We The People: Cedar Rapids field trip destination prepares to open for season

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - A popular Cedar Rapids field trip location is preparing to open for the season next week.

The Usher’s Ferry Historical Village gives people not only a look into how Linn County was created but also who helped form it as we know it today.

Thousands of students and community members visit the homes in the Usher’s Ferry Historical site each year. It’s a hands-on look at the early days of Linn County. Many of those students live in rural districts themselves.

“Part of the reason the rural students come here and are really dedicated about coming here is that we’re telling their story,” said Ann Cejka, Ushers Ferry Parks and Rec. Special Facilities Supervisor.

Early settlers of Linn County

Cejka knows the history of the site. Dressed in 1830s period clothing, she goes through all that visitors see in the historical village.

The buildings aren’t original to this property. The working-class homes represent life in this area during the 1830s when Dyer Usher and his family first settled here.

“Dyer Usher was one of the earliest settlers of Linn County. I think we give credit, I think in the history books, goes to Osgood Shepherd; he was the notorious horse thief, but Dyer Usher claimed to be here a couple of years before Osgood Shepherd, he just didn’t stay,” Cejka said.

Usher’s family moved to the area following the Louisiana Purchase as a land surveyor. He later continued work as a ferryman and helped establish some of the first governments under Linn County, known as Survey Township on what’s now the northeast side of Cedar Rapids.

“He served as a roadside supervisor; his cousin Henry and Seymour served as road supervisors. They also served as school directors. They built schoolhouses in the township,” Cejka said.

Preserving county history

Nearly 200 years later, the city is preserving this part of the county’s history.

The houses show people what it was like to live in rural Iowa before the state was established. Cejka said it’s also a reminder of what helped establish towns and what keeps towns going today.

“We tell what you have to have that makes a town that people want to live in, and we tell what assets of the town you need to protect to keep your town strong,” Cejka said.