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Czech America · Iowa

From the old country to Iowa

Czechs reached Cedar Rapids in the early 1850s, worked in its meatpacking plants and built a Czech Village along 16th Avenue. In the north-east, Spillville’s Czech farmers hosted Antonín Dvořák for the summer of 1893.

Cedar Rapids is home to the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library, whose Old World Christmas Market fills the first weekend of December — with the Christmas carp, its bathtub story, and Ježíšek bringing the tree on Christmas Eve.

Other Czech states

Sources

  1. Czech and Slovak community — Iowa PBS
  2. Four Czech & Slovak holiday traditions — NCSML