This building was initially designed in 1885 by Josselyn and Taylor as a three-story Romanesque Revival railroad headquarters for the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway. The same architects enlarged the building with a fourth story in 1898. The railroad name appears below the corbelled brick cornice on the west side. In 1910, the railroad became part of the Chicago Rock Island and Pacific Railway, known as the Rock Island Lines. The railroad remained in the building until 1953. The First Avenue façade was altered in about 1955, and the building was renamed the First Avenue Building. A bronze plaque commemorating George Greene, a founder of Cedar Rapids and a developer of the railroad, is installed on a sidewalk pedestal.
Download this plaque (PDF format)
Download this plaque (PDF format)