Cedar Falls, Iowa

1/5/2026

LITTLE RED SCHOOLHOUSE - CLICK ON THE PHOTO FOR MORE INFORMATION

A Complex with MUCH to Offer!
Sometimes you get more than you bargained for, in a GOOD WAY! Here I invoke the memory of CSAA's Bill Sherman, who until 2023, organized the Preservation Iowa Country School Conferences each fall in many of his beloved 99 counties. He gathered grateful schoolhouse enthusiasts from across the country to experience preserved one-room schools and treated us to other fascinating historic sites along the way. His many conferences are where I fell for the state of Iowa, second only to my devotion to New England.

Bill always had a gift for centering us in places that revealed the very best of Iowa—places where we learned through visits to cultural centers, historic villages, and museums to honor the hardy pioneers who settled the state. One such place where we gathered with Bill was Cedar Falls, aptly situated along the Cedar River. Because The Report Card has featured other historic “villages” with schoolhouses, this is an ideal opportunity to highlight a Cedar Falls complex that includes an absolutely beautiful Little Red Schoolhouse.

In addition to the Little Red Schoolhouse, Cedar Falls Historical Society curates the Behrens-Rapp Gasoline Station, the Ice House Museum, and Sturgis Park...all in one place. Call it a village if you wish. All are models of perfection in preservation and restoration!

The schoolhouse transports visitors into the past of public education while the ice house is a monument to the days before refrigeration when Iowans relied on river ice harvesting. The gas station served motorists from 1925-1990!