Looking back at Linn County rest areas

We’ve been thinking about rest areas of late. The two rest stops just south of Cedar Rapids on Interstate 380 are being impacted by major construction projects, and the occasional slowdowns in their vicinity led us to muse about these oases for travelers who need a restroom, a snack, a chance to stretch, or all three. We also found ourselves curious about the decision to give the northbound rest area a Grant Wood theme — and what the artist himself might have thought of that.

That last question is unanswerable, of course, but other questions about the Linn County rest areas can be answered by diving into the Community History Archive maintained by the Cedar Rapids Public Library.

A water quality problem

Before the Linn County rest areas were even constructed, there were issues with water quality at various existing stops across the state.

The Gazette reported on the issue in the Wednesday, Jan. 28, 1968, edition:

“Water supply systems—pumps, tanks, etc.—in every one of the state’s pairs of interstate rest areas need to be improved. Water systems in four rest areas now under construction and four more planned for next year will have to be redesigned.”

The Linn County rest areas were among those needing a redesign to solve a number of issues.

“Lime and minerals were found to be building up in the plumbing, fixtures are being stained by iron and sulfates in water at some of the rest areas hurt the flavor, and it was reported, tend to give the water laxative properties,” according to the Gazette.

If rest areas were a for-profit endeavor, that last issue might be a savvy, if underhanded, business strategy, but of course, “laxative properties” were definitely not desirable.

Setting Iowa rest areas apart

The rest areas on I-380 were officially approved on March 31, 1970, at a cost $519,000. By 1974, they were still in offing as construction continued on the interstate. In May of that year, The Gazette reported on two distinctive features setting Iowa’s rest areas apart from others around the nation.

“Unlike rest areas in Kansas, which resemble wigwams, or those in New Mexico, which are patterned after adobe houses, Iowa’s facilities were not designed to conform to a particular state feature. The state has gained nationwide attention because each rest area has been modified for easier access by handicapped travelers. The height of curbing has been reduced to accommodate wheelchairs, all doors are at least three feet wide, and support bars have been installed in toilet areas for added convenience.”

Concert crackdowns at rest stops

Our research revealed that worries about crime and how best to address it were part of the discussion of rest areas in Iowa from the very beginning. On July 31, 1991, however, The Gazette reported on a specific law enforcement project pegged to certain kinds of concerts.

“Joe Hanrahan would love to see tonight’s hard-rock concert featuring David Lee Roth at the Five Seasons Center…But he won’t see Roth tonight unless the eccentric singer is among those arrest for drunken driving and other offenses around the rest area on Interstate 380 south of town.”

The pull-quote for the article made a clear distinction between enforcement efforts for different sorts of concerts. “We’re definitely a lot busier during these concerts than with the Barry Manilows or Lawrence Welks,” Hanrahan, a police sergeant, said.

The Gazette reported that the first crackdown happened a year earlier after a Motley Crue concert. Thirty-five officers issued 184 tickets and arrested two people that night. The efforts involved three plainclothes police officers stationed at the rest area who relayed information to other officers in squad cars who pulled cars over and issued citations.

Wood tribute adorns northbound rest stop

By 2012, the idea that Iowa’s rest areas should be plain had clearly lost some of its luster. Construction of the Grant Wood-inspired northbound rest stop was underway. The Gazette reported several months before the opening:

“The rest area will feature…a ‘5 Turner Alley’ banner representing the address of Wood’s Cedar Rapids studio. The design and color in the terrazzo floors will mimic the undulating Iowa hills featured in many of Wood’s landscape painting. A backlit Gothic window will mark the entrances, and the men’s and women’s restrooms will be denoted by—you guessed it—the farmer and his wife from Wood’s iconic painting, ‘American Gothic.’” (Yes, your authors know the subjects of the painting are not actually a farmer and his wife.)

After the rest area opened in August 2012, The Gazette article joked, “Art and art criticism go hand-in-hand, and reviews of the rest area aren’t in yet.”

If you have thoughts on the Wood-honoring rest area (or memories of the Linn County rest areas that are fit to print), we’d love to hear them. Write 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. Comments: HistoricalClines@gmail.com