Its exterior remains almost unchanged from 1920, when the two-story, brick building was built on the north side of the town square to honor local soldiers, sailors and Marines who served in World War I and previous wars. Inside, many traces of the past remain, from the women’s restroom/lounge on the second floor to a century-old movie projection booth in the balcony.

Big changes are in store, however, for this hub of the community. Local leaders have spent the last two and a half years drawing up plans to add the wow factor to the building’s interior and make it even more functional.

“I’m amazed by the craftsmanship of this building,” said Paul Iverson, a master craftsman who owns and operates God’s Wood, a woodworking shop in Lake City. “We want to preserve the historic character of this unique building while making it more attractive than ever.”

Iverson envisions coffered ceilings and a decorative fireplace in the lobby, four 52-inch-tall crystal chandeliers and 10-feet-tall decorative colonnades in the first-floor banquet hall, along with an ornate wooden bar showcasing a mirrored back bar. The renovated space, which can be rented for wedding receptions, meetings and other gatherings, will be able to accommodate approximately 300 to 325 people.

-Messenger photo by Darcy Dougherty Maulsby
The former women’s lounge area on the second floor of Lake City’s Community Memorial Building is now an inviting multi-use area. This space provided makeshift classrooms for South Central Calhoun High School students after a tornado ripped the roof off their building on May 10, 2015.

“We want to honor this building’s heritage and take it far beyond its original potential,” said Iverson, who received the Preservation Champion Award from Central School Preservation in Lake City in 2019.

A civic dream come true

The history of the Community Memorial Building reflects a commitment to enrich life in Lake City. The building was the crowning achievement of the Lake City Civic Improvement Society, a local women’s organization that made headlines across the nation nearly 100 years ago.

The Oct. 15, 1921, issue of the Dearborn Independent, a weekly newspaper published in Michigan, ran the article “Civic Dream Comes True: What a Unique Women’s Society Has Done for a Small Iowa Town.”

“For a long time, the town of Lake City, Iowa, had dreamed of a memorial that would fittingly commemorate the services of its soldiers and sailors, but it remained for the women of the town to engineer the project that resulted in the erection of one of the finest community buildings, not only in the Middle West, but perhaps any town of this size in the country,” wrote R.P. Crawford.

The women of the Lake City Civic Improvement Society pledged the first $1,000 toward the project. Local businessmen donated money, and fundraisers also helped support the construction of the Community Memorial Building. People donated pigs, calves, horses, farm equipment, home furnishings and more to be auctioned off during fundraisers. The ladies of the community hosted dinners at local churches to raise money. Crawford noted that doughnuts were sold for $1 each. (That equates to about $13 each in 2020 dollars.)

Liberty bonds could also be cashed in to support the project.

“Lake City had an enviable war record, going over the top in every campaign,” noted the 1921 book “The American City,” which described the development of the Community Memorial Building. “In the Third Liberty Loan, Iowa ranked first in the Union, and Lake City headed the list of Iowa towns in the returns, thus being the proud possessor of more stars than any other township in the county.”

The Community Memorial Building, designed by the Des Moines architectural firm of Proudfoot, Bird and Rawson, was dedicated on Armistice Day in November 1920. Crawford’s article detailed why the $85,000 project (the equivalent of roughly $1.13 million in 2020 dollars) was noteworthy.

“This building is unique, for it fills the needs of the small town in a remarkable way, from affording the town council a place to meet, to furnishing an auditorium and hall for social events. There are a women’s restroom, handsomely furnished, a room for the American Legion, shower baths and gymnasium equipment. It is a theater, town hall, women’s club, gymnasium, banquet hall, and young people’s club — all in one. There is nothing that concerns the community as a whole that does not have its center here.”

Through the years, the Community Memorial Building hosted high school plays, dances and dinners for the local Farmers’ Club in the 1920s. By the 1950s, local elementary school students received polio shots there, recalled Dwight Dial, who farms near Lake City and is spearheading fundraising efforts for the current renovation project.

Other events were more fun, added Dial, a Lake City native. Al Bell, a celebrated world traveler who spoke at hundreds of rural Iowa schools, presented his educational programs to Lake City students in the 1950s at the Community Memorial Building. Lake City’s own Madden-Stillian Players also entertained students there with their circus acts.

“They had a trapeze artist and horses on the stage,” Dial recalled.

Spurring modern economic development

The Community Memorial Building even provided makeshift classrooms for South Central Calhoun High School students after a tornado ripped the roof off the high school in Lake City on May 10, 2015.

By then, the building’s stage had been removed years ago and the balcony closed off for decades. The ceilings had been lowered during the 1970s energy crisis to reduce the building’s energy bills. At one point, some community members floated the idea of demolishing the Community Memorial Building, although others disagreed.

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

As community leaders prepare to revamp the building’s interior later this year, the City of Lake City has committed $500,000 to the project. A time line of Lake City history, complete with vintage photos of the community, will be added on the second floor near rooms that were remodeled approximately six years ago. Volunteers are raising an additional $250,000 to remodel the bathrooms, kitchen, windows and other miscellaneous projects associated with the current renovation.

The ultimate goal? Drive more economic development in Lake City.

“The building currently generates about $2,000 a year in income for the city,” Iverson said. “We think we can bump this to $30,000 or $40,000. We’re ready to take this project on and create a beautiful venue we can all be proud of.”