Piece of History: Cedar Rapids City Hall sold in 1909

Cedar Rapids auctioned off several city buildings — including City Hall — on a Monday morning, March 1, 1909.

At that time, City Hall was in a brick building — the former Empire hotel — at the corner of Third Avenue and Second Street that had housed city officials for nine years.

According to the Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette, the decrepit building had “furnished material for more vaudeville jokes than the proverbial mother-in-law.”

Col. Edward Swem bought the building for $47 and did not comment publicly what he planned to do with the structure. City offices moved to the old Smulekoff building on May’s Island and then, in 1928, into the new Veterans Memorial Building on the island.

Some of the buildings that were auctioned in 1909 were in better shape and could be easily moved to other locations as dwellings. The police matron's cottage, for example, included five rooms, a bath and a heating apparatus.

The cottage, police station and city barn were sold together for $572, equivalent to almost $20,000 today.

Some buildings could not be moved in one piece, and the lumber was repurposed.

Tara Templeman is curator at The History Center. Comments: curator@historycenter.org