Disaster Recovery in Cedar Rapids
After the waters receded in Cedar Rapids in June 2008, the work to rehabilitate and rebuild started. From 2008 to 2010, Preservation Iowa worked with the Cedar Rapids Historic Preservation Commission and historic building owners desperate to get repairs completed. Preservation Iowa’s Rod Scott was on the ground in Cedar Rapids providing technical, practical, and emotional assistance along the way. Preservation Iowa also launched efforts to assess damage to sacred places and to expand the existing Bohemian Commercial Historic District to include the Czech Village, located across the Cedar River. Finally, Preservation Iowa worked with the local community to start efforts for architectural salvage, saving key historic features and materials from buildings needing to be demolished after the flood.
Download a PDF of Rod’s PowerPoint summarizing the first year of disaster recovery in the Czech Village
Consultation on Federal Undertakings
In addition to working with several historic building owners to complete state and federal historic tax credit applications, Preservation Iowa helped identify historic properties in flood-affected neighborhoods. As part of that consultation, we obtained the current list of historic properties in Cedar Rapids in a Microsoft Excel format.
Both FEMA and HUD invited Preservation Iowa to be a consulting party on federal undertakings related to 2008 disaster recovery. This consultation is required under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. As part of the consultation, Preservation Iowa obtained copies of architectural survey reports produced by The Louis Berger Group for the City of Cedar Rapids. These reports, linked below, identify historic properties and historic districts within the neighborhoods being considered as part of the FEMA and HUD buyout process. Many of reports are quite large, so in some cases, the photos have been split into a separate document.
Survey of Sacred Places in Cedar Rapids
During the summer of 2009, Preservation Iowa enlisted Zak Hingst from Iowa City to help assess flood damage to Cedar Rapids sacred places. In his report to Preservation Iowa, Zak writes:
The Flood of 2008 seriously impacted the faith community in Cedar Rapids. Nearly thirty churches and ministries were affected by the flood, to varying degrees. … Not only are these places vital to the community, but many of them are also housed in indispensable historic buildings. … Most of the faith groups affected by the flood are somewhere in the middle of the road to recovery. Some are in limbo, delaying decisions about the future of their buildings and their congregations pending decisions by the city about where and how to rebuild.
Reconstruction costs are daunting, especially for churches that own multiple buildings. Compounding this problem is the fact that most of the churches—as with most property owners in Cedar Rapids—did not have flood insurance. Even for those lucky enough to have insurance, construction costs have far outstripped payments. Thankfully the federal government instituted a policy change after Hurricane Katrina allowing FEMA recovery funds to go to community service organizations even if they have religious affiliations. … Churches themselves are still exempt, though. Even those already recognized as historic and listed on the National Register of Historic Places … are not eligible for federal funding or [federal] tax credits; they must rely on donations and volunteers.
Read Zak's full summary and view his assessment of recovery for Cedar Rapids Sacred Places.
Architectural Salvage in Cedar Rapids
Early in 2009, Preservation Iowa embarked on a new venture to assist the flood-ravaged community of Cedar Rapids in developing a sustainable architectural salvage and recycling operation. The operation was started with the guidance of Roger Gwinup of Iowa City, who for years has worked with Iowa communities to establish similar operations. Assistance was provided by the new AmeriCorps–Green Team members from Cedar Rapids, Cedar Falls, and Waterloo, as well as many private citizens of Cedar Rapids. Volunteers salvaged four large non-flood damaged old houses of their architectural materials. Old multi-panel doors, trim, and thousands of feet of original wood flooring were saved in this effort.
Since 2009, Save CR Heritage has continued salvage efforts in Cedar Rapids. This preservation-focused initiative works to remove and resell historic building materials from Cedar Rapids buildings that cannot be saved or relocated. Before demolition, items such as doors, windows, hardwood flooring, trim, and fixtures are salvaged, keeping valuable craftsmanship out of landfills and making these materials available to the public through periodic salvage sales. The approach supports environmental sustainability, funds preservation projects, and ensures that pieces of the city’s architectural history continue to live on in new homes and restorations, even when entire buildings cannot be preserved.