Cedar Rapids, Iowa is one of the largest cities in the state, second only to the capital city of Des Moines. Cedar Rapids is a lush city on the Eastern side of corn country. The city is divided by the Cedar River, and is named because of the cedar trees that border the river on its banks. The rolling hills on which Cedar Rapids now resides, were originally inhabited by the Native American Fox and Sac tribes. Osgood Sheperd arrived in 1838 as the first settler. Cedar Rapids began steadily growing from that point on and has become a hubbub of activity for industry, arts, history, and science in Iowa. Cedar Rapids is home to the first permanent mosque in America, Mother Mosque of America, which was dedicated in 1934 by the large Muslim community in the city.
Cedar Rapids has nicknamed itself the City of Five Seasons, intending the fifth season as the one in which one takes the time to enjoy all other seasons. The city does in fact have extremely variable and distinct seasons; due to its location in the rolling hills of Iowa it does have beautiful spring summer and fall, with harsh Iowa winters creating dangerous living and driving conditions. After a particularly severe winter, the Cedar River overflowed into the city of Cedar Rapids during the summer of 2008, causing severe water damage to nearly 1300 blocks of Cedar Rapids downtown and residential areas. Natural gas, power, and TV as well as Internet services were interrupted during the natural disaster. Cedar Rapids has rapidly rebuilt, but remnants of the damage can still be seen today.
If you look in the Cedar Rapids yellow pages, or the Cedar Rapids business directory, you will find that the flooding did not slow down the industry focused city. Numerous research and design corporations, manufacturing industries, and everything one could want in a thriving city can be found as well as arts, sciences, and educational opportunities. Cedar Rapids is a city in which a great variety of goods and services can be found and developed, a city in which industry creates better lives for people and also inspires its citizens to create and explore further through the arts and sciences.
Written by Lyndsey Morgan
