Waterloo is a city in and the county seat of Black Hawk County, Iowa, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census the population was 67,314, making it the eighth-most populous city in the state.
The Cotton Theatre, also known as Regent Theatre and Oster Regent Theatre, is a theater located at the corner of 1st Street and Main Street in downtown Cedar Falls, Iowa, United States. It was named for local Cedar Falls resident Frank Cotton who built the theater in 1909 and 1910.
The Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway (BCR&N) was a railroad that operated in the United States from 1876 to 1903. It was formed to take over the operations of the bankrupt Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Minnesota Railway, which was, in turn, the result of merging several predecessor lines, the construction of which began in 1869. The corporate headquarters were in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and it had operations in Iowa and in Minnesota. It was succeeded by the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway.
The Cedar Falls Independent Order of Odd Fellows Temple, in Cedar Falls, Iowa, also known as Odd Fellows Temple or 4th and Main Building, is an Independent Order of Odd Fellows building that was built during 1901–02. It is a 3+1⁄2-story building on a 46 feet (14 m) by 132 feet (40 m) base.
The Black Hawk Hotel is an historic building located in downtown Cedar Falls, Iowa, United States. It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. In 2017 it was included as a contributing property in the Cedar Falls Downtown Historic District.
Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railroad Passenger Station, also known as Rock Island Railroad Depot and the Rock Island Depot Railroad Museum, is a historic building located in Clarion, Iowa, United States. The station was built in 1898 by contractor A. H. Connor & Company of Cedar Rapids, Iowa for the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railroad (BCR&N). Clarion also had a Chicago Great Western Railway depot, no longer extant. At one time there were 14 trains that served the city. In 1903 the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway acquired the BCR&N, and this depot served that railroad. The single story, Romanesque Revival, brick structure measures 26 by 88.5 feet. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
The Black Hawk County Soldiers Memorial Hall, also known as Veterans Memorial Hall, is a Classical Revival veterans hall located at 1915 Courbat Ct. in downtown Waterloo, Black Hawk County, Iowa. It was built starting in June 1915 and first meeting was held there in December of the same year by the Grand Army of the Republic as a memorial to soldiers who died in the American Civil War. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988 due to its architecture and importance in local history.
The Chicago & Northwestern Passenger Depot and Baggage Room-Carroll, also known as the Carroll Depot is a historic building located in Carroll, Iowa, United States. It is an example of a replacement station built along its Iowa mainline by the Chicago and North Western Railway (CNW) in 1896. It replaced a two-story, frame, combination station that was first built in 1867 by its predecessor line, the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River Railroad. That building had experienced two fires. The CNW had built two branch lines from Carroll in 1877 and 1880, which increased business and necessitated a larger depot. The Carroll Express Building was also built across the street for further railroad use. A separate wooden freight house had been built in 1888. Chicago architect Charles Sumner Frost designed this station in the Romanesque Revival style. The baggage room is separated from the depot by a breezeway. Frost designed at least 15 stations for the CNW in Iowa and Nebraska and another 14 in the Chicago area. The building represents the prosperity of the line during the Golden Age of Railroads.
The Burlington, Cedar Rapids, and Northern Railroad-Rock Rapids Station, Railroad Track and Bridge is a nationally recognized historic district located in Rock Rapids, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. At the time of its nomination the district included one contributing building and three contributing structures.
Iowa Falls Union Depot is a historic building located in Iowa Falls, Iowa, United States. The Dubuque & Sioux City Railroad, an affiliate of the Illinois Central Railroad (IC), laid the first rail track to Iowa Falls in 1866. The following year the Iowa Falls & Sioux City Railroad, another IC affiliate, continued construction of the line to the west, and it reached Sioux City by 1870. They built a plain, two-story frame depot to serve Iowa Falls. The Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway (BCR&N) by way of its affiliate the Cedar Rapids, Iowa Falls & North Western, entered Iowa Falls in 1880. They built their own depot. It was basically another east–west route, but local business leaders desired a north–south route to serve the community.
The Waterloo Public Library is a historic building located in Waterloo, Iowa, United States. The public library was established there in 1896. It operated out of two rented rooms, one on the east side of the Cedar River and other on the west side. The Carnegie Foundation agreed to grant the community $21,000 to build this building and a similar amount for the east side branch on April 11, 1902. Waterloo architect J.G. Ralston designed both buildings in the Neoclassical style. They were both dedicated on February 23, 1906. The single-story brick structure has a projecting entrance pavilion capped with a triangular pediment that is supported by Ionic columns. Also noteworthy are the corner piers that feature bands of brick squares set into the stone. In 1977 voters in Waterloo approved a $3,650,000 bond referendum to renovate the city's 1938 post office and federal building to house the library. The post office vacated the building in 1979 when it relocated. The old library building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. It now houses law offices.
The Waterloo Public Library-East Side Branch is a historic building located in Waterloo, Iowa, United States. The public library was established here in 1896. It operated out of two rented rooms, one on the east side of the Cedar River and other on the west side. The Carnegie Foundation offered a grant of $30,000 to build a new library, but disagreements erupted over whether to place the building on the east side or west side of the river. They then agreed to grant $40,000 for a mid-river building, or the same amount for two buildings. In the end they agreed to grant the community $24,000 to build this building and a similar amount for the west side branch. Waterloo architect John G. Ralston designed both buildings in the Neoclassical style. Both were dedicated on February 23, 1906. The single-story Bedford stone structure was built over a raised basement. It is one of the few stone buildings in Waterloo. The building has a central portico with paired Ionic columns. It is part of a larger central mass that is oriented from front to back and sits across the lower hipped roof.
The LaPorte City Town Hall and Fire Station is a historic building located in La Porte City, Iowa, United States. The town hall/fire station portion of the buildings was completed in 1876, five years after the town was organized. The two-story, brick structure has a gable roof hidden behind a metal false front. A two-story brick addition was built onto the north side of the building in 1911 for a town jail. The fire station was housed on the main floor of the original building where the two round-arch doorways are located. The doorways were altered in 1950 to accommodate larger fire vehicles. A single story concrete block addition was built at the same time. The fire department operated from here until 1968, and the large doorways were restored to their original arched form in the 1970s. The second floor of the original building was utilized as the town hall until the 1930s when it moved to the former La Porte City Station. The space was rented to the local high school for classrooms until 1974. After the fire department moved out the building the FFA Agricultural Museum began to occupy part of the building, until it eventually occupied the whole facility. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. The museum moved to another building on Main Street in 2001.
John G. Ralston was an American architect who worked out of Waterloo, Iowa. A number of his works are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places for their architecture.
Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, also known as Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church, is a historic building located in Waterloo, Iowa, United States. The congregation that built this building was organized in 1861 as First Methodist Episcopal Church. They built church buildings in 1865 at Lafayette and East Fifth Streets, and then at East Fourth and Mulberry Streets in 1877. They changed their name to Grace in 1895. They completed this building at Walnut and East Fifth Streets in 1913. The brick, Neoclassical structure designed by Turnbill & Jones features a large central dome and a large classical portico with six Ionic columns. Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church acquired the building from Grace United Methodist in 1996. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.
The Chicago Great Western Railroad-Waterloo Freight Depot is a historic building located in Waterloo, Iowa, United States. In 1887 the Chicago, St. Paul & Kansas City Railroad (CSP&KC) was the third system to enter the city, after the Illinois Central (1870) and the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway (1876). The CSP&KC was the first of the three to put its depots in the downtown area. Initially it built two depots in Waterloo, one on the west side of the Cedar River and one on the east side. By 1892 it had built separate passenger and freight depots along East Sixth Street. That was the same year that the CSP&KC became known as the Chicago Great Western Railroad. In 1903 the railroad built new passenger and freight depots a block south, moving them closer to the city's wholesale houses. The two-story concrete block freight depot was built on a rough limestone foundation. It features round arch freight doors and a simple wood cornice. The concrete block addition on the southeast side replaced a frame gabled structure, but its construction date is unknown. The old brick passenger depot was torn down in 1973, and the freight depot was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. In 2001 the building, which is owned by the City of Waterloo, was leased to the University of Northern Iowa for its Center for Urban Education (UNI-CUE).
The Waterloo West Commercial Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district located in Waterloo, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014. At the time of its nomination the district consisted of 25 resources, including 22 contributing buildings, and three non-contributing buildings. The buildings are from one to three stories in height, and for the most part are clad in brick. The earliest building dates to 1882 and the latest, as of 2014, to 2000. For the must part they utilize the Victorian, Romanesque Revival, and Italianate commercial styles. Ornamentation is minimal. The buildings are all commercial structures with the exception of the former Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway Depot, designed by the Cedar Rapids architectural firm of Josselyn & Taylor. Several of the buildings housed automobile-related businesses that clustered along West Fifth Street beginning in the 1920s and 1930s.
Walker Station is a historic building located in Walker, Iowa, United States. The two-story frame building with bracketed eaves was completed in 1873 along the Burlington, Cedar Rapids, and Minnesota Railway tracks. The depot also served its successor railroads: the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern, and the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific. Typical of many railroad towns in the Midwest, this is the first building that was built here and the town grew up around it. It is an example of a combination depot that was used for both passenger and freight usage in smaller communities. Because it has a ground level brick platform, service here was primary passenger and light freight service. A higher level of freight service would have required a raised platform.
The Hotel President, also known as the Park Towers Apartments, is an historic building located in downtown Waterloo, Iowa, United States. The building was completed in 1929, and it opened as a "showcase hotel." In 1948, Paul "Pinkie" George and five other wrestling promoters from the Midwest founded the National Wrestling Alliance in the hotel. The manager of the hotel at the time was Lark Gable, the grandfather of Olympic gold medal winner Dan Gable. Various companies owned and operated the hotel until it was acquired in 1968 by Elders Inc., a nonprofit group of churches. They converted the building into subsidized housing. It was bought by local developers Brent Dahlstrom and Jim Sulentic in 2011 and they sold it to Huntley Witmer Development of Los Angeles. Huntley Witmer spent $12 million in 2015 renovating the building that continues to house 84 units of federally subsidized housing. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017.
The WCF & N Center Point Depot and Substation, also known as the Center Point Depot Museum, is a historic building located in Center Point, Iowa, United States. The Mission Revival building was constructed in 1914 by the Waterloo, Cedar Falls and Northern Railway, an interurban line that ran between the Waterloo – Cedar Falls area and Cedar Rapids. Passenger service ended here in 1956, and rail freight was discontinued in 1973. The station sat empty until it was renovated beginning in 1983. Other renovation projects were carried out 1998 to 1999 and 2013. The building was acquired by the Linn County Conservation Board in the early 1980s and turned into a museum and rest stop along the Cedar Valley Nature Trail, which follows the former rail bed. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.
