Des Moines, Iowa

• Open map evidence
• Research guide
• Polk County

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 12 of 191 shown

• Fort Des Moines Provisional Army Officer Training SchoolNational Historic Landmark · listed 1974
• Terrace HillNational Historic Landmark · listed 1972
• Terrace HillNational Historic Landmark · listed 2003
• Abraham Lincoln High Schoollisted 2002
• William W. and Elizabeth J. Ainsworth Houselisted 1998
• American Republic Insurance Company Headquarters Buildinglisted 2015
• Josiah Andrews Houselisted 1988
• Apperson-Iowa Motor Car Company Buildinglisted 2016
• Ashby Manor Historic Districtlisted 1992
• Ayrshire Apartmentslisted 1996
• William H. and Alice Bailey Houselisted 1996
• C. H. Baker Double Houselisted 1996

Every listing in Polk County

Des Moines grew from 203,433 to 214,133 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

• 1905 USGS Des Moines quadrangle1:62500
• 1907 USGS Des Moines quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
• 1954 USGS Des Moines quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
• 1956 USGS Des Moines quadrangle1:250000
• 1956 USGS Des Moines quadrangle1:62500
• 1956 USGS Des Moines SE quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
• 1957 USGS Des Moines quadrangle1:250000
• 1969 USGS Des Moines quadrangle1:250000
• 1984 USGS Des Moines quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 6 fires within 5 miles of Des Moines between 2006 and 2015, burning about 26 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

• Carney
• Country Estate Village
• Easton Place
• Marquisville
• Saylor
• Saylor Station

Every fire recorded in Polk County

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Des Moines: 6 past producers, 3 producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay, Flagstone, Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Every working recorded in Polk County

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Des Moines in 348 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 131 hail, 101 thunderstorm wind, 52 flood, 30 flash flood. The reports record 2 deaths and 48 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

Every storm recorded in Polk County

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 465961. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.