Category: News

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 »

2018 Iowa Country School Preservation Conference

A Vanishing Heritage September 28-29, 2018 Winterset, Madison County, Iowa You are invited to the 19th annual conference focused on the preservation of Iowa country schools. In Madison County there were nearly 150 rural schools. Today only a handful remain in their original locations or have been preserved. We hope you come to share your… 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 »

Endangered: Wilson High School, Cherokee

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 »

Endangered: Carnegie Library, Rockwell City

Preservation Iowa’s Most Endangered 2018:  Carnegie Library, Rockwell City (Calhoun County) Completed in 1909 with city support and a grant from the Carnegie Foundation, this brick building served for 90 years as both the city library and community center. The structure hosted not only library patrons but also 4-H meetings, civic club meetings, fundraising luncheons,… Read more »

Endangered: White House Bathing Palace, Le Mars

Preservation Iowa’s Most Endangered 2018: White House Bathing Palace, Le Mars, Plymouth County The White House Bathing Palace first appears on the 1907 Sanborn map as containing a public bath house. Primary customers were railroad passengers stopping in Le Mars, but with the spread of indoor plumbing, its use as a public bath house diminished…. Read more »