March 28, 2024

Historical downtown building primed for new Colfax City Hall

Image 1 of 2

At Colfax Main Street, we believe a key way to drive economic growth and create a more vibrant community is by celebrating Colfax’s unique history and preserving our historic buildings. At the end of 2018, a large portion of downtown Colfax was placed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Spring City Commercial Historic District through the tireless efforts of Colfax Main Street volunteers. This district celebrates downtown Colfax’s history as a booming turn-of-the-century mineral water medical spa and resort destination and the industries that popped up during that time of economic growth.

During the past month, we’ve been busy at Colfax Main Street creating history posters that celebrate the 27 buildings listed on the NRHP and for other iconic buildings in our downtown. This has been no small feat. Writing and designing more than 27 posters has taken a lot of time, but we hope they help educate our community and visitors about our awesome and rich history. Be on the lookout over the next few months for these posters to pop up in windows around downtown Colfax.

One of the buildings that will be getting a poster is 20 W. Howard St., an unmistakably unique building for Colfax with its semicircular roofline on its variegated wire brushed brick façade. This building has been reincarnated many times into some unique businesses that provided services or entertainment for the community. Most recently, you may remember this building as the home of Triangle Lanes Bowling Alley, which provided years of local fun for Colfax until the early 2000s.

According to sources, the building was constructed sometime between 1914 and 1920 by Lloyd B. Everett and Ray F. Baker as a Ford automobile dealership and garage. During the late 1910s, the auto industry was booming in Iowa because the advent of the assembly line allowed middle-class consumers to easily purchase automobiles. With the new local demand for cars came the demand for automobile-related industries in Colfax which sprang up along the River to River Road, one of Iowa’s first highways that went along Howard Street.

The Everett and Baker Ford Dealership and Garage provided repair services and a gasoline pump along the street for travelers on the early highway. At that time, the building had a garage door on the far left, with big storefront windows and doors in the center and to the right of the building. There were also carved stone or cast cement “Flying Wheel” sculptures adorning the top of the brick pillars in the center of the façade and carved stone and cement flower planters along the windows. In Grinnell, there is a much larger “twin” of this building also built as a Ford dealership. The Grinnell building has been recently renovated and is now the home of McNally’s Foods and still has its original “Flying Wheel” sculptures.

After the Iowa automobile industry went bust in the 1920s, Everett and Baker sold their building to D.E. Carol and his son Walter Carroll in 1937, the owners of the Star Theatre. The Carrolls renovated the building with a new “modernistic” design to house a 500-seat movie theater which included neon signs, air conditioning and heating. The screen was moveable so the stage could be used for community and school events. This renovation also included storefront space that housed a dry cleaner and a jewelry store. Many of Colfax’s older generation remember seeing their first movie at the Star Theatre.

In 1958, the building was sold and converted into Triangle Lanes Bowling Alley. For more than 40 years, community members participated in bowling leagues for all ages at Triangle Lanes. It was a fun haunt for many local residents until the early 2000s when the bowling alley closed.

The building is slated for another exciting reincarnation in the upcoming year. After sitting relatively empty for several years, the building was bought by the City of Colfax to be converted into a new city hall and police station. The city purchased the building because its larger space could more adequately house the growing needs of the city government and it was a good opportunity to preserve an underutilized historic building. Currently, the city is renting space in the historic Crisman building (17-19 E. Howard St.) after moving from the old location in the historic Broughton Block (15 E. Howard St.). Both of these buildings were too small to fit everything needed for a functional office space and also are not ADA accessible.

The old bowling alley building can be easily made ADA accessible so all people of different needs can access the city offices. Many of the city’s important documents are currently stored off-site from the city’s offices and the larger space will allow for close and safe storage of these documents. The space will also allow for an expanded police station which will make for better public safety services for the community.

A city-appointed committee is about to select and interview bids from architecture firms for this upcoming renovation. The hope is to create a space which honors and preserves the historic integrity of the structure while offering modern and up to date features for the city offices and community. Local city council member Brad Magg is already planning on donating some historic bowling alley lanes and other memorabilia he purchased when the building was gutted a few years ago to be made into conference tables, countertops and decor in the newly renovated space. He thinks the donated pieces will act as good historic touchstones to help remember the building’s past.

The city also hopes the new offices will be a positive and welcoming space for Colfax residents and visitors, as well as an accessible and egalitarian space for local democracy to happen. We’re excited at Colfax Main Street to see another historic building in downtown Colfax be preserved for future generations of Colfax residents. We hope this new reincarnation encourages more downtown vibrancy and a better quality of life for Colfax residents.

If you would like to find out more about what Colfax Main Street is doing or would like to participate in serving your community, visit colfaxmainstreet.com or check out our Facebook and Instagram.