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. In the past 30 years, Preservation Iowa has designated over 200 archaeological sites, commercial buildings, homes, churches, landscapes and a variety of other properties in 69 Iowa counties…. Read more »
In 2017 Preservation Iowa designated Red Bridge as an Iowa Most Endangered property. Since then a Save Red Bridge movement has formed. The endangered designation catalyzed citizens of Jasper County to petition the Board of Supervisors not to demolish it. Although the Board has yet to support the project financially, they have not obstructed efforts… Read more »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
Preservation Iowa’s Most Endangered 2018: Wilson High School, Cherokee (Cherokee County) This two-story former high School building at 100 E. Willow Street was constructed between 1915 and 1917. Built of brick and Bedford limestone in the Simplified Classical Revival Style, the structure was designed by Proudfoot, Bird, and Rawson of Des Moines who were well… Read more »
