By Anelia K. Dimitrova
Scroll through the calendar app on your Apple watch exactly 170 years back from today, and you will land in Cedar Falls in 1855.
It was the year the town’s then-only 40 residents elected John Milton Overman as their first mayor. Born in Ohio on Nov. 11, 1817, Overman had originally come to town, then called Sturgis Falls, in 1847, with his brother Dempsey, to help build a dam and mill over the Red Cedar River. With his family, he planted roots here, until his passing on June 3, 1906, at the age of 88.
In 1853, six years after his arrival in town, John Milton Overman gifted a piece of land near the river to the city for the construction of a courthouse in Black Hawk County.
Overman’s original intent to see Cedar Falls as the county seat and the site of his gifted land as the home of the Black Hawk County Courthouse didn’t happen as he had hoped, as on April 2, 1855, the Iowa General Assembly ultimately voted to move the county seat to Waterloo, according to a timeline by the Cedar Falls Historical Society.
But the idea to keep the gifted land for public use had staying power. Today, the 2.3-acre lot framed by Clay, Third, Franklin and Second streets in modern-day Cedar Falls bears the Overman name.
Overman Park is the city’s first acquired park, a precious space fittingly situated opposite the Cedar Falls Historical Society and City Hall, connecting, through the invisible arc of history, the legacy of one of the town’s founding fathers to the decisions of today’s city government.
Over time, Overman’s donation has grown plentifully and if he could, metaphorically speaking, peek through the telescope of the beyond, he might be pleasantly surprised how his benevolence has paid off.
The park is the site of so many happenings that it would be hard to imagine the downtown area without its green lungs.
In good weather, its benches provide a restful spot for walkers, passersby and lunch-takers from neighboring businesses, and during big community celebrations, like Sturgis Falls, it vibes with music and talent performances, food vendors and reunions. The band shell’s large stage there has become the outdoor home of the Cedar Falls Municipal Band, which packs plenty of fans in lawn chairs on summer nights for free concerts, as do Movies Under the Moon.
Put otherwise, the park belongs to the community and the community belongs in the park.
But there’s even more.
Overman Park adds comfort, space to the Cedar Falls Farmers Market
Perhaps the most consistent, active use of the park happens on Saturdays during the Cedar Falls Farmers Market season.
It is on those mornings from May through October that Overman Park generously shows its hospitality to the community.
It adds comfort and space to the farmers market as much as the market enlivens its greenery with humans and pets.
Like a history book on a library shelf or an exhibit in an open-sky museum, the park is just there, unobtrusive in its presence and unpretentious in its appeal.
You can enjoy it as little or as much as you want. You can sit on the edge of it, on the steps leading up to the park from Clay Street, using those as an impromptu seat while munching on a fresh fruit mix from the Bowls of Love truck at the market, for instance.
Or, if you are so inclined, you can dive deeper into the stories that give texture to the park, by reading the plaques and “meeting” the people whose names are etched there. There’s plenty to discover, if you are eager to know how the park came to be and what it meant to the people who have come before you.
Dedicated in 1931, the foundational plaque placed on a sizable boulder, at the entrance between Clay and Third streets, tells the story of the Overman family’s donation. That’s where you’ll find out that it was John Milton Overman who renamed the city from Sturgis Falls to Cedar Falls and will learn why.
“The beautiful river with its natural waterfall and cedar-lined banks, suggested to J.M. Overman, first mayor of Cedar Falls, the name he gave to the city,” the plaque reads, in part.
That plaque co-exists with smaller bench plaques commemorating more recently departed community members, like the one in memory of Karen Shreve Edwards, with a message “Grandma’s park day,” which shows how much Karen loved coming here.
There’s more local history on some of the light posts, too, that keep the legacy of loved ones alive, like the plaque of Gerald and Betty Getty, who left this tellingly touching message behind, “We love you Cedar Falls.”
A storyline of Overman Park on June 14, 2025: Everything is interesting here
It is in the midst of this history that the story of Overman Park intersects with the farmers market. On June 14, when I embarked on this assignment of documenting the park of today, the space hopped with activities, some planned, others improvised, and taken together, they offered a fairly good storyline of what the park means to the people using it during the farmers market.
It was a special gathering place for joy and relaxation, an integral piece of the market experience.
To the right of the corner entrance, two reserve police officers, Dana Jaeger and Matt Buck, manned a Gator, a utility vehicle they typically use to patrol the trails. The red blinking lights of the vehicle attracted the eyes of the kids who walked by with their parents but the swag displayed in the back of the vehicle – plastic sunglasses, paste-on police badges and small toys – attracted the little hands.
Boys and girls stopped by the Gator, and encouraged by their parents, asked for what they wanted from the treasure trove in front of them, and the officers gladly obliged.
Nearby, at a small folding table, Amanda Akkerman sat in front of her laptop. Her task that morning was to raise awareness of Operation Threshold WIC, the local program that helps families gain access to fresh fruits and veggies, like the ones sold at the market. She said market vendors accept the vouchers Operation Threshold issues and explained that WIC stands for Women, Infants and Children.
I later learned that the program, which provides educational and nutrition services, has been in existence in the area since 1974, and now serves Black Hawk and the neighboring six counties.
Amanda’s daughter, Ava, ran around while her mom talked with me, and it was clear that the two also had some special time together doing good work that morning.
“She likes to help,” Amanda said.
Further down the walkway, under a big tent, stood an impressively festive tent of the Cedar Falls Public Library. There, Caylin Graham, the Hearst Center’s educational coordinator, and Angela Waseskuk, of the Cedar Falls Public Library, chatted with passersby who wanted to find out what the tent offered.
It looked intriguing and indeed, it was.
Cleverly named Mini Museum of Overman Park, the activity sported a motto, “Everything is Interesting.”
It encouraged participants of all ages, not just kids, to help tell the story of the park by gathering objects that draw their interest, then collect them in a small box.
The sleuths were then asked to handwrite, on a tag, a phrase or a word that comes to mind associated with the experience. Paying attention, listening to the conversations taking place in the space and being kind were some of the other skills participants were invited to practice.
Small boxes filled with objects as tender as dandelions and as sturdy as little pebbles had started to fill the left corner of the display table by mid morning. Together, they made up the artifacts of the mini museum, which will be displayed at the library later.
“We love the mysterious,” read a step-by-step instruction sheet that was available for participants.
Away from the guided activities, the park bustled with kids running around the front end of the band shell, giddy with the joy of climbing up and down with siblings and newly met toddlers.
On the grass not far from the benches, a baby crawled as fast as she could away from the blanket where her mom was sitting, only to be drawn back by a gentle pull of the feet into the safety perimeter.
On other benches, a couple of friends were catching up with all the news that had happened between last Saturday’s market and this, their bags filled with fresh greens, onions and garlic.
Just off to the side, John Finnegan and his girlfriend, Deb Thompson, of Cedar Falls, who are regulars at the park on Saturdays during the farmers market season, chowed down crepes from The Bing Ladies’ stand, and occasionally shared a bite with their well-behaved pup, Ninja.
Others, like mom Devin and her daughter, Huxlee, had come from a neighboring community to experience the offerings at the market and were taking a moment to enjoy the vibrant pace of the park.
As I wrapped up my assignment I realized that the human stories that paraded through the park were soothingly similar in this corner of the universe, sheltered from the rest of the world by Overman’s gift.
Almost two centuries later, it keeps giving, as a tribute to the past and as a public square that serves the community today in moments of joy and relaxation.
“We love coming here,” Deb Thompson said.
