Amend’s high quality meat has been a culinary treat for the city of Des Moines since founder Conrad Amend opened his first meat market four years after the Civil War. Amend was 11 years old when,…

One of the earliest breweries was established by Frank Spitz near River, Second and Elm, on the Raccoon River. He ran a successful business until when while crossing the ice on the Raccoon River,…

From the late nineteenth century through the 1930s Iowa had a thriving automotive industry, and automobiles were designed and manufactured in its capital city by several companies. From early electric…

George C. Baker of Polk City, Iowa, invented Baker Barbed Wire, manufactured it in Des Moines, and before too long it was the world’s largest manufacturer of barbed wire. Barbed wire was a significant…

Byron Henry must have been feeling quite prosperous in 1918 when he and his wife Anna, along with their son Norman, moved from 1234 Ninth Street to 4995 Country Club Boulevard. At that time it was one…

*Original article published in The Annals of Iowa 20 (1936), State Historical Society of Iowa. Isaac Brandt and his family moved to Des Moines in the spring of 1858 and decided to locate on the east…

A fashionable hotel known as the Demoine House once stood at First and Walnut Streets, which is now where the Polk County Office building resides. John Yost and Martin Tucker opened the Demoine House…

Open air schools in the United States started in 1908 but closed down by 1941. Children who attended usually suffered from tuberculosis (TB). Most people with TB were treated in sanitariums, but this…

The Court Avenue Restaurant and Brewing Co. building has housed many businesses over the years and managed to stay standing through times when many older buildings were razed. It is the last remaining…

It all began when L.M. Mann bought 100 acres of land and created a destination. He opened the Des Moines Zoological Gardens on July 4, 1889. The park included an elephant, lions, panthers, kangaroos,…