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(pronounced ) is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Iowa and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, north of Iowa City and east of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city. The City Hall and County Courthouse are located on Mays Island, an island on the river. Cedar Rapids is one of only a few cities in the world to have governmental offices on a municipal island.
A flourishing center for arts and theatre in Eastern Iowa, the city is home to the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, the Paramount Theatre, and the Iowa Cultural Corridor Alliance.
The city is also an economic hub of the state and is at the core of the Interstate 380 Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Technology Corridor of Linn, Benton, Jones, Johnson, and Washington counties.
The estimated population of the three-county Metropolitan Statistical Area which includes nearby cities of Marion and Hiawatha, was 252,784 in 2007.
The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's population at 126,396 in 2007. The Cedar Rapids/Iowa City corridor has an estimated population of 423,353 as of 2006.
Cedar Rapids has been residence to famous figures for the United States, including American Gothic painter Grant Wood, journalist and historian William L. Shirer, writer and photographer Carl Van Vechten, and aerodynamics pioneer Dr. Alexander Lippisch.
In the 1990s and 2000s, Hollywood would feature several Cedar Rapidians including actors Ashton Kutcher, Elijah Wood and Ron Livingston. The city is also the setting for a musical, "The Pajama Game" .
is named for the Cedar River. Cedar Rapids is nicknamed the
for the traditional four seasons and a "fifth season" which is a time to enjoy the other four. The symbol of the five seasons is the Tree of Five Seasons sculpture in downtown Cedar Rapids along the north river bank. The name "Five Seasons" and representations of the sculpture appear throughout the city in many forms.
The location of present-day Cedar Rapids was in the territory of the Fox and Sac tribes.
The first permanent settler, Osgood Shepherd, arrived in 1838. When Cedar Rapids was first established in 1838, William Stone named the town Columbus. In 1841 it was resurveyed and renamed by N.B. Brown and his associates. They named the town Cedar Rapids, for the rapids in the Cedar River at the site. The river was named for the large number of red cedar trees that grew along its banks. Cedar Rapids was incorporated on January 15, 1849. Cedar Rapids annexed the community of Kingston in 1870.
The economic growth of Cedar Rapids increased in 1871 upon the founding of the Sinclair meatpacking company.
In June 2008, the Cedar River surpassed the 500-year flood plain and placed an estimated 1300 city blocks, or , on both banks of the river under water. Nearly 4,000 homes were evacuated. The Cedar River reached a record high of on June 14, 2008. Over 300 homes are to be destroyed in the Cedar Rapids area.