Category: Most Endangered

Endangered: Marshalltown Historic District, Marshalltown

Preservation Iowa’s 2019 Most Endangered List: Marshalltown Downtown Historic District, Marshalltown (Marshall County) The Marshalltown Downtown Historic District encompasses the 200 block of East Main to 100 block of West Main, and side streets from 3rd Street to 3rd Avenue from Church Street to State Street. The historic district was placed on the National Register… Read more »

Call for Nominations: 2019 Most Endangered

The Most Endangered Properties program started in 1995 to educate Iowans about the special buildings, sites, and structures that are slowly and gradually slipping away from us. The Most Endangered Properties program provides an excellent resource for media coverage and introduces owners of an endangered property to preservation advocacy and resources that can help preserve… Read more »

Documentary Premier: Iowa State Penitentiary

A new documentary about the oldest prison west of the Mississippi River will have its TV premiere at 8 p.m. Sunday (April 8) on WQPT, the Quad-Cities PBS station, and is available on DVD. Humanities Iowa partnered with Washington, D.C.-based filmmaker Dan Manatt on the hourlong film, “The Fort: 177 Years of Crime & Punishment… Read more »

Endangered: IOOF/Masonic Lodge Hall, Garnavillo

Preservation Iowa’s Most Endangered 2018:  IOOF/Masonic Lodge Hall, Garnavillo (Clayton County) This wood frame, Greek Revival structure was built in 1860 by I.O.O.F Lodge # 29, the first fraternal organization in Clayton County. The second floor of the building was used as a meeting/ceremonial room for the I.O.O.F, Masons and other lodges and the first… Read more »

Endangered: Otto Rudolph Furniture Building, Cherokee

Preservation Iowa’s Most Endangered 2018:  Otto Rudolph Furniture Building, Cherokee (Cherokee County) This two-story wood frame building at 208 W. Main may have been built as early as 1864 and consequently could be the oldest surviving commercial building in Cherokee. It is also one of only two frame buildings in the nationally designated Cherokee Commercial… Read more »

Endangered: Gasser Block 918 Court Ave, Chariton

Preservation Iowa’s Most Endangered 2018:  Gasser Block 918 Court Ave, Chariton (Lucas County) The Gasser Block constructed in 1875 is the oldest building on the south side of Chariton’s square and one of the largest. It also has the distinction of being one of only two 19th century structures on that part of the square… Read more »

Endangered: Sanxay-Gilmore House, Iowa City

Preservation Iowa’s Most Endangered 2018:  Sanxay-Gilmore House, Iowa City (Johnson County) Long believed to have been built in the late 1850s, recent research has revealed that the Sanxay-Gilmore House at 109 E. Market St. was built by 1843, making it likely the oldest remaining house within Iowa City’s original city limits. The two-story Greek Revival… Read more »

Endangered: Beach Building, Ackley

Preservation Iowa’s Most Endangered 2018:  Beach Building, Ackley (Hardin County) Charles Beach, a local entrepreneur and Civil War veteran, constructed this property in 1892 to house a music store downstairs and his residence in the second-story. In 1902, the Beach Building was one of the few surviving structures of a downtown fire that devastated the… Read more »

Endangered: St. Mary’s School, Waterloo

Preservation Iowa’s Most Endangered 2018:  St. Mary’s School, Waterloo (Black Hawk County) In 1922 St. Mary Catholic Church and School opened on the east side of Waterloo where many immigrants had settled. Many children of immigrant families would be educated at St. Mary’s including the five Sullivan brothers who attended the school before losing their… Read more »

Endangered: Star Theater, Sioux Rapids

Preservation Iowa’s Most Endangered 2018:  Star Theater, Sioux Rapids (Buena Vista County) John A. Meadows and Sons built the Star Theater in 1913. The brick building, designed by Nichols & Brown, was meant to house both a moving picture theater and a new home for the Republican Press newspaper. The theater closed in 1946 when… Read more »