Dearborn Street – Overview

The Dearborn Street Conservation District is a J-shaped neighborhood that includes facing blocks along Dearborn Street and the west side of Seventh Avenue between Muscatine Avenue and the Iowa Interstate Railroad. It also includes facing blocks of Rundell Street between Sheridan Avenue and the railroad and the intersecting blocks of Center Avenue, Sheridan Avenue and Jackson Street. The area was surveyed in 1996. The district abuts the Longfellow Historic District to the west. For organizational purposes, the Dearborn Street Conservation District is within the Longfellow Neighborhood Association. The Dearborn Street area developed primarily during the 1930s and post-World War II years. A number of the district’s houses are based on standardized small house plans popularized during the pre-World War II period. By this time the automobile was more common and many homes have small historic garages that are similar to the houses or are incorporated into the house structure.