moved into the building at C Avenue and Sixth Street NE. W.T. Jones was a senior member of the firm.

Manager C.W. West, son of Mount Vernon farmer Ely West, owned the patents on the manure spreaders to be manufactured at the plant.

Criss-crossing vapor trails of a jet bomber over the old linseed oil plant on Sixth Street NE provide a contrast between old and new in January 1961. The plant was being torn down tor new grain storage bins by Iowa Milling Co.
Criss-crossing vapor trails of a jet bomber over the old linseed oil plant on Sixth Street NE in Cedar Rapids provide a contrast between old and new in January 1961. The plant was being torn down for new grain storage bins by Iowa Milling Co. (Gazette archives)

“We have been jobbing the ‘Twentieth Century’ manure spreader in Iowa for the last three years, and our experience in the business has acquainted us with the weak points of all makes, has given us a knowledge of what the trade demands, and we are building the ‘Up-to-Date’ spreader to meet those demands,” West told The Gazette.

“We have been perfecting this machine for considerably over a year, and every point has been thoroughly tried and tested during the past season. We are therefore not offering an experiment, but a perfect working machine.”

In 1910, an item ran in the Gazette, “W.T. Jones, who has been struggling to build up a manure spreader factory here, has received a most flattering offer from Waterloo and will move his plant to that city.”

This building, being torn down to make way for new grain storage bins for Iowa Milling Co., probably was one of the oldest manufacturing buildings in Cedar Rapids when the photo was taken in January 1961. Sometimes reported to be more than 100 years old, it apparently is at least 90. The property was acquired in 1869 by the Cedar Rapids Oil and Lint Works for use in processing linseed oil from flax.
This building, being torn down to make way for new grain storage bins for Iowa Milling Co., probably was one of the oldest manufacturing buildings in Cedar Rapids when the photo was taken in January 1961. Sometimes reported to be more than 100 years old at the time, it apparently was at least 90. The property was acquired in 1869 by the Cedar Rapids Oil and Lint Works for use in processing linseed oil from flax. (Gazette archives)

Warehouse, demolition

Iowa Electric Light & Power Co. bought the property in 1918, using it for the next 40-plus years as a warehouse and storeroom for the utility.

In 1960, Iowa Electric traded the building to Iowa Milling Co. for land across the street where it wanted to build an electric substation.

For a very short time, the transfer to Iowa Milling put the building back in control of the industry for which it had been built. But Iowa Milling tore down the building the next year to build new grain storage bins.

Comments: D.fannonlangton@gmail.com

While the old linseed oil plant on Sixth Street NE was mainly of stone construction, this photo, taken in January 1961, shows some brick was used, too. It was solid construction and probably could have stood for another 100 years if there had been use for it.
While the old linseed oil plant on Sixth Street NE was mainly of stone construction, this photo, taken in January 1961, shows some brick was used, too. It was solid construction and probably could have stood for another 100 years if there had been use for it. (Gazette archives)
While the old linseed oil plant on Sixth Street NE was mainly of stone construction, this photo, taken in January 1961, shows some brick was used, too. It was solid construction and probably could have stood for another 100 years if there had been use for it.
While the old linseed oil plant on Sixth Street NE was mainly of stone construction, this photo, taken in January 1961, shows some brick was used, too. It was solid construction and probably could have stood for another 100 years if there had been use for it. (Gazette archives)
The old linseed oil plant on Sixth Street NE was mainly of stone construction. This photo, taken in January 1961, shows a little of the factory interior through one of the windows.
The old linseed oil plant on Sixth Street NE was mainly of stone construction. This photo, taken in January 1961, shows a little of the factory interior through one of the windows. (Gazette archives)
Article Tags Time Machine, Manufacturing
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