The Edwards family built their home on one of the highest points in the county at 2309 Grand Boulevard in 1908. Nine years later, the magnificent Galloway House was completed at 2208 Grand Boulevard. This twenty- room mansion of red brick with steel-beam support contained five bedrooms with sleeping porches, a large playroom, servants quarters, a spacious living area, six bathrooms, and pillars at various entrances. Innovations of the time, such as outdoor lighting and electricity, were also present in the mayor's home. It remains one of the most beautiful homes in Cedar Heights today.

    Other prominent leaders of the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area raised families in Cedar Heights. The founder of Clay Equipment lived in a home built in 1916 at 2318 Greenwood for the majority of his life. It contained a rare fireplace of copper-quartz rock and beautiful masonry. Just two hundred feet west of the Galloway home, J. G. Brinkerhoff, an associate of Galloway's, built his $7000 home. An article in the Waterloo Evening Courier and Recorder describes it:

A hot water heating plant will keep the place at a warm, even temperature in  winter. Gas for cooking and electricity for lighting, add the necessary finishing touches which go to make a home modern and up-to-date. Mr. Brinkerhoff is certainly to be complimented upon the style of building he has selected. His lines are well proportioned and extremely pleasing. The fact that it is charmingly beautiful and free from the usual architectural "gingerbread" makes it a tribute to Mr. Brinkerhoffs good taste - in which compliment Mrs. Brinkerhoff is no doubt entitled to share.5

    The California Addition was built to the south of Rainbow Drive to provide bungalow homes for the few middle-class residents wishing to enjoy the beauty of the community as well. The most remarkable and incredible home was located at 1603 Mandalay Drive.

    Edgar Litchfield, owner of Litchfield Manufacturing in Waterloo, built a "classic work of art" on an eleven-acre plot adjacent to Lookout Park.24 Litchfield named the home "Mandalay" and kept its construction a secret from his wife, Gertrude, until its completion in 1922. The fifty-six-room mansion of Bedford stone and a red-tile roof cost over $200,000 to build. The oak floors, tapestries, furniture, and paintings added to the beauty of the estate with all of its modern amenities. Mandalay contained its own water and sewage system to provide for the automatic dishwasher, washing machine and dryer, vacuum cleaning system, and intercommunication system. The bowling alley and billiard room, shooting gallery, pipe organ, and the marble and bronze fountain added to its wonder as well. The Depression forced Litchfield to sell Mandalay in 1932 to Russell Ferguson, at a huge loss, for $1500 in back taxes and $9000 to the home's creditors. Ferguson converted the mansion into a nightclub and restaurant, titled the "Mandalay Inn." Its success was also short-lived, for in 1935, the once incredible home was transformed into "Mandalay Apartments." This is how the mansion stands today.