Cedar Falls · Downtown Main Street
The Black Hawk Hotel
Burr's Hotel, a mansard-roofed block in place by 1884, modernized as the Black Hawk in 1914–15 and expanded into the 1870s bank next door.
- Built
- by 1884Burr's Hotel, the four-story mansard-roofed main block, was in place by 1884; modernized and renamed the Black Hawk Hotel in 1914–15, when it expanded into an adjoining 1870s bank building. A hotel has stood on the lot since 1853.
- Style
- Second Empire with early 20th-century commercial alterations
- Architect
- John G. Ralston (1915 alterations)
- Type
- Boutique hotel
- Rooms
- 28
- Area
- Downtown Main Street
- Credentials
- Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The story
A hotel has stood on this Main Street lot since 1853, when the Winslow House (later the Carter House) opened. The Burr brothers likely replaced it with the four-story, mansard-roofed Burr’s Hotel, in place by 1884. In 1914–15 architect John G. Ralston modernized it as the Black Hawk Hotel, re-facing the front and expanding into the ornate 1870s Townsend & Knapp bank building next door. The 2002 nomination notes it had operated as a hotel since the 1880s; the hotel announced a 2025 Challenge Grant for a multi-phase renovation.
Good to know
- Address: 115 Main Street, Cedar Falls, IA 50613
Sources (2)
Last verified October 2026. Details change; confirm with the inn before you book.