Downtown Cedar Rapids out of steam

A long tradition has ended in Cedar Rapids. For more than a century, a giant steam system heated much of the downtown area. Tuesday, Alliant Energy shut it down.

Steam had come out of this plant for the last 117 years, and except for the flood, Alliant Energy says the system had never gone all of the way down.

The flood severely damaged the plant where Alliant made the steam, and in order to provide the heat, it brought in temporary boilers at a significantly higher cost to operate.

For a majority of customers, that meant switching heat sources in buildings.

Despite the change, Alliant will still operate its high pressure system for a few major companies.

Among them is Quaker Oats, which will use the system until next Spring.

It's not just the steam system that was historic, the plant itself was too.

Alliant's Scott Drzycimski said, "The plant was the first alternating current plant on the west side of the Mississippi, and it was one of three others when it opened across the country providing alternative current."

Other plants were providing direct current, which is now primarily used in batteries.

Earlier this year businesses that were on the system applied to the Federal Government for help in paying for the switch over to a different system.

They have yet to hear back.