Source: Voice of America

http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=4691E1EE-2DF2-43B7-84D6299BB8021439

On January 17, 2004 Voice of America published an article on the historic Muslim community in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It describes the history of the “Mother Mosque,” opened in 1934 as the first mosque built in the United States. The article details early Muslim immigration from Syria and Lebanon to Cedar Rapids, as well as the influx of new Muslim immigrants over the past twenty years. Today, about 350 families belong to the Cedar Rapids Islamic Center, built in 1972.