Waterloo Masonic Temple

The Waterloo East Commercial Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district located in Waterloo, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011. At the time of its nomination the district consisted of 36 resources, including 28 contributing buildings, and eight non-contributing buildings. The city of Waterloo was established in the early 1850s. Its first settlers started developing the west side of the city before crossing the Cedar River and developing east side. The first Black Hawk County Courthouse was built on the east side in 1856 and East Waterloo Township was created two years later. As industry began to develop along the river, and the arrival of the first railroad in 1861, the commercial district on the east side began to grow. Also on the east side of town was the terminus of the streetcar-turned-interurban system. By 1900, the city became one of the primary wholesale and retail centers in northeastern Iowa. In 1911 the Black population increased significantly as workers, primarily from Mississippi, moved into town to work for the Illinois Central Railroad. The following year the saloons in town were closed and bootlegging, gambling, drugs, and prostitution started to increase in the area surrounding the central business district. All of these developed put together created the atmosphere of the downtown commercial district. For the most part, the commercial buildings in the district are constructed of brick and are two to three stories in height. There are also several taller multi-story buildings located here, and they represent the "high water mark in the district’s physical development." All of the buildings follow the styles popular at the time of their construction, including Italianate, Neoclassical, and Commercial. Architects who have buildings in the district include John Bartley, John T. Burkett, Howard B. Burr, Mortimer Cleveland, George Ellis, Hallett & Rawson, Emile G. Jehle, Josselyn & Taylor, Joseph C. Llewellyn, John G. Ralston, Fred G. Shaw, and Clinton P. Shockley. Fires in the 1920s and 1950s impacted the appearance of the district as most of the fire-damaged were given stylish new facades. Several other buildings were given updated facades in the 1940s and the 1950s. The buildings that do not contribute to the historic integrity of the district had their facades resurfaced in more recent decades. The Fowler Company Building (1884) and the Marsh-Place Building (1910) are individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Fowler Company Building is a historic building located in Waterloo, Iowa, United States. It was built in 1884 by the city's most successful grocery wholesale business. They continued to operate from here until 1937. The three-story brick structure is an example of Late Victorian commercial architecture with Queen Anne influences. The building features pilasters, corbeling, canted-brick courses, and contrasting stone trim around and between the windows and at the street level. It is capped with an ornate metal cornice that contains pilasters, finials, pediments, floral and circle imagery, and quilted surface textures. It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. In 2011 it was included as a contributing property in the Waterloo East Commercial Historic District.

The Hotel President, also known as the Park Towers Apartments, is an historic building located in downtown Waterloo, Iowa, United States. The building was completed in 1929, and it opened as a "showcase hotel." In 1948, Paul "Pinkie" George and five other wrestling promoters from the Midwest founded the National Wrestling Alliance in the hotel. The manager of the hotel at the time was Lark Gable, the grandfather of Olympic gold medal winner Dan Gable. Various companies owned and operated the hotel until it was acquired in 1968 by Elders Inc., a nonprofit group of churches. They converted the building into subsidized housing. It was bought by local developers Brent Dahlstrom and Jim Sulentic in 2011 and they sold it to Huntley Witmer Development of Los Angeles. Huntley Witmer spent $12 million in 2015 renovating the building that continues to house 84 units of federally subsidized housing. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017.

The Walnut Street Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district located in Waterloo, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 2019. At the time of its nomination the district consisted of 111 resources, including 91 contributing buildings and 20 non-contributing buildings. The district is largely a residential area located between the central business district and the former location of the Illinois Central Railroad round house and shops. The neighborhood was originally platted as the Railroad Addition in 1860 and as the Cooley Addition in 1865. Buildings date from c. 1880 to 1981. Single-family houses are largely wood-frame construction with a few brick. Architectural styles include Queen Anne, Italianate, Shingle, Bungalow, variations on the American Foursquare, and those in a vernacular mode. Multi-family dwellings include double houses, identical houses, and apartment buildings. There are also a few commercial buildings on East Fourth Street and two churches. Walnut Street Baptist Church (1908) is individually listed on the NRHP. Two local architects, Mortimer Cleveland and Clinton Shockley have buildings in the district. The district is significant as an early residential neighborhood outside of the original riverfront town. It was initially a middle to upper-middle-class single-family residential neighborhood. During a period of rapid growth and industrialization in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with an influx of immigrants that required low-cost housing close to factories and streetcar routes, the neighborhood's fortunes changed. The multi-family dwellings and the commercial buildings were constructed from this time and into the mid-20th century. Urban Renewal projects in the 1960s sought to revitalize the area by widening U.S. Route 63 and removing dilapidated houses. As a result, there are several vacant lots.

Walnut Street Baptist Church is a church building in downtown Waterloo, Iowa, United States. It has also been known as Faith Temple Baptist Church. Built in 1908, it was designed for its triangular lot by Waterloo architect Clinton P. Shockley. Although the main exterior materials are merely brick plus stone and concrete trim, the building reflects multiple architectural influences:The building exhibits the influence of a combination of contemporary architectural styles and trends of the early 20th century including the English Arts and Crafts movement and the Chicago School with minor indications of the academic tradition of the Beaux-Arts.: 5  Clinton Phillip Shockley began his architectural practice in 1906. This was an important work for him. He and Mortimer Cleveland were "by far" the most qualified architects in Iowa and were able to win contracts that would previously have gone to non-Iowa firms.: 15 The Walnut Street Baptist Church congregation worshiped in the facility from its construction until 1970. The congregation was an early leader in the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches. Upon relocating to a new facility and changing its name to Walnut Ridge Baptist Church, the congregation sold the downtown site to Faith Temple Baptist Church (American Baptist Churches USA). The building was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. In 2019 it was included as a contributing building in the Walnut Street Historic District.

The Waterloo Public Library-East Side Branch is a historic building located in Waterloo, Iowa, United States. The public library was established here in 1896. It operated out of two rented rooms, one on the east side of the Cedar River and other on the west side. The Carnegie Foundation offered a grant of $30,000 to build a new library, but disagreements erupted over whether to place the building on the east side or west side of the river. They then agreed to grant $40,000 for a mid-river building, or the same amount for two buildings. In the end they agreed to grant the community $24,000 to build this building and a similar amount for the west side branch. Waterloo architect John G. Ralston designed both buildings in the Neoclassical style. Both were dedicated on February 23, 1906. The single-story Bedford stone structure was built over a raised basement. It is one of the few stone buildings in Waterloo. The building has a central portico with paired Ionic columns. It is part of a larger central mass that is oriented from front to back and sits across the lower hipped roof. In 1977 voters in Waterloo approved a $3,650,000 bond referendum to renovate the city's 1938 post office and federal building to house the library. The post office vacated the building in 1979 when it relocated. The old library building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. The building is now used by the city of Waterloo.

KBOL-LP (100.1 FM) was a low-power FM non-commercial radio station, which broadcast an urban contemporary music format. Licensed to Waterloo, Iowa, United States, the station was owned by The Community Outreach, Inc.

The Marsh–Place Building at 627 Sycamore St. in Waterloo, Iowa is a six-story building built in 1910. According to its nomination to the National Register of Historic Places, it is notable as "a distinctive, virtually unaltered example of the Commercial Style". And it is an "excellent" example of "the three-part base-shaft-capital approach (similar to a classical column) to tall building design.": 5, 8 It is a work of architects Hallett & Rawson. It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. In 2011 it was included as a contributing property in the Waterloo East Commercial Historic District.

The Chicago Great Western Railroad-Waterloo Freight Depot is a historic building located in Waterloo, Iowa, United States. In 1887 the Chicago, St. Paul & Kansas City Railroad (CSP&KC) was the third system to enter the city, after the Illinois Central (1870) and the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway (1876). The CSP&KC was the first of the three to put its depots in the downtown area. Initially it built two depots in Waterloo, one on the west side of the Cedar River and one on the east side. By 1892 it had built separate passenger and freight depots along East Sixth Street. That was the same year that the CSP&KC became known as the Chicago Great Western Railroad. In 1903 the railroad built new passenger and freight depots a block south, moving them closer to the city's wholesale houses. The two-story concrete block freight depot was built on a rough limestone foundation. It features round arch freight doors and a simple wood cornice. The concrete block addition on the southeast side replaced a frame gabled structure, but its construction date is unknown. The old brick passenger depot was torn down in 1973, and the freight depot was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. In 2001 the building, which is owned by the City of Waterloo, was leased to the University of Northern Iowa for its Center for Urban Education (UNI-CUE).

Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, also known as Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church, is a historic building located in Waterloo, Iowa, United States. The congregation that built this building was organized in 1861 as First Methodist Episcopal Church. They built church buildings in 1865 at Lafayette and East Fifth Streets, and then at East Fourth and Mulberry Streets in 1877. They changed their name to Grace in 1895. They completed this building at Walnut and East Fifth Streets in 1913. The brick, Neoclassical structure designed by Turnbill & Jones features a large central dome and a large classical portico with six Ionic columns. Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church acquired the building from Grace United Methodist in 1996. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.

The YMCA Building is a historic building located in Waterloo, Iowa, United States. The local YMCA was established in 1868, three months after the city was incorporated. Its first permanent building was built at this location in 1893. As membership expanded they eventually out grew the building, and it was torn down in 1930. The present building was designed by local architect Mortimer Cleveland and his associate D.B. Toenjes. The general contractor was H.A. Maine Construction. The three-story brick structure features decorative elements from the Art Deco mode. The first level has housed commercial firms in the storefronts. An addition was built onto the west side of the building in 1959 to house adult activities. The local YMCA built a new facility and moved from here in 1982. The following year the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It has been converted into an office building.

Waterloo East High School in Waterloo, Iowa, United States is a public high school consisting of approximately 1000 students in grades 9–12. It is a part of the Waterloo Community School District.