Historic photos installed in Cathedral neighborhood bring new context to homes

A walk around the Cathedral Historic District now brings an entirely new perspective.

Eight historic photos are placed in front of their corresponding homes, detailing facts about their age, architecture and memorable residents of the past.

Neighborhood resident Adam Weber got the idea to add historic photos throughout the district — “pictures that would give people a glimpse into the beautiful history of our district,” he said. “For months, it stayed an idea — until I shared the idea with my friend Diane from the city.”

Diane de Koeyer, the city’s neighborhood and preservation planner, encouraged Weber to apply for a neighborhood improvement grant. It was accepted and enough to fund five photos.

Eight historic photos had been submitted as options, though, and neighbors voted for their five favorites.

“But I wanted to do them all,” Weber said.

With design help from a friend, volunteer installation labor from neighbors and a small grant from Embrace Church, it was enough to do all eight.

Pride Neon created the signs, and the Siouxland Heritage Museums helped with the content.

Each sign shows the home with a date on it — one at 303 N. Summit Ave. is from 1917, for instance, and includes history about the property.

In this case, the land was purchased in 1892 for $5,000 and a Stick Style home was built the following year. One of the previous owners, William Beach, had worked as a bookkeeper in a hardware store before becoming owner of Will A. Beach Printing Co., which had a downtown location and would grow to become a large regional printing establishment. During the 1960s, the home was used by Catholic Social Services.

“The signs are better than I could imagine,” Weber said. “I’m grateful for each of the eight neighbors who saw the vision when it was just a piece a paper and said yes to having the sign added to their homes. I maybe had the idea. But that’s all I had. It was a team of people — Cathedral neighbors, church friends and others — who helped make this idea happen.”

You can find the photos at:

• 201 N. Spring Ave.
• 209 N. Duluth Ave.
• 732 W. Ninth St.
• 123 S. Prairie Ave.
• 103 S. Summit Ave.
• 303 N. Summit Ave.
• 103 S. Duluth Ave.
• 120 N. Summit Ave.

It’s the latest of several improvements to the Cathedral neighborhood this year. Two roundabout intersection changes are being made permanent to better move traffic, and new sculptures were added as an extension of SculptureWalk.

Small improvements add up to big impact in Cathedral neighborhood