Burlington Photos (Cedar Rapids, West Burlington, Agency: for sale, insurance, how much)

[DMRyan]

Despite the gloomy economy in Burlington, it remains one of Iowa's most interesting small cities. Tons of history and unique charm in this town.

[doublea7]

Who knew Burlington, Iowa had it's own version of the "crookedist street"!? It looks very similar to the one in San Francisco. Nice photos.

[DMRyan]

According to locals, Snake Alley (the name of the curvy street in Burlington) is "The World's Curviest Street", beating out Lombard Street in San Francisco. The Guiness Book of World Records agrees, but Lombard Street is a much longer swtichback road though.

Here's some interesting reading on one of Burlington's unique sights:

Snake Alley, Burlington, Iowa

[SharpHawkeye]

Burlington has so much potential, it breaks my heart to hear about how crummy things are down there economically. Still, I'm confident they'll get out of this slump someday.

[disneyrecords]

I moved out of B-town a little more than a decade ago.

DMRyan, I got some questions for ya:
Is that first shot from Crapo Park?
Did they ever do anything with the Union Hotel?
What became of the old hospital (after it moved out to West B-town?)
Still have good pizza at Napoli's, Titus, and TownHouse?

I enjoyed my stay in B-town, your pictures look like the day I left! I lived and worked in the Agency St/Roosevelt area; so the downtown pictures really were a stretch to the memory. Is Stoermer's still going downtown?

Thanks for the memories,
disneyrecords

[DMRyan]

I'm no native of Burlington and I was only there once to take these photos, so I don't know how much help I'll be. The first shot is from someone's yard an old money neighborhood in the bluffs south of downtown. Great view to have everyday. It was still quite a few blocks from Crapo Park if memory serves me correctly.

It appears that the old hospital has been restored and is now a senior housing facility. Glad to see them preserve a landmark. The only newer building I noticed in downtown was the new library, which it think is found in a few of the photos. There's plenty of new development in West Burlington and on Highway 61, but that's rarely the stuff my camera lens is directed towards.

For more photos, see this photo gallery I created:

Burlington Photo Page

I was fascinated by this old brewery complex that was in the middle of a working class neighborhood. Does anyone know anything else about it?

[skoro]

That old brewery has been closed for more than fifty years now. Very interesting "turn of the century" style architecture, but it's been used as a warehouse for decades. Too bad. A brewery might provide a shot in the arm for Burlington's economy.

Excellent photos - thanks for posting them.

[sureves]

Originally Posted by disneyrecords

I moved out of B-town a little more than a decade ago.

DMRyan, I got some questions for ya:
Is that first shot from Crapo Park?
Did they ever do anything with the Union Hotel?
What became of the old hospital (after it moved out to West B-town?)
Still have good pizza at Napoli's, Titus, and TownHouse?

I enjoyed my stay in B-town, your pictures look like the day I left! I lived and worked in the Agency St/Roosevelt area; so the downtown pictures really were a stretch to the memory. Is Stoermer's still going downtown?

Thanks for the memories,
disneyrecords

Hi! I've lived in Burlington my entire life (and am still here). I happen to know answers to a couple of your questions, so I thought I'd answer them.

Napoli's and the Townhouse are still going good, although I've never eaten pizza at the Townhouse, which has recently been remodeled. Titus, on the other hand, is no longer in business. Craig Titus, the guy that owned the business is my boyfriend's stepfather. I guess he and Whitey (the man the owns Whitey's bar and billiards) got into a fight, and now Craig's pizza is being sold without him at Whitey's Chopper's restraunt. Stoermers is still downtown and still my favorite place to go if I'm doing something crafty, even though we got a Hobby Lobby a few years ago.

[missncr]

I enjoyed looking at the photos. Burlington looks so much like Cedar Rapids. Thanks for posting them.

[bita023]

The old hospital, BMC and the Mercy Center, Have been restored. BMC was torn down and the new library was built. The Mercy Center was restored into Martinis restaurant, which used to be at pzazz, The chamber of commerce, Grow Greater Burlington, Classrooms for SCC, and a few doctors offices. They did an awesome job with that building. As far as the Brewery goes, I never knew that was a brewery, but im sure its for sale. Im going to let Anhauser Busch know about it...mabye i could strike something up.