Mother Mosque, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
The Mother Mosque of America, the oldest mosque in the United States, is seen in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, January 24, 2016.
Reportedly America’s oldest surviving purpose-built mosque, the “Mother Mosque,” was also built by Syrian and Lebanese Muslims who had migrated from Ottoman Greater Syria.

When it opened in 1934 it was known as the Rose of Fraternity Lodge and the Moslem Temple and used for prayer, education and community activity, as well storing the ancient Qur’ans the immigrants had brought with them from their homelands. These days, the local community use a larger mosque nearby built in the 1970s and the Mother Mosque is mostly used to educate people about America’s Islamic heritage.