© 2024 Iowa Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Center Point Depot Joins List of National Historic Places

Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs

One of the latest Iowa listings on the National Register of Historic Places is the building that now houses the Center Point Depot Museum. It was once a main stop on the train line that ran between Cedar Rapids and Waterloo.

The Center Point Depot was built in 1914. It was one of eight such depots owned by the Waterloo, Cedar Falls and Northern Railroad, which operated an electric passenger and freight service known as the interurban. The secretary of the Center Point Historical Society, Sharron Hannen, says it was a mainstay of travel in eastern Iowa prior to World War Two.

“It was cheap, like a quarter for kids, I think, to go to Cedar Rapids, and they would put their kids on the interurban to see their grandparents in Cedar Rapids,” she says.

The last interurban passenger run was made through Center Point in 1956. The rail line was abandoned in the 1970s and developed into the Cedar Valley Nature Trail. The Midland Building in downtown Des Moines was also added to the National Register of Historic Places.  

Tags