BlockFrom the record
One of 208 National Register listings published here for Polk County · listed in 2022 · category: Building.
Sources: the National Register database, National Park Service
Val-Air Ballroom
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2022.
The listing
- What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
- Address. 301 Ashworth Rd., West Des Moines, 50265
- When was it listed? October 2022
- Category. building
- Township. Walnut township
- National Register reference number. 100008304 - assigned by the National Park Service when the property was listed.
Fires near this property
4 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of Val-Air Ballroom between 2006 and 2009, burning about 7 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.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 April 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 1 February 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 24 November 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 13 January 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Mines and quarries near this property
9 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Val-Air Ballroom: 5 producers, 4 past producers. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Can-Tex Industries West Pit | Clay | Producer | ||
| Iowa Clay Pipe Co. Pit | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Marquette Cement Plant | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Penn-Dixie Cement Plant | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| West Des Moines Plant #8 | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Commerce Pit and Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| West Des Moines Sand Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this property
60 of 72 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names West Des Moines, the town this property stands in, in 72 storm reports between 1994 and 2022: 34 hail, 24 thunderstorm wind, 5 flash flood, 3 heavy rain. The reports record 2 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2001 | Tornado (F1) | West Des Moines | 1 hurt, $500,000 | Tornado touched down on southwest edge of West Des Moines at the Glen Oaks Golf Club and swept into an apartment complex. Track was intermittent following the destruction of a garage unit there. |
| August 2004 | Lightning | West Des Moines | 1 hurt | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Hail | West Des Moines | $9,500,000 | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Des Moines | $2,000,000 | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Hail | West Des Moines | $250,000 | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Hail | West Des Moines | $200,000 | no account filed |
| June 2018 | Flash Flood | West Des Moines | $100,000 | Public reported that 63rd and Grand near West Des Moines was underwater. Water rescues were performed at this location as well. |
| April 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Des Moines | $100,000 | Most of the roof torn away on a commercial building. |
| August 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Des Moines | $100,000 | no account filed |
| August 2010 | Flash Flood | West Des Moines | $75,000 | Public Works Department in Des Moines and West Des Moines reports water over the road at Grand and 61st. |
| May 2014 | Hail | West Des Moines | $75,000 | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Flash Flood | West Des Moines | $75,000 | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Des Moines | $75,000 | no account filed |
| May 2007 | Flood | West Des Moines | $50,000 | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Flash Flood | West Des Moines | $50,000 | no account filed |
| April 2001 | Hail | West Des Moines | $50,000 | no account filed |
| June 2001 | Hail | West Des Moines | $50,000 | no account filed |
| April 1994 | Hail | West Des Moines | $50,000 | no account filed |
| May 2007 | Flood | West Des Moines | $25,000 | no account filed |
| July 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Des Moines | $25,000 | no account filed |
| July 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Des Moines | $20,000 | no account filed |
| April 2004 | Lightning | West Des Moines | $15,000 | no account filed |
| March 2007 | Hail | West Des Moines | $10,000 | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | West Des Moines | $10,000 | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | West Des Moines | $10,000 | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | West Des Moines | $10,000 | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Des Moines | $10,000 | no account filed |
| September 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Des Moines | $10,000 | no account filed |
| June 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Des Moines | $10,000 | no account filed |
| May 2014 | Hail | West Des Moines | $5,000 | Located at the southeast corner of 63rd and Grand. |
| March 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Des Moines | $5,000 | Power poles down along with small tree limbs. |
| March 2007 | Hail | West Des Moines | $5,000 | no account filed |
| March 2007 | Hail | West Des Moines | $5,000 | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Des Moines | $5,000 | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | West Des Moines | $5,000 | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | West Des Moines | $5,000 | no account filed |
| May 2004 | Hail | West Des Moines | $5,000 | no account filed |
| April 2003 | Hail | West Des Moines | $5,000 | no account filed |
| April 2003 | Hail | West Des Moines | $5,000 | no account filed |
| May 2003 | Hail | West Des Moines | $5,000 | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | West Des Moines | $5,000 | no account filed |
| July 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Des Moines | $5,000 | no account filed |
| April 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Des Moines | $3,000 | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Hail | West Des Moines | $3,000 | no account filed |
| April 2006 | Hail | West Des Moines | $2,000 | no account filed |
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Des Moines | $2,000 | no account filed |
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Des Moines | $2,000 | no account filed |
| June 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Des Moines | $2,000 | no account filed |
| August 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Des Moines | $2,000 | no account filed |
| July 1995 | Hail | West Des Moines | $2,000 | no account filed |
| June 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Des Moines | $1,000 | no account filed |
| July 1997 | Hail | West Des Moines | $1,000 | no account filed |
| April 2022 | Hail | West Des Moines | - | A Mercy Hospital ambulance reported penny to nickel sized hail. |
| August 2022 | Hail | West Des Moines | - | Delayed report of egg sized hail in West Des Moines. Time estimated by radar. |
| June 2021 | Hail | West Des Moines | - | Report via mping of penny sized hail. |
| December 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Des Moines | - | Spotter reported wind gusts between 612 pm and 625 pm, estimated between 60 and 70 pm. Also reported large branches down, but exact size unknown. |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Des Moines | - | Public report of damage on Grand between 8th st and 4th st including large trees down, power lines down, and traffic signal blown down. |
| July 2020 | Hail | West Des Moines | - | A trained spotter reported penny sized hail. |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Des Moines | - | Public report via social media of a tree down in the road. Time estimated via radar. |
| June 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Des Moines | - | Broadcast media relayed report of a large tree down near 63rd street and Railroad Avenue that also brought down a power line with it. Time estimated via radar. |
Map coverage status
No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 milesOther National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | U.S. Post Office | 0.8 miles | 1974 |
| Valley Auto Co.-Morgan Auto Co. Garage | 0.8 miles | 2021 | |
 | I.O.O.F. (International Order of Odd Fellows) Valley Junction Lodge Hall No. 604 | 0.9 miles | 2017 |
 | Valley Junction Commercial Historic District | 0.9 miles | 2017 |
 | Thomas I. Stoner House | 1.0 miles | 1992 |
 | Valley Junction-West Des Moines City Hall and Engine House | 1.0 miles | 1983 |
Sources for this property
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 100008304 in Record Group 79. |
| Polk County | All 208 listed properties in this county. |
Provenance
- Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
- Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
- How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
- 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.