WATERLOO - As the 50th anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's visit to Waterloo approaches, a committee of individuals from across the Cedar Valley have proposed a permanent "peace walk" memorial honoring the civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner.

The walk would be developed at a to-be-determined location in Waterloo. Exact costs have not been determined but a rough estimate of about $2 million has been discussed.

Committee have been working on the project more than a year. They unveiled the concept at an invitation-only gathering of more than 200 community leaders Thursday evening at Mudd Advertising in Cedar Falls, aided by that firm and AHTS Architects.

The 90-minute program included videotaped endorsements for the project from the Rev. Jesse Jackson and public broadcasting journalist Tavis Smiley. No money was sought, but attendees were invited to sign pledge cards to commit to unspecified future financial support.

Longtime local civil rights activist Anna Mae Weems, who brought Dr. King to Waterloo in 1959, organized the committeee in March 2008, before the 40th anniversary of his April 4, 1968 assassination.

The peace walk "will represent a timeline of Martin Luther King's life," as envisioned by AHTS and the planning committee. It would include an amphitheater with a podium on which his famous "I Have a Dream" speech would be engraved, as well as a statue of Dr. King and a splash pad and waterspouts where children can play.

"Waterloo, Iowa has the distinction of the Iowa city with the highest concentration of African-Americans and minorities in the state and is the most diverse city in Iowa," committee members and architects wrote. "Waterloo's combined distinctions and its unique and unsuspecting civil rights history proves an ideal location for the Martin Luther King 'Peace Walk' Memorial."

Some may be surprised at an MLK memorial in Iowa with its relatively low minority population, but they shouldn't be, said Jim Colon, a vice president with Toyota who keynoted Thursday's unveiling. He was invited by Dan Deery Toyota general manager Barney Niner, a member of the local King memorial planning committee.

"We have got to be thinking about the long-term implications of his (Dr. King's) work and how it's really affected all of America, not just parts of America.," said Colon, the first Amercan to serve on Toyota's board of directors.

Mayor Tim Hurley said Waterloo city government will cooperate with the committee "hand in hand" on project details.

Committee member Frieda Weems, Anna Mae Weems' daughter, said the memorial will commemorate the legacies of Dr. King, and the local civil rights movement in the Cedar Valley.

Anna Mae Weems met King in the late 1950s at a White House conference led by then-Vice President Richard Nixon. King gave the invocation. Impressed, Weems invited him to Waterloo.

On Nov. 10, 1959, Dr. King was met at the Waterloo Municipal Airport by a delegation headed by Mayor Ed Jochumsen and escorted by motorcade to West High School, where he spoke. He shared the platform with 25 local white and black business, labor and community leaders.

King and his wife, Coretta Scott King, stayed overnight at the Hotel Russell-Lamson. Burton "Bud" Field of Palace Clothiers provided the Southern-acclimated couple with a set of warm winter dress clothes.

On Nov. 11, 1959 Dr. King also spoke at Iowa State Teachers College in Cedar Falls, now the University of Northern Iowa.

Contact Pat Kinney at (319) 291-1426 or Pat.Kinney@ wcfcourier.com