HoubyDaysAdBooklet 2024 FINAL COLOR - Flipbook - Page 5
Czech Village
Some of the first immigrants arrived from Central Europe
and what was known as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in the
1850’s. Many came from the principalities of Bohemia,
Moravia and Slovakia. The immigrants were poor and came
seeking a better life. They came to work on farms and to
work in the start-up factories in the area. They liked the
area around Cedar Rapids, because it looked like home. By
the early 1900’s, the city and surrounding area was home to
thousands of Bohemian, Moravian and Slovak immigrants
and their descendants.
They settled around the river and in the 16 th Ave. area. They
started grocery stores, meat markets, bakeries, hardware
stores, car lots, and dry good stores. The immigrants
worked in packing plants, meat processing centers, and other
factories. In 1870, a Czech school was started to teach children Czech, and it still exists today. They started a Czech
newspaper in 1906.
The area suffered a devastating flood in 2008 and much of
the old immigrant housing was destroyed.
Today, you still find the Novaks, Jelineks, Pisariks and
hundreds of other Czech descendants, in the area.
3
3
