116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Time Machine: Cedar Bluff
CEDAR BLUFF - Cedar Bluff, on the banks of the Cedar River, west of Tipton in Cedar County, never made it to incorporated status, although it often seemed that it might.
According to 'The History of Cedar County, Iowa,” a post office was established there in 1841 with the name 'Cedar River.” The name was changed to Gower's Ferry in 1849 after Robert Gower began running one of the first ferries in Cedar County.
Gower platted the village of Cedar Bluff in 1851 and Elias Shawver built the Cedar Bluff General Store in 1853. Steamboats made Cedar Bluff an important trade center, and the Iowa Central Railroad sent a survey team to plan a route from Lyons to Council Bluffs with a river crossing at Cedar Bluff.
Steamboats began to be replaced by rail, and the railroad to Cedar Bluff was abandoned after some of Cedar County's residents obstructed its progress.
Hope for growth sprung up again when the first bridge across the Cedar River in Cedar County was constructed at Cedar Bluff in 1877. Activity increased in the little village until two more bridges were built further south.
In the late 1880s, John M. May, for whom Cedar Rapids' May's Island is named, owned 200 acres of quarry and timber lands adjoining Cedar Bluff and wanted to turn the area into an industrial center. He advertised lots for homes and touted the hydraulic capabilities of the river at that point. Nothing ever came of it.
Robert Gower's survey notes stated that 'no better site for a dam exists along the Cedar River than at Cedar Bluff.” The river cuts through the bluff to form stone abutments and a stone base to which a dam could be secured. Rumors began to fly in the late 1920s that the Iowa Railway Light and Power Co. of Cedar Rapids was considering a dam at the site. The company purchased options on land along the river and made surveys and soundings. The options were never exercised.
The town once had three grocery stores, a blacksmith shop and three saloons before Prohibition. Its dance hall became a community center. Its scenic beauty and opportunities for fishermen drew a summer population that built cabins and summer homes.
Nevertheless, Cedar Bluff remained a small hamlet where parents transported their children 10 miles to school in Tipton. During World War II, gas and tire rationing made that a problem. Parents, general store owner Ray Benda and farmer Amos Suchomel among them, decided to purchase a 30-passenger school bus, charging families a fee for each child to offset gas, maintenance and a salary for driver Kenny Fankhouser. It worked out so well, that in a few years children in the surrounding area wanted to ride. A 48-passenger bus was purchased and Fankhouser drove 39 miles each morning to gather them all and another 39 to deliver them home in the evening.
Ray Benda also was Cedar Bluff's postmaster. He canceled his last stamp on Nov. 1, 1953, when the fourth-class post office closed after serving the community for 75 years. The village was served from then on by the Tipton post office. Benda and his wife, who had operated the general store for 30 years, sold it in June 1955 to their nephews, Maynard and Francis Suchomel. The store had been in the family since before 1900, passing from Benda's uncle to his father to Ray.
In 1972, the old bridge was replaced with a new one. Cedar Bluff's official population in 1975 was 38, but every Independence Day the village hosted hundreds more for a 'do-it-up-right” holiday celebration. More than 10,000 people were expected for the parade in 1986.
The Suchomels closed the general store in 1987. John Rummelhart and his fiancé Kristen Orgren bought the old store in September 1993 and began restoration work on it with the intent to turn the first floor into their home and the second floor into apartments.
In 2008, Mike Schmitz bought the general store.
This picture presents one of the contrasts strongly apparent in Cedar Bluff. Ups and downs in the history of the town have left a number of abandoned residences (in 1959) such as the one on the corner. In the background is the town's Community Hall. Built as a dance hall, the Community Hall is perhaps the town's largest building. One church building still stands in Cedar Bluff, but it is not used. In its busier days the town based not one but 3 grocery stores and even 3 saloons. Gazette photo, published July 12, 1959.
This bridge, built in 1877 at Cedar Bluff, was the first one to cross the Cedar River in Cedar County. It was replaced in 1972. (Gazette photo taken on July 12, 1959)
Three houses stand some distance from the Cedar River in Cedar Bluff, but the families that own them (the Palmers, Kurigers and Zapletals) kept large areas of the riverside land mowed and tended tor a large, private park. (Gazette photo taken July 12, 1959)
Amos Suchomel, Cedar Bluff area farmer, lived in town in 1959 in a neat little house across the street from the general store on whose walk he is standing in this picture. At the left is the old Cedar Bluff hotel. In the background down a steep hill is the Cedar River bridge which was built in 1877 replacing Gower's Ferry. Resident of the area all his life, Mr. Suchomel remembered such details in the town's history as the time Cedar Bluff had a harness maker who had a mustache so long he could tie the ends in bows. The harness he made by hand sold for $35. (Gazette photo taken July 12, 1959)
One of the finest new houses built in Cedar Bluff in 1959 was the residence of Joseph Philip Krouth of Rock Island, vice president of an electrical company and boyhood resident of the Cedar Bluff area. As yet uncompleted in this photo, the Krouth home had 6 rooms and bath and a full basement. Building at the right is not a garage, but a workshop, a place for fishing gear and other equipment. (Gazette photo taken July 1959)
Cedar Bluff in July 1959: Left is the old Cedar Bluff hotel; right is the general store. In the center, down a steep hill, is the Cedar River bridge built in 1877. (Gazette photo taken in July 1959)
Cedar Bluff, city of. The Cedar Bluff General Store in Cedar Bluff, Iowa. The store, built around 1876, was purchased by owner Frank Suchomel in 1955 and was joined in the business by his sister Millie Suchomel a few years later. The Suchomels retired from the business in 1987, and the store closed on (6-20) of that year. Cedar Bluff is located in western Cedar County (Cedar Co.), northeast of Iowa City. Photo June, 1982.
Cottages used by weekend fishermen line the riverbank in Cedar Bluff. (Gazette photo published July 12, 1959)
Storekeeper Frank Suchomel stands by the Cedar Bluff sign that hangs on the front of his general store in July 1959. The store was the hub to the little community that numbered about 140 residents. (Gazette photo published July 12, 1959)
Cedar Bluff in July 1959: Left is the old Cedar Bluff hotel; right is the general store. In the center, down a steep hill, is the Cedar River bridge built in 1877. (Gazette photo taken in July 1959)
Ray Benda, Cedar Bluff's last postmaster, sits in his summer cottage on the shores of the Cedar River at Cedar Bluff in July 1959. Benda was the former storekeeper at the general store before he retired in 1955 and moved to Iowa City. (Gazette photo published July 12, 1959)
Built in 1857, this house was the property of the Glenn Palmers, both of whom originally came from the Cedar Bluff-Solon area. Mrs. Palmer sits on the front porch of her home. After working in Milwaukee for 35 years, Mr. Palmer retired from the Wisconsin Electric Power Co. and came back with his wife to settle in Cedar Bluff. (Gazette photo taken in July 1959)
A new road in 1959 leads from Tipton, the Cedar County seat, to Cedar Bluff. This was the view of the little Cedar River hamlet in 1959 as you approach from the east. (Gazette photo published July 12, 1959)
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