Learn from preservation history

Reading The Gazette's 'Time Machine” piece on Sunday, it's tough to shake the sad thought of what might have been.

Diane Langton chronicled the history of Cedar Rapids' grand Union Station, greeted with a fancy gala at its 1897 opening and finished by the wrecking ball in 1961. In between, it was the city's ornate front door for scores of railroad travelers.

'Architecturally it is all that could be asked for, and adds much to the beauty of the Parlor City,” The Gazette said, describing the station. By 1957, railroad officials called it an eyesore, and four years later, the city had it demolished.

Time marches on, and old often must make way for progress. But the decision to tear down Union Station and replace it with a parking lot, which seemed perfectly reasonable at the time, now invokes a collective cringe. It's become a symbol of why historic preservation is important - because what we lose today is gone forever. Photos and newsprint are all that remains.

At least we can take solace in the fact that the preservation message is more loud and clear and urgent now. Certainly, preservationists still meet with frustration and defeat in their efforts to save the irreplaceable from oblivion. But victories are starting to catch up to all of those loses.

For example, Linn County just agreed to sell the 114-year-old riverfront Mott Building to a company with plans for 16 apartments and commercial space. It wasn't all that long ago that Mott seemed destined for demolition.

The city of Cedar Rapids is seeking to create a 'Downtown National Historic District” that would make historic properties eligible for tax credits that could be instrumental in their renovation and preservation. Fifty-nine historic buildings have been identified in the proposed district.

And although Smulekoff's will end its momentous run this week as one of downtown's historic retail anchors, its sturdy, iconic building likely will see new life in the years ahead, perhaps as a destination for residential and retail uses.

Cedar Rapids' history is among its most valuable cultural and economic assets. Preservation of that history should be a high priority for local leaders, especially as such remarkable growth is occurring in the city's oldest, core neighborhoods. Union Station is gone, but we can still put up a united front to save what heritage remains for future generations.

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