116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
History Happenings: Finding history at the downtown Cedar Rapids post office
Small display case reveals some gems
When you think about spots around Linn County that preserve and share our collective history, several places likely come to mind.
The History Center, of course, and also Brucemore, the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art and its Grant Wood Studio, the African American Museum of Iowa, the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library, the Marion Heritage Center & Museum, the Granger House, the Iowa Masonic Library and Museum, the Genealogical Society of Linn County, all of the area public and academic libraries, and the full range of historical societies and foundations in cities throughout the county.
All of these are wonderful resources for anyone — like your authors — who is fascinated by the ways in which the history of Linn County has shaped its present and points toward its future. But they are not the only sources of historical information in the area. Little pockets of local history can be found in some unexpected places.
When the younger of your two writers needed to apply for a passport recently, we spotted one such pocket of history at the Pasker Post Office Building in Cedar Rapids.
There’s a good chance you think of that post office, at 615 Sixth Ave. SE and built in 1964, as the “downtown post office,” but it was named for Sgt. 1st Class Terryl L. Pasker by an act of Congress in 2016. Pasker was in the National Guard and was killed in July 2011 while serving in Afghanistan, just eight days before the end of his tour.
Artifacts
Immediately as you enter the portion of the post office that includes the customer service counter, you’ll see a small display case doing double duty as a spot for post office signs and brochures.
It’s easy to walk by the case without a second glance, but if you pause for a moment, you will be treated to a small collection of fascinating artifacts nestled in some patriotic garland and a couple of disposal cups holding faux flowers.
The first item that might catch your eye is a leather holster stamped “Property of U.S. Post Office Department.” Our research suggests the holster was probably used to hold a tool rather than a gun (though the history of firearms and the postal service is long and fascinating).
Next, your eye might fall upon a battered copy of The Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette dating from Jan. 9, 1904. (It took a little sleuthing to uncover the date since it is not visible in the display).
While only about a quarter of the page in question is viewable in the display, it turns out that the article, titled “The Men Who Wear the Grey,” was a full page devoted to “Portraits of Small Army of Men Who Handle Mail for People of This City.” A picture of Postmaster W.R. Boyd can be seen in the paper on display.
The old post office
The Gazette’s full page also featured a photo of the Cedar Rapids post office building at 305 Second Ave. SE (only its highest point is visible in the display). It’s a far more ornate and imposing structure than those found in Linn County today.
Construction of that building, built in the Romanesque style, started in 1892. In 1908, it was enlarged and converted to the Renaissance Revival Style. It’s now known as the Witwer Building.
The display also includes a letter dated April 2, 1894, notifying postal officials in Cedar Rapids that a bid had been accepted to complete work on the post office building, which also served as the federal court building.
It reads: “In accordance with the approval of the Acting Secretary of the Treasury, I have this day accepted the proposal of Alexander Dawson of Toledo, Ohio, the lowest received under advertisement dated December 29, 1893, and opened at this office January 25, 1894, for furnishing all the labor and material required for the interior finish, plumbing and approaches for the building in your charge.”
Returning to the 1904 Evening Gazette on display, under the heading “Volume of Business,” the article reported: “It is an interesting fact that a letter mailed at the Cedar Rapids post office can reach any other office in Iowa within 24 hours, or if it be mailed here any time in the evening up to midnight, it will be on the desk of a business man in Chicago, Omaha, Kansas City or St. Louis when he comes down to his office the next morning. A prompt answer to any such communication will be received here that evening.”
Others?
We’d love to receive “such communication” from you. What other overlooked history displays should we explore in Linn County? Write to us at historicalclines@gmail.com.
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.
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