Ushers Ferry Historic Village plans for $1-million lodge

CEDAR RAPIDS - The city's Parks and Recreation Department is moving ahead with plans to build a new $1-million lodge at the city's Ushers Ferry Historic Village.

For now, the construction plan is premised on the city's receipt an estimated $568,128 in disaster funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency through a program that pays communities to invest in alternative projects when a disaster has destroyed existing public facilities.

The Flood of 2008 hit the historic village hard, and only 20 of the 36 buildings in the village before the flood are expected to survive under the city's plan, Julie Sina, the city's parks and recreation director, said on Tuesday.

Sina said plans call for two of the village's 36 buildings - a train depot and a grange hall - to be moved elsewhere. The train depot originally came from Olin in Jones County, and it may return there, Sina said.

The proposed lodge will be designed to fit into the period of the village's other buildings, 1890 to 1910.

Sina said the city expects to market the lodge as a nice place for weddings, company retreats, educational programs and small theater productions. The city hopes to secure additional funding to go with the expected FEMA funds in what Sina said is about a $1-million project.

Some 14 buildings in the village - along the Cedar River west of Edgewood Road NE and south of 42nd Street NE - before the flood and still in place are apt to be demolished, she said.