Sawyer and Watrous was a Des Moines architectural firm formed by a partnership in 1905 and incorporated in 1929 by Ralph E. Sawyer and Charles A. Watrous (son of Charles L. Watrous, for whom Watrous Avenue is named). The younger Mr. Watrous was born in 1875, went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, served overseas during World War I and, according to his obituary, was a founding member of the Wakonda Club. That still-thriving institution was formed in 1922 due to a split from the Des Moines Golf and Country Club when the lease was not renewed at their location adjacent to the Henry home.

Mr. Sawyer was born in Boston in 1873, graduated with a degree in architecture from MIT (where he met Watrous), and worked from Boston designing the buildings while Watrous supervised construction here in Iowa. In the spring of 1909 Sawyer joined his partner in Des Moines, where their firm had become well established.

From The Midwestern of October 1908 comes this passage, “Of the newer architect firms in the middle West, none has attracted a greater prominence ranking with the best in the country…Charlie Watrous, as he is familiarly known in Des Moines and Iowa, is a native Des Moines boy, reared and educated in his boyhood home... Mr. Sawyer is an artist and a poet in his line as well as a highly and thoroughly trained architect. His standing among Eastern architects is of the very highest and his coming to Iowa means much for the future building in the state… Des Moines is certainly fortunate in adding them to its list of builders.”

According historian Julie Leining in the National Register application for the Crane building, Sawyer & Watrous were quite busy.

"In their early years they designed a number of residences on 37th street, among them the Gardner Cowles Sr. house, and houses for Meier Rosenfields and the Pfeiffers. They occupied rooms in a building owned by the Watrous family after Sawyer moved to Des Moines in 1911. 

"George Hippee boosted their careers by having them design the main streetcar offices, waiting room and turnaround at 6th and Mulberry and, soon thereafter, the Hippee Building, now called the Midland Building. The twelve story, brick and terra-cotta clad Hippee building (1913) is perhaps their greatest work. Other major structures include the former Shrine Temple, The Main Power Station for the Des Moines Electric Company, the Logan School, the Brinsmaid Store on 7th, and the Enterprise building at 12th and Grand. Drawings of many of these structures appear in advertisements placed by the firm in the Spokesman for the City of Des Moines, 1916-1919."

The Sawyer & Watrous firm placed its mark on Des Moines architecture that that has stood the test of time.

Charles A. Watrous died in 1940 and Ralph E. Sawyer in 1947, both at their Des Moines homes.

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Major Hoyt Sherman was born in Ohio in 1827, the youngest of 11 children. His father was an Ohio Supreme Court judge, his brother John became the U.S. Secretary of Treasury and Secretary of State, and his brother William Tecumseh Sherman, a famous Civil War General. Hoyt Sherman came to Iowa in 1848 and joined the Bar the following year. In 1850, he was appointed Postmaster and served as such until he resigned and was elected clerk of the District Court in 1853.   On Christmas day, 1855, Sherman married Sara Moulton, an Ohio native. They had five children. Throughout his life, Sherman contributed to the development of Des Moines. He served as an organizer of the Des Moines Coal Company, the Des Moines Water Company, Equitable Life Insurance Company, and served on the Board of Directors for the Iowa and Minnesota Railroad, as well as the Narrow Guage railroad.  He was also a pioneer member of many organizations and societies.

In 1850, Sherman purchased land at auction that would eventually be the setting for Hoyt Sherman Place:

On the day fixed, he was there and was offered five dollars to act as clerk of the sale, which he accepted.  When the tract he wanted was offered, it soon developed that others wanted it.  Bids ran up to the limit of his pile and halted for a time, when he added the five dollars–his day’s compensation–and got.  — Pioneers of Polk County, vol. I, 1908

The construction of Hoyt Sherman Place was finished in 1877.  Prior to then, the Shermans lived on the southwest corner of 6th and Locust.  Today Hoyt Sherman Place serves as home to the Des Moines Women’s Club and provides events space for authors, dancers, musicians, and other performers.  Sherman's name has also been lent to the Sherman Hill Neighborhood, a district listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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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 example of a cast iron façade in Des Moines. This building began as the home of The Des Moines Saddlery Co. The saddlery business was founded by Jacob Rubelmann who came to Des Moines from Muscatine. Rubelmann was born in Germany in 1828 and came to the U.S. in 1849. He helped his father run a tannery in Muscatine for a couple years and spent some time in St. Louis before returning to Iowa. Jacob’s sons, George and John helped get the business up and running. They started with a four-story building with a single bay where they made harnesses and collars and eventually sold hardware, whips, robes, horse blankets, and horse brushes. According to local historian James Jacobsen, Rubelmann’s firm was incorporated as the Des Moines Saddlery and Hardware Company with William E. Hoffman, of Wheeling, Virginia, as president in 1887. Ground was broken for a building expansion in August. As Jacobsen indicates, it is unknown if this expansion was planned prior to the incorporation. The expansion included a building addition, as well as the addition of a fifth floor. The link to the Hoffman name can be seen in early advertisements for J. Rubelmann & Company where they indicate they only use “J.G. Hoffman & Son’s celebrated Star Oak Leather.” In 1902, this tannery was noted as one of the largest oak harness leather tanneries in the world with 300 employees. Their relationship with the Rubelmanns must have been strong, since the Hoffmans bought the factory upon J.E. Rubelmann’s retirement.

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In April of 1873, two men from New York, along with their families, stepped off the Keokuk & Des Moines rail line (Rock Island Line) to start a business based on innovation that would change the spice industry. Jehiel had been working for a spice company in Michigan when he convinced his brother Isaac to open a business with him in Des Moines. The west was new and ripe with opportunity, Des Moines was growing, and several rail lines passed through making it a desirable location for business. They started as a grocery with four employees on Water Street: Jehiel, Isaac, Aunt Mary, and “Mother.” After 10 years, Tone’s moved to a larger building at 213 Court Avenue.  Ten years following, they moved to a new four-story building and focused on spices, roasted coffee, and manufactured baking powder. Tone Bros. brought many innovative ideas the spice market. It was the first spice company to individually package spices for sale. In the late 1800s, spices were scooped out of barrels into sacks, but prepackaged spices decreased purchasing times and flat pricing brought convenience to customers. In addition, they were also the first to roast coffee beans west of the Mississippi River. Jay Tone, Jr, in an interview with Des Moines Public Library discusses how at this time, coffee beans were purchased green, and then roasted at home. The convenience of pre-roasted beans reduced time in the kitchen and brought a more consistently flavored final product to the consumer. The company was also the first spice company to grind whole black pepper. Jay Tone, Jr. mentions how black walnuts used to be ground up in the pepper to give it a dark color, but Tone’s decided to sell pure ground pepper, increasing its quality and the company’s reputability.

The company eventually expanded its business to include the manufacturing of baking powder and extracts. In the late 1890's it branched out to other states and employed several salesmen.

Jay Tone, Sr, worked in his office at Tone's until the age of 96. Shortly after his retirement, the company was sold to Mid-Continent Bottlers. Tone, Sr. was born the year Tone's was founded and died at the age of 100, witnessing it's entire first century of operation.

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1854 - Teenagers Marcus, Lipman, and Samuel Younker move to the United States from Lipno, Poland.

1856 – Lipman, Samuel, and Marcus Younker establish the first Younker & Brothers Dry Goods Store in Keokuk, Iowa.  1874 – A younger brother, Herman, opens the Younker Dry Goods Store in Des Moines. 1879 – The Keokuk store closes and the Des Moines store becomes the headquarters for Younker Brothers. 1881 – Younker Brothers hires Mrs. Mary McCann, the first woman to be employed by any store in Des Moines. 1899 – The Des Moines store moves to its long-term location at Seventh and Walnut Streets, opening on November 9.

1910 - Younker Brothers employs over 500 men and women. 1912 – Younker Brothers purchases the Grand Department Store. 1913 – The original Tea Room opens. 1927 – The new Tea Room replaces the old. 1927 – The company merges with Harris-Emery Company and becomes the largest department store chain in Iowa. 1928 – Younker Brothers buys J. Mandlebaum and Sons. 1936 – Air-conditioning comes to the entire downtown store. 1939 – A modernization program includes the installation of the first “electric stairs” (escalators) in Iowa. Thousands turn out to try the new invention. 1943 – Younker Brothers purchases the seven-story building across the street from the main store and opens the Store for Homes. A tunnel under the street connects the two stores. 1956 – Younker Brothers negotiates to buy the site of St. Gabriel’s monastery on Merle Hay Road. This later becomes the site of Merle Hay Mall. 1959 – Younker Brothers Merle Hay Mall store opens. 1950s-1960s – Younker Brothers opens several more Des Moines stores as well as branches in Sioux City, Iowa City, Oskaloosa, Ottumwa, Omaha, Nebraska, and Austin, Minnesota. 1978 – Tragedy strikes when the Merle Hay store is destroyed by a fire which kills ten employees. 1979 – Equitable of Iowa purchases Younker Brothers for $72.2 million and makes the retailer a subsidiary officially named Younkers. 1985 – The downtown Store for Homes closes. 1986 – Younkers purchases major competitor Brandeis & Sons, which has eleven department stores in Iowa and Nebraska. 1992 – Younkers purchases the department store division of H.C. Prange Co., a privately owned chain with twenty-five stores. 1994 – Milwaukee-based retailer Carson Pirie Scott & Co. makes an unsolicited bid for Younkers, but the Younkers board votes not to sell. 1995 – Younkers accepts a bid for the company of $216 million from Proffitt’s, Inc., a Tennessee chain. 1998 – Proffitt’s buys Saks Fifth Avenue and makes Younkers a division of Saks. 2005 – The flagship downtown store closes on August 12, ending more than 100 years of retailing on the same site. A store-closing sale brings thousands of people downtown to purchase memorabilia ranging from teacups from the fabled Younkers Tea Room to the “Electric Stairs” sign which had hung over the escalators since 1939. It was the end of an era for downtown retailing in Des Moines. 2006 - Bon-Ton Stores acquires from Saks all the shares of its Northern Department Stores Group, and becomes the new corporate parent of Younkers.

2007 - Downtown Sioux City store, a presence since 1948, closes. 2007 - Store furnishings and memorabilia from the downtown Des Moines store are sold at a liquidation event in May. 2013 - Wisconsin-based Alexander Co begins renovation work on the Des Moines flagship building in September; plans are for retail on the first two floors and apartments above. 2014 - The downtown Des Moines building is gutted by fire on March 29; its cause is eventually ruled “undetermined.” 2018 - Last Younkers stores close August 29. 2018 - Indiana-based CSC Generation buys the Younkers name in September and launches a new website.

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The history of Harbach Lofts began more than 100 years ago with the beginning of Harbach Furniture. As shown in the National Register of Historic Places documentation, the Harbach family made significant contributions to the city of Des Moines, and the former Harbach Furniture complex indicates the family’s business success. At age 19, Louis Harbach began as a harness maker in Des Moines while his brother Christopher ran a small furniture shop on 2^nd Street. Louis took a break from Des Moines and traveled to Cincinnati to learn cabinet making.  When he returned, he and his brother opened a furniture shop together and expanded operations. Over the years, the business gained financial success, expanded, and moved its base of operations several times. In 1882, Harbach furniture had grown from a workshop of a few people building everything by hand into a furniture factory employing 150 people using machinery. Historian Jennifer James documents Harbach’s success and the importance of his contributions business-wise and architecturally in her National Register of Historic Places application for the Harbach Lofts at 300 SW 5th Street. The L. Harbach's Sons Co. and predecessor Harbach family firms including L. Harbach & Sons Co. manufactured furniture for more than seventy years in Des Moines and occupied this factory complex from 1906 to 1928. These large industrial buildings allowed the company to upgrade its manufacturing to early twentieth-century modern factory conditions to remain competitive in a changing marketplace. The warehouse allowed the company to accommodate stored materials as well as associated handling equipment in tandem with the rail line behind its complex. The Warehouse and Factory Complex also represents some of the earliest and largest industrial construction in Des Moines' then-newly emerging warehouse and jobbing district south of the major rail lines-an important real estate development, and one of the last major such real estate development projects undertaken by the L. Harbach & Sons Co. and its founder, Louis Harbach. Louis Harbach was noted during his lifetime as an important real estate developer in Des Moines who "set the pace" innovatively, building the first furniture factory in Des Moines; constructing the first four-, five-, and six-story retail commercial buildings in the city; continuing to improve his commercial buildings; and erecting the first building dedicated exclusively to mortuary purposes in the city (completed in 1916) - all of these buildings are non-extant, which raise the importance of these two rare surviving functionally related factory and warehouse buildings. (Des Moines Daily News, August 30, 1898; Halstead: 34) – Jennifer James National Register of Historic Places document. You may read the full history of The Harbach Lofts and more about the Harbach family in Jennifer James’ National Register of Historic Places application.

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Many people in the Des Moines area associate the Jewett name with Gilcrest Jewett Lumber, but George Jewett, a founding partner, had many other interests. In 1872, he helped found the Iowa Loan & Trust Co and before that, organized Des Moines Scale Co. He was a founder of Drake University and assisted in organizing the YMCA. But in 1888, an invention grabbed his attention: the typewriter.

The Jewett Typewriter Company sold one of the first commercially successful machines worldwide. According to the Des Moines Register, Jewett visited Europe 10 times to promote his typewriter business and his company received awards at the Chicago World’s Fair and the Paris Exposition. It was reported that the Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany owned one and the Bank of England used it when it switched from longhand.

The company began at 608 Locust but in 1906 moved to a three-story building on 3rd Street next door to Harbach Undertaking. This building was previously the Continental Biscuit Company.

Unfortunately, Jewett Typewriter had some challenges in the early 1900s, as some stockholders out East wanted to move the factory to Cleveland. Jewett Typewriter managed to hold out until about 1910 when it was purchased by Underwood Typewriter Company and fully ceased production in Iowa.

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