CEDAR FALLS -- Incorporated into Cedar Falls in 1971, North Cedar has long remained a community unto its own, independent and a bit different than the rest of the city.

It's a neighborhood of water and woods and a mix of immaculately cared-for homes near to homes with makeshift roofs and cars parked in back yards.

For years, North Cedar residents have felt their part of town carried a bad reputation, a certain stigma born of prejudices that North Cedar was poor, or crime-ridden or run-down. Many who lived in the area felt the city government had neglected it after the annexation and failed to deliver on promises of city water for all and better streets.

In recent years North Cedar has been slowly making changes. New housing developments have sprung up near the school and along Dunkerton Road. While some residents still lack city water and sewer services, those have been expanded out along Lone Tree Road. This year, the city will upgrade many of the streets.

Area has many draws

While North Cedar has long suffered from a bit of an image problem, it has also held a certain allure for people to live there.

Outdoorspeople like the proximity to the Cedar River, Black Hawk Park and Big Woods Lake. In some parts of North Cedar deer and wild turkey are commonplace. Street names like Cypress, Sumac, Big Woods, Pine and Bertchwood reflect the area's affinity for the woods.

Lower cost housing is also a draw, as is a general attitude that some consider more accepting of different types of people.

Back in the 1990s, Dave Deibler was living in North Cedar and scratching out a life as a musician. He wrote a song titled "North Cedar" that was on an album his band "House of Large Sizes" released in 1994.

Deibler had moved to a rental house on Longview Street when rent at his downtown apartment nearly tripled. He found a house with a basement, perfect for a band, and neighbors who didn't mind the noise -- another plus for a band.

"I loved the neighborhood. It's radically different from just a mile down the street," Deibler said.

He found a somewhat insular community, one where he was an outsider, having grown up in southern Cedar Falls. He said that outsider status allowed him to write the song.

The song opens with the line, "I've got cars up on blocks, I've got geese on the road, she said."

Deibler wrote the song from things he could see out his window. He never found a shortage of cars up on blocks in North Cedar, a feature that hasn't disappeared from the neighborhood. And the goose he references lived on his block and would terrorize a friend of his that would come to visit.

"A few people thought I was making fun of it," Deibler recalled. He didn't see it that way, he had a fondness for the neighborhood that continues to this day, even though he now lives out in the country.

Another part of the song references high water stemming from the Cedar River, and a sense of freedom. A refrain in the song proclaims, "we reserve the right to burn/shoot/do anything."

"It kind of looked at the freedom of living out there," Deibler said. "This town isn't as much fun as it used to be. It used to be a lot freakier. North Cedar held on to that a lot longer than any other part of town.

School is a mainstay

Businesses have come and gone in North Cedar. The main street, Center Street, connects North Cedar to town and has hosted a variety of different restaurants over the years.

The constant in North Cedar, and many would say the community's heart and soul, has been North Cedar Elementary School.

The school is currently the smallest in the city by a wide margin. This year 186 students enrolled at the school, down from an all-time high of about 325.

That smaller enrollment has many North Cedar residents worried that the school could be closed down as the Cedar Falls Community School District is in the midst of re-evaluating its elementary attendance areas.

"I think people are very proud of the school and it's a very integral part of North Cedar," said North Cedar Principal Cyndi Morgan.

She had come to North Cedar in 2001 after serving in smaller school districts. The school reminded her of the small town schools she was familiar with.

"I was very impressed with how much of a community school this was," Morgan said. "Many of our families have been here for generations."

The same spring Morgan was hired, the district was identified as a school in need of assistance. North Cedar made the list for not having a high enough percentage of students considered proficient in reading.

"Once we were identified it meant digging in hard and getting past this," Morgan said.

The school started a new reading initiative. Reading scores improved the next year and by the time two years had elapsed, North Cedar was off the list. It hasn't been listed again since.

"We've managed to remain comparable to other schools in the district," Morgan said.

North Cedar school serves a lower income population than the rest of the school district. About half of North Cedar students are eligible for free or reduced lunches. It's the only school in the district with more than a quarter of the population eligible for free or reduced lunches.

As a result, North Cedar hosts some additional programs. The Head Start program serves 16 students and is full most every day.

The Boys and Girls Club run an after-school program where students can stay at school until 6 p.m., completing homework and playing games. On most afternoons 40 to 50 students will stay after school for it.

Housing development

In the school attendance area, some newer housing developments have breathed fresh life into the neighborhood.

In 2001, Jim Sands bought up a mobile home park directly behind the school. The park had been a notably tough part of town, with a biker gang-related stabbing incident among a list of crimes on the property. He tore the mobile home park down and built 16 new homes to replace them.

Sands had long family ties to North Cedar, and his kids went to school there at the time. For him, it was a way to help improve his community and his first foray into developing his own subdivision.

"The trailer court was right next to the school. I had kids in the school. I got lots of comments on how quickly the houses went up and how much better it looks," Sands said.

Another development, Fox View Estates, started out as an effort to build affordable new housing at Dunkerton Road and Center Street. The first phase of the project benefited from city tax incentives to encourage lower cost housing. It filled quickly and the developers have since added another addition and a third is planned for the near future.

"Fox View has brought in a lot of new kids and there are a lot of newborns out there too that would be future North Cedar students," Morgan said.

Morgan said the teachers and the community in North Cedar all hope the school can continue to operate and grow stronger into the future.

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North Cedar roots

To Scott Turner, the simple question of why he lives in North Cedar isn't so simple.

"I don't know. I've never thought about it. I've always lived here," Turner said.

One day last week he was working outside his Woodlawn Avenue home. He had the tools out and was busy stripping parts off of an old orange pickup truck before taking it to salvage.

His family has a long history in North Cedar. Relatives on his grandmother's side of the family were in the construction business and helped build much of the area.

"They just started North Cedar out of farms and country houses," Turner said.

Turner's family once had a farm across Center Street from where the Casey's General Store now stands.

Turner's father, Vern, was the last rural fire department chief before the area was annexed and the department dissolved.

Like most who live in North Cedar, Turner thinks the neighborhood carries a stigma that may not be deserved.

"It's got a bad reputation from people coming across the river," Turner said. "But people out here just mind their own business."

Dennis Pelton moved to North Cedar five years ago from a house in central Cedar Falls. The house he bought on Western Avenue lies just a half block from Center Street, but he was drawn to the neighborhood by its peaceful nature.

"We like it out here. It's a nice neighborhood. It's quiet out here," Pelton said. "But we ended up buying this one, the first one we looked at."

John Benton's grandfather started the family's concrete business along Center Street in 1948. They bought out the Assink sand and gravel business in 1986 and later added Benton's lumber in 1998.

He had grown up elsewhere in Cedar Falls, but built a house 15 years ago on Clair Street.

Benton finds the North Cedar community is filled with a variety of people.

"I think there's a sense of community, but it's not a unified sense," Benton said.

Benton's home is one of a handful built along one of the ponds on his business property. Those upscale homes stand out from the more modest homes in most of the neighborhood.

"I think the attraction to North Cedar is, first of all, it's the most affordable housing in Cedar Falls," Benton said.

In a city where the average home sales price is over $180,000, North Cedar offers the highest concentration of homes priced under $100,000.

But Benton built his house in North Cedar because of the outdoors amenities it had to offer.

"I had an opportunity to build on a lake and enjoy the woods and the wildlife and be close to work," Benton said.

Annexation finally paying off

Some North Cedar residents have long felt slighted by the city. They felt the city didn't deliver on promises made at the time of annexation. They thought being annexed into the city would mean city water and sewer for all and upgraded streets.

Now some of those city benefits are starting to make inroads in North Cedar.

Water was run along Lone Tree Road in recent years and residents near Lake Street, such as on Cameo Street will soon be able to hook up to city water.

Ever since the annexation, street projects in North Cedar involved resurfacing streets with the same materials used before the annexation. For much of the area, that means seal-coated streets. This summer the city will resurface a dozen North Cedar streets, with asphalt replacing seal coating on most of them.

"My understanding is the policy has been the city would use the local option sales tax to replace like streets with like streets," said City Engineer Ron Gaines, who was hired by the city last year. "Now I think they are slowly changed to upgrade them."

Gaines said the seal-coated streets should make a nice base to lay the asphalt.

Councilman Tom Hagarty represents Ward 1, which includes North Cedar. He had gotten frustrated with the city policy that didn't allow for upgrading the streets in that area and is pleased to see it change.

"They have a right to enjoy nice smooth streets," Hagarty said.

Hagarty said he received advice on North Cedar when he first ran for council six years ago -- make sure neither the school nor the fire station on Lone Tree Road closes. The school is beyond his control, but the city has recently spent nearly $300,000 renovating the fire station.

The council recently approved zoning for a new commercial development at Lone Tree Road and Highway 218. Hagarty said it's a sign of things to come for North Cedar.

"That whole area is ready to spring," he said.

During his time on council, Hagarty has noted the residents have taken great efforts to fix up properties or take advantage of city code enforcement efforts to help spruce up their neighborhoods.

"In the six years I've been on the council the one thing I've learned is people are very proud of what they've made in that area," Hagarty said.

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Contact Jon Ericson at (319) 291-1402 or jonathan.ericson@wcfcourier.com.