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,…

Union Park was established in 1894 as one of Des Moines’s first parks. Originally comprised of 27 acres, the park boasted an aviary, pavilion, stone fountain, and greenhouse when it first opened.…

Des Moines used to host one of the most exciting festivals in the Midwest, a carnival of Marde Gras-esque proportions.

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…

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 &…

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…

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…

In the summer of 1869 the first fire engine arrived in Des Moines: It was named the General Crocker Steamer in honor of General Marcellus Crocker, beloved Des Moines lawyer who died at the end of the…

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…

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…