HoubyDaysBooklet 2025 digital - Flipbook - Page 8
A Brief History of Czechs in
Cedar Rapids
The 昀椀rst Czechs (known at the time as Bohemians) came to Cedar
Rapids between 1852 and 1853. They settled in the current downtown
area of Cedar Rapids, where everyone else was living at the time.
Immigration was rather slow until 1871 when T. M. Sinclair built a meat
packing house in Cedar Rapids. Originally located close to downtown
on what is now 1st Street SE, Sinclair moved his packinghouse to the
then south end of the city after citizens mounted a protest to remove the
packinghouse from the downtown area.
Czech immigration to Cedar Rapids increased due to employment
opportunities at the packinghouse. Sinclair, an Irish immigrant himself,
was not afraid to hire immigrant labor. He knew the Czechs were well
educated and hard workers, and they arrived with the skills necessary
to work in his packinghouse. As a result, Czech immigrants arrived
con昀椀dent they would 昀椀nd stable employment, and Sinclair’s meat
packinghouse went on to become one of the most successful plants in
the world.
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