History Happenings: Christmas lights in Linn County

As we approach the end of the year, we must admit that your authors have been, on occasion, accused of engaging in more than a little “Grinchiness.” Never fear — we have no intent of stealing anyone else’s holiday joy, but friends, we must confess that we struggle to come by our own.

Still, even the most Grinch-like among us must accept that in Cedar Rapids, and Linn County more broadly, some of the magic that makes the holidays so special can simply be stumbled upon in and amongst our streets.

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It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

When you drive through downtown Cedar Rapids, it is hard to miss the skywalks that can be used to navigate the area.

In 2023, Tara Templeman — a colleague of ours at the History Center — reported that the skywalk at the First Avenue and Third Street SE corner was erected in 1985 by Merchants National Bank. The skywalk itself was built in such a way that the bank could close to the public, but the skywalk system would remain accessible — no doubt essential for shoppers attempting to navigate downtown in spite of bitter cold, ice, and snow.

The addition was built primarily for two reasons.

First, the new addition to the skywalk system provided the City of Cedar Rapids with another canvas for public holiday décor. To make this process easier, a curved ladder was “…mounted on a track so the skywalk windows could be cleaned, and holiday decorations could be easily installed.” Second, “[a] space was left between the bank building and the skywalk to allow a ‘chimney’ for exhaust from cars and trucks below and also to allow more light into the bank’s offices.”

Today, Cedar Rapids’ skywalks remain a hub for decorations this time of year. Next time you find yourself downtown, we’d encourage you to take a look around — and up specifically — at this year’s installations.

Speaking of the ’80s…

On Dec. 14, 1988, the Cedar Rapids Gazette provided readers with a guide to the holiday lights and displays in the area. We thought it would be fun to take a look back at the descriptions of some of those displays.

However, first things first, we wanted to mention that the article takes a brief moment to recognize a classic holiday display that you can still find in Cedar Rapids: the tree made of lights that reliably sits atop Quaker Oats.

Displays in northeast Cedar Rapids

At the Susie Wawro residence, more than 200 lights were on display that Christmas. The display included Santa, his reindeer, poinsettias, and evergreen trees on the deck.

Similarly, the Laurence M. Wise residence put up a display with a Santa and a toy-filled sleigh.

Ed and Brenda Griffith went even bigger at their home. Certainly, they had at least 1,000 lights, Rudolph, and a sleigh with toys. However, they upped the ante by adding a manger scene, a toy train, and wooden cutouts of classic Disney characters including Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, and Winnie the Pooh. Further, they had two speakers playing holiday music.

Lighting up northwest Cedar Rapids

1988 marked the 10th season of a large holiday display that could be found at the Daniel Jean and Tiffani Dolph residence.

At the time, the Gazette described the display: “…[it] includes four large candles, a large Santa and a manger scene. Several large trees and shrubs are decorated with red lights. Motion lights outline the house.”

Don’t forget Marion

Marion was also getting in on the holiday fun. Among others, the article highlighted the work of Frank and Judy Cortez who had put up a display with more than 24,000 lights. They noted that “Santa greets the public every night, starting at 6 o’clock, through Dec. 23.”

Lights in Hiawatha

In Hiawatha, the Gazette reported that Mr. and Mrs. Elbert Westpfahl had put up more than 3,500 lights on their house, windows, garage, fence, and bushes. Among the lights you could see a Nativity scene, Santa and his reindeer, and a snowman.

Lighting the way to the new year

We hope that we have inspired you and your loved ones to take a drive around your community in search of this year’s holiday displays. We tend to find that a little light in the darkness, well, that’s enough to cure anyone of a little Grinchiness.

We look forward to returning in the new year with more Linn County history.

Jessica Cline is a Leadership & Character Scholar at Wake Forest University. Her dad, Rob Cline, is not a scholar of any kind. They write this monthly column for The History Center. Comments: HistoricalClines@gmail.com