Civic Center Historic District

About this property

The Civic Center Historic District is located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, United States. It flanks both the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers and their confluence. The district has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1988. It is part of The City Beautiful Movement and City Planning in Des Moines, Iowa 1892—1938 MPS. The structures within the district were built between 1900 and 1938. The contributing properties include six public buildings and seven structures. The six buildings include the Armory and World War Memorial Building, the former Public Library of Des Moines, the former Post Office, Municipal Building, Municipal Court Building, and the U.S. Court House. The seven contributing structures include the Center Street Dam, West River Front Park, East River Front Park, the River Walls, Scott Avenue Bridge and Dam, Court Avenue Bridge, and the Riverside Drive Bridge. There are also six noncontributing structures which include the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Bridge, the Des Moines Union Railway Company Bridge, the Rock Island Depot, the Grand Avenue Bridge, the Locust Street Bridge, and the Walnut Street Bridge. The buildings in the Civic Center district were built along the river as part of the plans for riverfront development. Both the East and West Riverfront Parks are examples of the principles found in the City Beautiful Movement. The main facades of the municipal government buildings face the river itself while those of the federal government buildings face the street. Part of the planning included flood prevention from the flood-prone rivers as well as the way the Raccoon River flowed into the Des Moines River. There have been 11,617 linear feet of river walls built as part of the flood protection efforts. An intercepting sewer system to handle storm run-off is also a part of the river wall structure. Plans to construct the walls were completed in 1908. Construction of the walls, however, was not completed until 1938 as projects of the Civil Works Administration and the Works Project Administration. When the Locust Street, Walnut Street, and Grand Avenue bridges were reconstructed in the late 1960s their original ornamentation was removed and the bridge decks rebuilt. Even though the original shape of the spans and piers remained, the loss of ornamentation significantly altered the bridges and they are no longer capable of contributing to the historic nature of the Civic Center district. The Court Avenue Bridge was reconstructed in the 1980s and its decorative elements were left in place. The railroad bridges have always been seen as intrusions in the district and it was suggested the railroad right of way be moved when the bridges were in need of significant repairs or replacement.

Location

Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

More in Polk County

Historic places, battles, and census history across Polk County.

More historic places in Iowa

Browse all historic places in Iowa.

Conflict records

Explore 19,000+ military engagements across American history.

Iowa history

Colonial settlement, territorial period, and statehood narrative.