Cedar Rapids is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Iowa and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, 20 miles north of Iowa City and 100 miles east of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city. The City Hall and County Courthouse are located on Mays Island, an island on the river. Cedar Rapids is one of only a few cities in the world to have governmental offices on a municipal island.
A flourishing center for arts and theatre in Eastern Iowa, the city is home to the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, the Paramount Theatre, and the Iowa Cultural Corridor Alliance. The city is also an economic hub of the state and is at the core of the Interstate 380 Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Technology Corridor of Linn, Benton, Jones, Johnson, and Washington counties. The estimated population of the three-county Metropolitan Statistical Area which includes nearby cities of Marion and Hiawatha, was 252,784 in 2007. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's population at 126,396 in 2007. The Cedar Rapids/Iowa City corridor has an estimated population of 423,353 as of 2006.
Cedar Rapids has been residence to famous figures for the United States, including American Gothic painter Grant Wood, journalist and historian William L. Shirer, writer and photographer Carl Van Vechten, and aerodynamics pioneer Dr. Alexander Lippisch. In the 1990s and 2000s, Hollywood would feature several Cedar Rapidians including actors Ashton Kutcher, Elijah Wood and Ron Livingston. The city is also the setting for a musical, "The Pajama Game" .
The name Cedar Rapids is named for the Cedar River. Cedar Rapids is nicknamed the City of Five Seasons for the traditional four seasons and a "fifth season" which is a time to enjoy the other four. The symbol of the five seasons is the Tree of Five Seasons sculpture in downtown Cedar Rapids along the north river bank. The name "Five Seasons" and representations of the sculpture appear throughout the city in many forms. 

ECONOMY
Cedar Rapids is home to several large businesses and industries, including General Mills, Cargill, Alliant Energy, GE Commercial Finance, Rockwell Collins, Quaker Oats, AEGON, United Fire and Casuality, Toyota Financial Services, PAETEC, Archer Daniels Midland, Qwest, GreatAmerica Leasing, RuffaloCODY, PMX, Square D and CRST International. Although many of these companies have been located in Cedar Rapids for quite some time, a larger number of high-tech industries are locating in or around Cedar Rapids because it is part of the Technology Corridor, a region of the state that also includes the Iowa City metro area to the south. Much of Iowa's technological businesses and industries operate from this corridor. Since a diversification of the local economy, the unemployment rate has held at a reasonable rate and wages are consistently among the highest in the state.
Among the technology companies is Newspaperarchive which through its Cedar Rapids parent Heritage Microfilm is the largest newspaper archive in North America (with a repository of more than 150 million pages assembled over 250 years). 

SPORTS
Cedar Rapids is home of the minor-league baseball team Cedar Rapids Kernels, a member of the Midwest League since 1962. The Kernels are a Class-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The ice hockey team Cedar Rapids RoughRiders are a member of the USHL and were once Clark Cup Champions. There is also a junior hockey league, the Cedar Rapids Hockey Association, with mini-mite-high school teams. Sports facilities include Veterans Memorial Stadium for baseball, Kingston Stadium for football and track, the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena for hockey, and the U.S. Cellular Center (formerly the Five Seasons Center) for basketball. This arena also hosts the Iowa High School volleyball championships and many concerts. Cedar Rapids is also home to the high competitive "metro" athletic teams. These teams consist of the high schools of Jefferson, Washington, Kennedy, Linn-Mar, Xavier, and Prairie. 

EDUCATION
Cedar Rapids is home to two four-year colleges: Coe College and Mount Mercy College. The University of Iowa also has an evening MBA facility there. Kirkwood Community College is the area's only two-year college, while Kaplan University (formerly Hamilton College) and Upper Iowa University also have campuses there. Cornell College in Mount Vernon and the University of Iowa's main campus in Iowa City are both within 30 miles (48 km) of Cedar Rapids.
The Cedar Rapids Community School District is the largest school district in the metropolitan area with an enrollment of 17,263 in the 2006-2007 school year. The district contains 24 elementary schools, six middle schools, and four high schools: Jefferson, Washington, Kennedy, and Metro (an alternative high school). Two neighboring school districts draw students from within the Cedar Rapids city limits. The Linn-Mar Community School District serves part of the northeast quadrant of the city and has seven elementary schools inside the city limits. The College Community School District serves part of the southwest quadrant of Cedar Rapids as well as neighboring rural portions of Linn, Benton and Johnson counties. College Community's four elementary schools, Prairie Middle School, and Prairie High School are all located in a central campus off Interstate 380.
The Cedar Rapids Metro Catholic Education System, which is affiliated with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque, consists of six elementary schools, two middle schools, and one high school (Xavier). The Cedar Rapids Catholic Education System and Cedar Rapids Community School District are synonymous with each other in the Cedar Rapids Public and Parochial School System. 

REAL PEOPLE FROM CEDAR RAPIDS 

· Orville and Wilbur Wright, aviation pioneers, resided in Cedar Rapids in their youth.  

· Walter Donald Douglas, Co-Founder of Penick & Ford Starch Company, Son of Quaker Oats Founder, Died on The Titanic  

· Kent Ferguson, Gold Medal Olympics Diver  

· Elijah Wood, actor  

· Ron Livingston, actor. Grew up in Marion, Iowa  

· Zach Johnson, professional golfer  

· Grant Wood, artist (Born in Anamosa, Iowa, grew up and lived in Cedar Rapids)  

· Terry Farrell, actress  

· Marvin D. Cone, artist  

· Paul Conrad, cartoonist  

· Cal Eldred, former Major League Baseball pitcher  

· Michael Emerson, actor, grew up in Toledo, Iowa  

· Trent Green, American football player  

· John Hench, Disney animator and Imagineer for 65 years.  

· Ashton Kutcher, actor and producer  

· Dow Mossman, author  

· Riley Smith, actor  

· Paul Tibbets, pilot in command of the B-29 that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Lived in Cedar Rapids until 1927  

· Arthur A. Collins, inventor and founder of Collins Radio Company.  

· Carl Van Vechten, novelist and photographer  

· Dedric Ward, American football player  

· Kurt Warner, American football player  

· Landon Cassill, car racer  

· Don DeFore, actor  

· Michael Daugherty, classical composer  

· Paul Engle, poet  

· David Hilker, Wild Whirled Music, musician, producer, film/TV composer, music executive  

· Ryan Sweeney professional baseball player  

· Jim Cummins retired NBC-TV News Correspondent, graduate of Regis High School in 1963.  

· Conger Metcalf, artist  

· Geof Darrow comic book artist  

· Adrian Arrington, American football player  

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