Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Cedar Rapids

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Cedar Rapids

Cedar Rapids’ post office opened in 1882, and 41% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Cedar Rapids City Hall and Library and the St. Anthony's Church and School.

1882first post office
2on the National Register
41%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Cedar Rapids began, and where its name came from

When was Cedar Rapids founded?

1882

The Cedar Rapids post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Dayton (1873), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 382144 years

How did Cedar Rapids get its name?

Cedar Rapids was named from the whitewater on the Cedar River.

Founding year: the first Cedar Rapids post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓

What stands out about Cedar Rapids’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Cedar Rapids are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Cedar Rapids’ homes were built before 1962.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Cedar Rapids’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cedar Rapids’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Cedar Rapids came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Cedar Rapids.

Read it all →

Cedar Rapids got its start when the Burlington Railroad was extended to that point. The town site was platted in 1879. It was named from the whitewater on the Cedar River.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Cedar Rapids, 1873 to 1911

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1873Post officeThe Dayton post office opens
  3. 1882Post officeThe Dayton post office closes
  4. 1882Post officeThe Cedar Rapids post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1911BuiltSt. Anthony's Church and School is built
By decade

Cedar Rapids, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Cedar Rapids, Nebraska Main St E of 4th St2010Cedar Rapids, Nebraska Main St E of 4th StNEMap-doton-Cedar Rapids2005NEMap-doton-Cedar Rapids
On the National Register

2 historic places in Cedar Rapids

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
1994
Cedar Rapids City Hall and Library
Cedar Rapids City Hall and LibrarySt. Anthony's Church and School, built 1911
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Renaissance1
Romanesque Revival1
Georgian Revival1
Cedar Rapids City Hall and LibraryRenaissance
St. Anthony's Church and SchoolRomanesque Revival · Built 1911

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Cedar Rapids’s post office has been open since 1882. Another post office, Dayton, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Dayton
1873–1882
Cedar Rapids
1882–today
18701950today

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Cedar Rapids’ history

What year was Cedar Rapids founded?

The Cedar Rapids post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Cedar Rapids?

Two places: the Cedar Rapids City Hall and Library (listed 1994) and the St. Anthony's Church and School (2000).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.