Mr. History Man

We are all familiar with “Music Man” and Meredith Wilson's ties to Mason City but are you familiar with Cedar Rapids resident I would title Mr. History Man? This person is Mark Stouffer Hunter. He is the most knowledgeable person that I have met regarding the history of our community. I recently had the chance to do the Cedar Rapids Downtown Walking Tour with him. He shares information about the buildings, architecture of the buildings and the business owners who constructed these magnificent facilities. He also relates interesting stories such as the arrival of the railroads, the library, schools churches and more.

One story that I found most interesting about the arrival of the railroads was that the city fathers decided to close Fourth Street and to allow for the railroads to enter the downtown. With the arrival of railroads, Cedar Rapids flourished and grew.

Another story that Mark shared was about when to our city fathers were designing the community. They felt it was necessary to make First Avenue very wide to impress people upon their arrival. First Avenue still remains the same width and has never had to be widened.

You too can experience Mark's historical downtown walks. He conducts the tours on the fourth Saturday of each month between May and September. The tours depart from the Carl & Mary Koehler History Center at 1:00pm. The tour is $7 for adults, $6 for History Center members and $5 for children ages 8 and up. Tickets may be purchased at the History Museum.

Mark's wife, Jan also provides a similar guided walking tour of the Historic Czech Village. Her tours are the first Saturdays of the month and depart from the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library's Kosek Building at 1:00pm. Tickets are available at the NCSML Museum.