{"id":197946,"date":"2026-04-15T12:22:47","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T12:22:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/197946\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T12:22:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T12:22:47","slug":"change-in-store-for-cedar-rapids-dairy-queen-other-cements-place-in-history-homegrown-iowan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/197946\/","title":{"rendered":"Change in store for Cedar Rapids Dairy Queen; other cements place in history \u2013 Homegrown Iowan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The 16th Street NE Dairy Queen, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, added a payphone booth on its site earlier this year. (photo\/Cindy Hadish)<\/p>\n

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa \u2014 The Dairy Queen story continues to unfold in Cedar Rapids, with one DQ earning its place as a local historic landmark and the other ready to turn the page on a new chapter.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, April 14, 2026, the Cedar Rapids City Council unanimously approved the second and third readings to designate Dairy Queen #4 at 501 16th St. NE as a local historic landmark. <\/p>\n

That Dairy Queen, in the Mound View Neighborhood, reopened for the season earlier this year. <\/p>\n

A local landmark is an individual building designated by city ordinance as being historically significant.<\/p>\n

Related: History cited in Dairy Queen local landmark application<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A telephone booth at the 16th Street NE Dairy Queen is seen in April 2026. (photo\/Cindy Hadish)<\/p>\n

Built in 1954, the 16th Street Dairy Queen celebrated 70 years in business last year.<\/p>\n

According to its application, the design of the walk-up, treats-only Dairy Queen reflects a rare surviving example of mid-20th Century commercial roadside architecture along a well-traveled thoroughfare.<\/p>\n

The oldest Dairy Queen in Cedar Rapids and the only other surviving walk-up, treats-only DQ in the city will soon become Dottie\u2019s Ice Cream & Soda. <\/p>\n

Located at 3304 First Ave. NE, the former Dairy Queen #1 is under new ownership after the previous owner, Jill Muckler, died in August 2025. <\/p>\n

The new name of the former First Avenue Dairy Queen honors one of its original owners.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The First Avenue Dairy Queen, seen in April 2026, will soon change its name. (photo\/Cindy Hadish)<\/p>\n

Opened in 1947 by Jill Muckler\u2019s grandparents, Gene and Dorothy Herrington, their daughter, Sally Stendel, and her husband Stephen, were the next to operate the site.<\/p>\n

Since then, the Dairy Queen franchise moved to its DQ Grill & Chill franchise model \u2014 enclosed buildings that offer a wider range of food, such as chicken strips and burgers \u2014 rather than the original walk-up, treats-only versions.<\/p>\n

While it will no longer be a Dairy Queen, the name, Dottie\u2019s, recognizes Dorothy Herrington and the family\u2019s legacy, according to the new owners, with a target opening date in May 2026.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the 16th Street Dairy Queen remains open and even added a throwback payphone booth. While the phone is nonfunctional, the booth hearkens back to an earlier time in the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Read more: Tale of two Dairy Queens<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Dairy Queen at 3304 First Ave. NE, in Cedar Rapids, has been closed since 2025, but will soon open under a different name and new ownership. (photo\/Cindy Hadish)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 16th Street NE Dairy Queen, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, added a payphone booth on its site earlier…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":{"0":"post-197946","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-queens","12":"tag-queens-headlines","13":"tag-queens-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}