CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Warehouses built to showcase a stone company, which stood strong for more than a century in New Bohemia, have been demolished to make way for parking.
The two small buildings that were later adjoined at 316 Ninth Ave. SE most recently were used by T & M Services, an office installation company, which sold the property earlier this year to Hawkeye Electric.
A representative of Hawkeye Electric said the buildings were considered an eyesore and the site would be used for parking for the new high-rise residential units under construction across Ninth Avenue.
Cedar Rapids city staff said the additional parking was not required under city code.
A new residential housing complex is seen under construction across Ninth Avenue SE from the warehouse. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Built in 1915, the warehouses were among a dwindling number of historic buildings in New Bohemia, a business and residential area populated in that era by Bohemian immigrants.
Cedar Rapids Historian Mark Stoffer Hunter said the buildings originally housed the Iowa Stone Company, owned by John A. Green, which cut and sold stone from Stone City, Iowa.
Situated along a railroad spur, the site was ideal for the small wholesale company, he said, which could load and unload from rail cars directly into the warehouse.
“It’s part of the wholesale story down here,” Stoffer Hunter said. “They didn’t need a large building to do it.”
The company, founded in the 1890s, used the “new” buildings to advertise its stucco and other materials.
“Think of all the rail passengers who would have seen this building,” Stoffer Hunter said.
The warehouses are demolished in late April 2025, while new residential housing remains under construction across Ninth Avenue SE. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
The warehouses were among buildings along the historic railroad industrial corridor of Cedar Rapids.
At its Jan. 9, 2025 meeting, the Cedar Rapids Historic Preservation Commission placed a 60-day hold on the demolition permit, but that hold expired in March and the buildings were demolished in late April.
By earlier this month, no remnants of the historic warehouses remained.
Jennifer Borcherding, executive director of The District: Czech Village and New Bohemia, said she had no knowledge of the demolitions.
The site where the warehouses stood for more than a century is seen as a vacant lot in May 2025. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Borcherding, who has been in the post since November 2024, said in an email that she did not recall the warehouses being discussed at any meetings of The District and was unaware of the commission’s 60-day demolition hold.
“I have found no workflow regarding any action on those items,” she wrote. “The District: Czech Village and New Bohemia remains committed to work alongside residents, building owners, merchants, the city, and other stakeholders to reenergize and strengthen older and historic downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts.”
In recent years, a number of residential buildings have been constructed, dwarfing the smaller historic buildings throughout New Bohemia, with several more currently being built.
Related: Cedar Rapids School Board votes to demolish historic Harrison Elementary
Cindy’s photo of the one-story building being demolished to clear the site for “high-rise parking lot(?)”, tells a story of a thousand words.
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Yep typical Iowa over 20 years old it’s an “eyesore” knock it down and build some glitzy looking piece of ”” that,,,,oh shoot there I go well hopefully some folks got some good photos of it to show future generations their heritage.