The Kurtz family has been doing business in Des Moines for over 150 years.

The Larnerd Case house (also known as Rose Hill) at 3111 Easton Boulevard is said to be the oldest home in Des Moines.  Different sources cite the original construction date from the early 1840’s to…

Second and Euclid is the home of Park Fair Mall, but it was once the site of an interesting piece of Des Moines educational history. Highland Park College, Des Moines University, and the University of…

Riverview Amusement Park opened on Saturday, June 5, 1915, with an admission of five cents. The June 6th, 1915, Register and Leader reported live music by T. Fred Henry and his band, as well as The…

People passing by the large brick building at Southeast Seventh and Scott Avenue in Des Moines may not realize the significance of this structure.  For more than 50 years it was the home of the…

According to a Des Moines Register article, Egidio Romano came to Des Moines from Italy by way of Omaha, Kansas City, and then St. Paul.  Romano started his fruit stand in Des Moines in 1891 and…

Ronald (Dutch) Reagan, movie star, governor of California, and president of the United States from 1981-1988, lived in Des Moines for a time in the 1930s, when he worked as a sports announcer for WHO…

The S.S. Brinsmaid house was the earliest known Prairie Style house in Iowa. It was designed by architect Arthur A. Heun and built in 1901 on the northeast corner of 36th and Grand. Heun is known for…

Sevastopol began as a settlement south of Des Moines around 1855.  It was laid out by James Sherman, was recorded on July 21, 1862,  and  incorporated in 1877 or 1878 (varies with source).  Its…

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…