Scottish Rite Consistory Building

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

From the record

“The Scottish Rite Consistory Building in Des Moines, Iowa was built during 1926-1927. It is a late date example of Neo-Classical style architecture, designed by Roland Harrison, a partner in the Des Moines architectural firm of Wetherell and Harrison.”
Wikipedia article Scottish Rite Consistory Building (Des Moines, Iowa), CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 208 National Register listings published here for Polk County · listed in 1983 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service · the Wikipedia article

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Address. 6th Ave. and Park St., Des Moines, 50309
When was it listed? September 1983
Category. building
Township. Des Moines township
Architectural style. Neoclassical architecture
National Register reference number. 83000399 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

6 since 2006

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 6 fires within 5 miles of Scottish Rite Consistory Building between 2006 and 2009, burning about 32 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	6

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
16 April 2009	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	5.0 acres	Iowa Department of Natural Resources	not named
20 February 2009	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	20 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

Every fire recorded in Polk County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 10 workings within 5 miles of Scottish Rite Consistory Building: 7 past producers, 3 producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Flagstone. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status
Capitol Hill Sandstone Quarry	Flagstone	Past Producer
Marquette Cement Plant	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
West Des Moines Plant #8	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Can-Tex Industries West Pit	Clay	Producer
Goodwin Brick and Tile Co. Clay Pit	Clay	Past Producer
Iowa Clay Pipe Co. Pit	Clay	Past Producer
Se 22nd St. Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Unknown	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Unknown	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
White Pit and Plant	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer

Every working recorded in Polk County

Storms near this property

60 of 348 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Des Moines, the town this property stands in, 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.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
February 1997	Flash Flood	Des Moines	1 killed, $30,000	no account filed
June 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Des Moines	1 killed, $1,000	Thunderstorm winds blew down a large tree branch. A homeless individual died when a the branch fell on him at a homeless settlement along the banks of the Raccoon River east of Fluer Blvd.
June 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Des Moines	40 hurt, $40,000,000	no account filed
May 2004	Dust Devil	Des Moines	5 hurt	no account filed
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.
March 2007	Lightning	Des Moines	1 hurt	no account filed
August 2004	Lightning	West Des Moines	1 hurt	no account filed
June 2001	Hail	West Des Moines	$9,500,000	no account filed
June 2008	Flash Flood	Des Moines	$7,000,000	no account filed
June 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Des Moines	$4,000,000	no account filed
August 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Des Moines	$2,500,000	no account filed
June 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	West Des Moines	$2,000,000	no account filed
June 1998	Flash Flood	Des Moines	$1,000,000	no account filed
July 2010	Flood	Des Moines	$500,000	no account filed
June 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Des Moines	$500,000	no account filed
May 2022	Lightning	Des Moines	$400,000	At 201 Grand Avenue, three condos suffered major damage and a fourth had minor damage from a fire believed to have been started by lightning according to firefighters. Time estimated using lightning data.
May 1996	Flash Flood	Des Moines	$300,000	no account filed
October 2019	Hail	Des Moines	$250,000	Public reported baseball sized hail via picture from social media.
June 2015	Flood	Des Moines	$250,000	The river crested at 16.21 feet at 3:30 PM CST on 16 June.
June 2015	Flood	Des Moines	$250,000	The Raccoon River at Des Moines Fleur Drive crested at 21.54 feet at 3:30 PM CST on 26 June.
July 2015	Flood	Des Moines	$250,000	The Raccoon River at Fleur Drive Des Moines crested at 12.83 feet at 5:15 PM CDT on 29 July.
June 2010	Flood	Des Moines	$250,000	no account filed
April 2007	Flood	Des Moines	$250,000	no account filed
June 2001	Hail	West Des Moines	$250,000	no account filed
June 2008	Flood	Des Moines	$200,000	One foot of water at Northwest 6th Drive between 49th and 51st.
June 2001	Hail	West Des Moines	$200,000	no account filed
July 1997	Flash Flood	Des Moines	$200,000	no account filed
May 1996	Flood	Des Moines	$200,000	no account filed
September 2014	Flood	Des Moines	$150,000	no account filed
May 2013	Flood	Des Moines	$150,000	no account filed
July 1998	Flash Flood	Des Moines	$150,000	no account filed
May 2019	Flood	Des Moines	$100,000	The Raccoon River at Des Moines Fleur Drive crested twice at 16.86 feet on 25 May 2019 at 06:30 UTC and at 17.42 feet on 29 May 2019 at 15:00 UTC.
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.
December 2015	Flood	Des Moines	$100,000	The Raccoon River crested at 17.72 feet on 15 December 2015 at 23:30 UTC.
September 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Des Moines	$100,000	Winds estimated at 65 MPH.
April 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	West Des Moines	$100,000	Most of the roof torn away on a commercial building.
April 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Des Moines	$100,000	Large trees down near 18th and Woodland in the Sherman Hoyt area. Significant tree damage.
August 2010	Flash Flood	Des Moines	$100,000	Evacuations taking place from 3325 Hubble Ave at an apartment complex to 3560 Douglas Ave near a trailer Park in east Des Moines.
May 2000	Tornado (F1)	Des Moines	$100,000	Intermittent path
September 2014	Flood	Des Moines	$100,000	no account filed
March 2010	Flood	Des Moines	$100,000	no account filed
August 2010	Flood	Des Moines	$100,000	no account filed
May 2004	Flash Flood	Des Moines	$100,000	no account filed
August 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Des Moines	$100,000	no account filed
August 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Des Moines	$100,000	no account filed
August 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	West Des Moines	$100,000	no account filed
February 1997	Flash Flood	Des Moines	$100,000	no account filed
June 2019	Flash Flood	Des Moines	$75,000	Law enforcement reported 5 vehicles stranded and assistance needed to get people out of the water.
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.
July 2009	Hail	Des Moines	$75,000	Hail reported at the intersection of 2nd Ave and Euclid in the Highland Park area.
October 2007	Tornado (EF1)	Des Moines	$75,000	A tornado took down power lines and power poles were snapped at 13th Street and Mulberry. The public reported a flipped car at SW 6th Street and Mulberry.
May 2014	Hail	West Des Moines	$75,000	no account filed
May 2004	Flash Flood	West Des Moines	$75,000	no account filed
May 2004	Flash Flood	Des Moines	$75,000	no account filed
June 1998	Flood	Des Moines	$75,000	no account filed
June 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	West Des Moines	$75,000	no account filed
October 2018	Flood	Des Moines	$50,000	The Raccoon River at Des Moines at Fleur Drive crested twice, the first crest at 15.13 ft on 11 October 2018 at 02:30 UTC, the second crest at 15.06 ft on 13 October 2018 at 09:45 UTC.
May 2016	Flood	Des Moines	$50,000	The Raccoon River at Fleur Drive in Des Moines crested at 4:30 pm CDT on 1 May 2016 at 13.67 feet.
September 2015	Flood	Des Moines	$50,000	The Raccoon River at Des Moines Fleur Drive crested at 13.08 feet on 9 September 2015 at 10:45 pm CDT.
April 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Des Moines	$50,000	South wind of 65 MPH was measured at the Blank Park Zoo.

Every storm recorded in Polk County

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 miles

Other 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.

Property	Distance	Listed
American Republic Insurance Company Headquarters Building	under 500 feet	2015
Iowa Commission for the Blind Building	0.1 miles	2010
St. Ambrose Cathedral and Rectory	0.2 miles	1979
Burns United Methodist Church	0.2 miles	1977
Home Federal Savings and Loan Association of Des Moines Building	0.2 miles	2017
St. Paul's Episcopal Church	0.2 miles	2010

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 83000399 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
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.