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Mays Island
United States historic place / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
May's Island (or Mays Island) is a small island on the Cedar River, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Functioning as a civic center much like the Île de la Cité, it is the site of the Memorial Building (the city hall), the Linn County Courthouse, and the county jail. The island plus an adjacent block was listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.[1]
May’s Island Historic District | |
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Location | Between 1st and 5th Aves. on May Island, Cedar Rapids, Iowa |
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Coordinates | 41°58′33″N 91°40′13″W |
Built | 1923;1927;1933 |
Architect | Hunter & Hatton Joseph Royer Office of the Supervising Architect under James A. Wetmore |
Architectural style | Beaux Arts |
NRHP reference No. | 78001240 [1] |
Added to NRHP | October 19, 1978 |
The island and all of its buildings were devastated by the 2008 flood of the Cedar River, with water reaching above the first floors.
Until the 2008 flood, the concentration of local and county government on the island served to unify the city on both sides. The Memorial Building was designed by Hunter & Hatton, architects of Cedar Rapids. The Beaux Arts-style Linn County Courthouse was designed by Joseph Royer, of Urbana, as was the county jail. The building masses are long and narrow, like the island itself. The buildings face each other, creating an "insular quality".[2]
The concentration of government services extends to the east bank, where the Federal government is located, to the east of the Memorial Building, in the Beaux Arts-style Federal Building, whose design is credited to the Office of the Supervising Architect under James A. Wetmore. Its block, from 1st Avenue north to 2nd Avenue, from 1st Street west to the river, is also included in the historic district. This makes a total of four contributing buildings in the district.[2]