Time Machine: The Federal Building

CEDAR RAPIDS - A letter from Secretary of the Treasury William Windom, published in The Evening Gazette on Oct. 18, 1890, asked for suggested sites for a new public building in Cedar Rapids.

The property the government chose to buy was the site of a former Baptist church on the corner of Second Avenue and Third Street. The Gazette received a drawing of the proposed public building on Jan. 10, 1892, from former Cedar Rapids newspaperman Charles H. Playter, who was serving as chief of a Treasury Department division.

He described the building as 112 feet on Third and 52 feet on Second, 'a one-story affair, though the central portion is carried up two stories high, which will afford two or three office rooms on the second story. '

On the Second Avenue side was a three-story ornamental tower. The main entrance was on Third Street. At its lowest point, it stood 25 feet high. The top of the tower was 64 feet.

The city sought an additional $50,000 to add a second story to house the U.S. courts. A drawing of the building Cedar Rapids wanted was forwarded to the appropriations committee. The original design was kept.

In July 1892, immense rocks were laid for the foundation of the new Federal Building, contracts for the interior work were let on Jan. 1, 1894, and in January 1895, the Cedar Rapids Post Office was moved into the new Federal Building.

The new post office proved to be too small for a growing city. In the middle of a 1904 full-page tribute to Cedar Rapids' postal service, The Gazette said, 'It may be news to many to know that unless present signs fail, Congress will at the present session vote a large appropriation for a needed addition to the federal building, for the particular purpose of accommodating the post office and the office of the chief clerk of the railway mail service for this division.”

The plans Postmaster W.R. Boyd received from the Treasury Department architect for the remodeling and expansion showed a magnificent structure that bore little resemblance to the one it would replace.

'The new building, and it will be practically new in every particular” said a Gazette story, 'includes a thorough remodeling of the present building, a thirty-five foot extension the entire length of the building on the east side, and the addition of a third story. '

Originally scheduled to be completed by Nov. 1, 1909, the deadline was extended to Jan. 10 when severe weather hampered construction, but post office authorities were hopeful that they would be in their new home before winter. Fully enclosed in February 1909, interior work went forward, and good weather helped the roofers complete their work.

The basement housed two boilers for heating, a club room with showers for employees and storage space. The main floor was home to the post office, with doubled work space and offices for the postmaster and his assistant. The second floor was dedicated to the federal court and offices. Railway mail service took up the third floor along with jury rooms. A passenger elevator was installed. Natural lighting was utilized in the smaller offices located around the outside of the building and an immense 16 by 32-foot skylight around which the second and third floor corridors were arranged.

The finished building cost nearly $250,000.

Recently appointed Postmaster W.G. 'Billy” Haskell began moving into the new Federal Building on Friday, Jan. 14, 1910, before a Monday opening. He also appointed Ben Warren as assistant postmaster.

On March 21, 1910, the offices of the U.S. District Court clerk, commissioner, postal superintendent, revenue officer, marshal, district attorney and others who had been working out of the old Post Office Block at Second Street and Second Avenue were moved into the new Federal Building.

A new Federal building was constructed in 1931. The old Federal Building was sold to Weaver Witwer in 1937 and became a grocery store. Its later incarnations included the Witwer Senior Center and, currently, White Star Ale House and Regus offices.