Times of our lives

10 YEARS AGO: 2004

June 29: Cedar Rapids lawyer Tyler Johnston said he found his release from courtroom pressures in standup comedy. The 43-year old Johnston was a public defender by day and a standup comic at Penguins Comedy Club by night. Johnston described himself as 'seldom funny in the courtroom and never lawyerly in the comedy club.”

June 29: Coralville resident Mae Ewalt reflected on the changes she had seen in the community during her 75 years as a resident on the eve of her 97th birthday. Mae and her late husband, Merrit, married and moved to Coralville in 1930 at the height of the Great Depression. Mae said their biggest worry during the hard economic times of the 1930s was finding enough money to provide three meals a day for their children and making their $12-a-month house payment. A Coralville park recently was named after Mae's husband, who was mayor of the city in 1953.

20 YEARS AGO: 1994

July 5: Coralville residents paused to recall the disastrous flood of 1993. On July 5, 1993, water from the Coralville Lake, upstream from Coralville and Iowa City on the Iowa River, went over the spillway for the first time since the Coralville Dam was built in 1958. Water continued to run over the spillway until Aug. 2, closing Dubuque Street in Iowa City from July 5 through Sept. 18. Meanwhile businesses along the Coralville strip struggled to survive. Coralville's Donutland, built a foot higher than surrounding businesses, escaped the floodwater. However, employees had to wade through surrounding floodwater to deliver doughnuts to people at the end of the street. Mekong Restaurant owners Bin and Lan Nguyen, immigrants from Vietnam in 1974, struggled to keep their business alive after it was flooded with up to 3 feet of water three times by nearby Clear Creek. The Nguyens were able to survive the flood despite a bank refusing to give them a loan by relying on credit cards and family financial support.

Dentist Hal Harris returned from a Fourth of July vacation with his family to North Dakota to find 6 feet of water in his basement office on the Coralville strip. After the water had started to recede, a new crest July 11 again filled his office. The disaster eventually forced Harris to sell his practice to another dentist.

July 3: The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration announced plans to build a retreat complex on 70 acres north of Boyson Road and east of Robbins Road in northeast Cedar Rapids. Dubbed Prairiewoods, the sisters envisioned a center for spiritual and educational experiences, complete with walking trails and a conference center for business and spiritual retreats. A special feature of the $1.5 million project was construction of several hermitages - small one-room buildings where people could go for several days or a week for solitude and contemplation.

50 YEARS AGO: 1964

July 4: Cedar Rapids residents looking for Fourth of July fireworks displays headed for the city's two drive-in movie theatres. The Cedar Rapids Drive-In, corner of Highway 149 and Highway 30 west, offered a three-bill comedy lineup, kicking off with Jerry Lewis and 'The Nutty Professor.” The Twixt Town Drive-In, along Old Marion Road and First Avenue NE, offered free sparklers for kids, outdoor amusement rides and a 'giant” aerial fireworks display. Admission for adults was $1. Children under 10 were admitted free.

July 5: The last of the downtown mansions that once lined First Avenue East from Fourth Street to Coe College was scheduled for demolition. The 80-year-old John Bever mansion featured eight fireplaces, 21-inch-thick brick walls, a jewel-tone Tiffany chandelier in the entrance hall and a third-floor ballroom. Land purchased from the Bever family's original 1850s pioneer estate is now part of modern-day Bever Park.

75 YEARS AGO: 1939

July 2: The Quaker Oats Co.'s new flag was eliciting comments from awed Cedar Rapids residents. The company flew its mammoth American flag atop its main building to commemorate the Fourth of July. As large as a city block, the flag weighed more than 50 pounds and took two men to hoist it up the 75-foot flagpole.

July 2: Cedar Rapids street workers on Third Avenue SE had a surplus of summer 'sidewalk superintendents” for the city's summer street repair. Men of all ages lined the barricades along Third Avenue to watch the removal of streetcar track and the laying of 400,000 bricks for paving the major thoroughfare. The machines drawing the most comments from sidewalk gawkers included the 'jackhammer” and the 'steam” shovel (which actually ran on gasoline).

100 YEARS AGO: 1914

July 25: The city's new bath house and bathing beach for women at the tip of May's Island was drawing large crowds. Bath house manager Lucille Krebs said the 100 wool bathing suits quickly were rented by eager swimmers.