What to See in Mason City - Top Sights and Attractions

Building. The Keerl–Decker House is a historic building located in Mason City, Iowa, United States. It was designed by local architect E.R. Bogardus, and completed in 1902. The two-story frame structure features a full height front porch with Ionic columns. There is also a similar single-story side porch. The house is capped with a hip roof with dormers, and a denticulated cornice with modillions. It was built for Irving Keerl, who served as Clerk of Courts for Cerro Gordo County, and he was one of the organizers of the Iowa State Bank of Mason City. The house is also associated with the Decker family who owned it from 1919 to 1965. They operated the Decker Meat Packing Plant, which is now operated by ConAgra Foods. The house was converted into a restaurant in the 1970s. It was at that time that an addition to house a commercial kitchen was built. The house has subsequently been converted into a bed and breakfast. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.^[3]

The First National Bank of Mason City, also known as Norwest Bank Building and City Center of Mason City, is a historic building located in Mason City, Iowa, United States. It was designed by the Des Moines architectural firm of Liebbe, Nourse & Rasmussen, and it was the only Mason City commission for this firm. Completed in 1911, it was constructed by C.E. Atkinson of Webster City, Iowa who had built several other H.F. Liebbe designs. The 6½-story building follows the Early Commercial style. It features modestly decorated main floor and attic level with five floors of rather plain brick construction in between. The bank occupied most of the first floor and some of the office space above, while the other office space was taken up by professional offices. By the 1960s the bank occupied the whole building. John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, John Hamilton and Tommy Carroll robbed the bank on March 13,1934 and stole about $50,000. Dillinger was wounded in an exchange of gunfire during the heist. The building to the north of the bank was torn down in 1982 and a two-story annex to the bank replaced it. The bank building was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997, and as a contributing property in the Mason City Downtown Historic District in 2005. City Center of Mason City Inc. bought the building in 1995, and remodeled it into apartments and offices.^[7]

Building. Parker's Opera House, also known as Opera House Store, Woolworth's and Parker Place, is a historic building located in Mason City, Iowa, United States. It was designed by the prominent Des Moines architect William Foster. Cousins H. G. and A. T. Parker built this structure as an opera house, which was the first one in the community. While it initially filled a need in Mason City, it was replaced by more modern theatres around the turn of the 20th century. The third floor was created in the building in 1909 when it was placed across the middle of the auditorium. The first floor initially housed a clothing store, and F. W. Woolworth Company occupied it beginning in the mid-1920s, and the upper floors housed the local offices of the Standard Oil Company at the same time. The two-story addition in the rear was built in the 1960s. The first floor was redesigned in 1997 for Central Park Dentistry. The upper floors were converted into apartments in 2013.

Stone was used for both structural and decorative purposes. A metal cornice caps the main facade. The building was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998, and as a contributing property in the Mason City Downtown Historic District in 2005.^[8]

The former First Church of Christ, Scientist, located at 23 3rd Street, N.W. in Mason City, Iowa, is an historic structure that was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997, and as a contributing property in the Mason City Downtown Historic District in 2005. It was designed by Minneapolis architect Clyde W. Smith and was deemed significant as a notable example of 1920s architectural eclecticism. It includes elements of Romanesque and Gothic Revival styles. Further, according to its NRHP nomination: "The design of the building reflects the propensity of Christian Scientists to break with traditional church planning and design. The building features no symbols, icons or other typical religious ornamentation that would be representative of a religious hall. Instead it reflects an 'advance design' exhibited in the highest quality construction techniques and standards of the era."

It now houses professional offices.^[9]

Church in Mason City, Iowa. St. John Baptist Church is an African American Baptist congregation that started in 1919 and is the name of its historic church building at 715 6th Street SW in Mason City, Iowa that was built in 1937.

The building is a 24 feet (7.3 m) by 56 feet (17 m) rectangular church with a 4 feet (1.2 m) vestibule, built on a high 5.5 feet (1.7 m) stone foundation. According to its NRHP nomination, "St. John Baptist is an example of simple vernacular design, based on the centuries-old rectangular nave floor plan. No architect has been identified, although some believe that Spencer Brothers, a local African-American construction firm, may have drawn the plans." It was built by members of the congregation, using stones salvaged from a demolished local elementary school.

It was added to the National Register in 2002. It was deemed significant " for its association with a strong African-American community, and the role the church played in an ethnically diverse neighborhood."^[10]