Vintage Cedar Rapids Postcards Show Us City’s Amazing Past [PHOTOS]

The city of Cedar Rapids has some historic landmarks. Unfortunately, they're not all still here for us to enjoy. In this story, we take a look back at postcards from decades past, some of them more than 100 years old.

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If you were asked to name the first building or place in Cedar Rapids that comes to mind, what would you say? Personally, I'd say the Paramount Theatre. A breathtaking building inside, it has an amazing history, one that features a number of renovations. Of course, its most recent renovation wasn't a choice, but a must following the flood of 2008.

I asked my wife that question and she said for her it's the Veterans Memorial Building. It was built in an amazing decade in Cedar Rapids history. It was completed in 1927, the same year as the Hotel Roosevelt, and the year before the Capitol Theatre opened. Just one year later, the Capitol Theatre was purchased by Paramount Studios and renamed the Paramount Theatre.

The 1920s also saw the Linn County Courthouse built, along with Wilson Middle School, McKinley School, and the First Avenue Bridge. And that's just what I can remember. Yes, the decade that took place a century ago was one of great changes in Cedar Rapids.

Cedar Rapids is about much more than buildings though. There's Ellis Park, Greene Square, and Bever Park, Quaker Oats, and so much more.

You'll see vintage postcards of nearly all of those city landmarks in the photo gallery below. Only one of the postcards is less than 60 years old with several that are well over 100. I wish they were all still here, unfortunately, that's not the case.