Des Moines

41.58684, -93.62495

Des Moines Travel Guide

Travel Author

Stig Albeck

City Map

City Introduction

Des Moines is the largest city and the capital of the US state of Iowa. The town is located where the Raccoon River flows into the Des Moines River, where Captain James Allen established a fort in 1843. Allen wanted to name the site Fort Raccoon, but the U.S. The War Department preferred Fort Des Moines. In 1846 the fort was abandoned due to a reduced threat from Indian tribes, and in the same year settlers arrived at the fort, and in 1851 Fort Des Moines formally became a city, which from 1857 was simply called Des Moines.

That same year, the city became the capital of Iowa, instead of Iowa City. Des Moines grew to 22,000 residents in 1880, and in the latter half of the 1800s, the coal mining industry brought great growth to the city. At the beginning of the 20th century, Des Moines was developed with large beaux-arts buildings as part of a City Beautiful project, and in the 1930s construction was initiated as part of Roosevelt’s New Deal.

Today, you can take some nice strolls in Des Moines’ downtown and experience the cityscape among the high-rise buildings. As a special feature, you can use the so-called skywalks, which are an indoor path system that connects large parts of downtown, and where you can go from building to building in the over six kilometers of skywalks.

Among the high-rises, you can see the Equitable Building, erected in 1924, which for many years was the tallest building in Des Moines and Iowa at 97 meters in height. From the 1970s, today’s modern skyline was built, and 801 Grand opened in 1991 as the city’s tallest skyscraper at 192 meters.

Downtown, near the river, you can explore art from Iowa artists at the Polk County Heritage Gallery, housed in the town’s former Beaux Arts post office, built in 1908. It is one of several buildings in this style that were built in the early 1900s in a beautification movement for Des Moines, and which makes up the Civic Center Historic District.

The other buildings of interest in the area from this time are the Armory and World War Memorial Building, the city’s former library Public Library of Des Moines, the Municipal Building, the Municipal Court Building and the U.S. Court House. In the middle of it all is the Court Avenue Bridge from 1918, from which you can see the Beaux-Arts buildings.

Close by, you can visit the modern Des Moines Civic Center, which is the venue for concerts, theater performances, ballets, etc. From here you can walk through downtown to the city’s well-known Pappajohn Sculpture Park, which is a sculpture park that opened in 2009 with 24 sculptures in the open and green urban space.

Des Moines is the capital of Iowa, which is why you can see the Iowa State Capitol, located east of the Des Moines River. The government building houses the state senate, the house of representatives and the governor’s offices, and it was built in the years 1871-1886. Iowa’s Capitol is distinctive for being the only government building in the United States with five domes, and the center dome is beautifully gilded, and the Capitol was the tallest building in Des Moines until 1924. To the east of the building, you can see a smaller replica of the Statue of Liberty, which was put up in 1950, and you can also see various memorials around the Capitol, such as the monument for the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

In front of the State Capitol, you can see a mosaic that shapes Iowa’s counties, and in this area, you can also visit the State Historical Museum, where you can learn more about Iowa’s history. Here there are many interesting artifacts and themed exhibitions about, for example, the settlement of the state and Iowa during the American Civil War.

Other Attractions

Day Trips

Omaha, Nebraska, USA

Omaha

Omaha is the largest city in the US state of Nebraska. The area was visited by the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1804, and in the following decades several trading posts were established here. In 1846, Mormons established the temporary city of Cutler’s Park in the northern part of present-day Omaha. In 1854, Omaha was established as a city, and it was named after one of the region’s Indian tribes, whose land had been acquired by the US state from the same year.

Soon after, Omaha became the capital of the Nebraska Territory, but when the territory became a state in 1867, the capital was moved to nearby Lincoln. The city grew rapidly, and railroads were built to Omaha in the 1860s and they brought further growth. In the following several decades, Omaha’s large-scale meat production was established as the leading industry.

Read more about Omaha

 

Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA

Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls is the largest city in the US state of South Dakota. The town’s history started in 1856, when two groups from The Dakota Land Company and the Western Town Company claimed lands around the Great Falls of the Big Sioux River. The groups worked together and established themselves, and in the first winter 17 men stayed on site. The 17 became more, but the settlement was abandoned in due to the Sioux uprising in 1862. In May 1865, Fort Dakota was established in what is today downtown Sioux Falls.

Many former residents returned along with more settlers, and Sioux Falls grew and formally became a city in 1883. In the same decade, the railroad came to town and the population quickly quadrupled to over 10,000. Growth continued in the 20th century with the establishment of industries, agricultural production and a military base in the first half of the century and trade and services in recent decades.

Read more about Sioux Falls

 

Kansas City, Missouri, USA

Kansas City

Kansas City is the largest city in the state of Missouri, and it is a city located at the mouth of the Kansas River flow into the Missouri River. Already during the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition after the American purchase of French Louisiana in 1803, it was determined that the place was well suited for a fort. It took until 1831 before a group of Mormons led by Joseph Smith settled here, but they had to move on two years later.

In the following years, settlements appeared in Independence, Westport and along the Missouri River, and in 1850 the Town of Kansas formally became a city, with a location along the river in the northern part of the modern downtown. In the last decades of the 19th century, the city boomed due to the railroad, and in 1889 it was named Kansas City. In the year 1900, a good 163,000 inhabitants lived here.

Read more about Kansas City

Geolocation

In short

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines, Iowa[/caption]

Overview of Des Moines

Des Moines is the largest city and the capital of the US state of Iowa. The town is located where the Raccoon River flows into the River, where Captain James Allen established a fort in 1843. Allen wanted to name the site Fort Raccoon, but the U.S. The War Department preferred Fort. In 1846 the fort was abandoned due to a reduced threat from Indian tribes, and in the same year settlers arrived at the fort, and in 1851 Fort Des Moines formally became a city, which from 1857 was simply called the name.

That same year, the city became the capital of Iowa, instead of Iowa City. Des Moines grew to 22,000 residents in 1880, and in the latter half of the 1800s, the coal mining industry brought great growth to the city. At the beginning of the 20th century, the city was developed with large beaux-arts buildings as part of a City Beautiful project, and in the 1930s construction was initiated as part of Roosevelt’s New Deal.

Today, you can take some nice strolls in downtown and experience the cityscape among the high-rise buildings. As a special feature, you can use the so-called skywalks, which are an indoor path system that connects large parts of downtown, and where you can go from building to building in the over six kilometers of skywalks.

About the Des Moines travel guide

Contents: Tours in the city + tours in the surrounding area
Published: Released soon
Author: Stig Albeck
Publisher: Vamados.com
Language: English

About the travel guide

The Des Moines travel guide gives you an overview of the sights and activities of the American city. Read about top sights and other sights, and get a tour guide with tour suggestions and detailed descriptions of all the city’s most important churches, monuments, mansions, museums, etc.

Des Moines is waiting for you, and at vamados.com you can also find cheap flights and great deals on hotels for your trip. You just select your travel dates and then you get flight and accommodation suggestions in and around the city.

Read more about Des Moines and the United States

United States Travel Guide: https://vamados.com/usa
City tourism: https://visitde-smoi-nes.com
Main Page: https://www.vamados.com/

Buy the travel guide

Click the “Add to Cart” button to purchase the travel guide. After that you will come to the payment, where you enter the purchase and payment information. Upon payment of the travel guide, you will immediately receive a receipt with a link to download your purchase. You can download the travel guide immediately or use the download link in the email later.

Use the travel guide

When you buy the travel guide to Des Moines you get the book online so you can have it on your phone, tablet or computer – and of course you can choose to print it. Use the maps and tour suggestions and you will have a good and content-rich journey.

Travel Expert

Stig Albeck

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