Grocers Wholesale Company Building
National Register of Historic Places

Grocers Wholesale Company Building

Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa
Listed
April 24, 2008
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
08000330

About this property

The Grocers Wholesale Company Building, also known as the Sears and Roebuck Farm Store, is a historic building located in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. Completed in 1916, this was the first of four warehouses built and owned by Iowa's only and most successful statewide cooperative grocery warehouse. It is possible that it was the first statewide organization of this kind in the country. The cooperative allowed independent grocers to compete against chain stores and survive wholesale grocers' surcharges. They leased their first warehouse after they organized in 1912. Each successive time the cooperative built a new warehouse it was larger and technologically more advanced than the previous one. This particular cooperative grew to include parts of four states: Iowa, southern Minnesota, northern Missouri and eastern Nebraska. They built their second warehouse in 1930 and moved out of this facility. They continued to own this building until 1968, and they leased it out to other firms. The Sears Farm Equipment Store began to occupy the building in 1937 and continued here until 1959. The cooperative became the Associated Grocers of Iowa in the late 1950s, and it continued in existence until 1985. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

Location

22 W. 9th St.
Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa
41.58271, -93.62787

Categories

COMMERCE
National Register nomination ›
Sources

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.

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Nearby Historic Sites

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0.1 mi
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Questions about this property

When was Grocers Wholesale Company Building listed on the National Register?

Grocers Wholesale Company Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 24, 2008.

What type of historic resource is Grocers Wholesale Company Building?

Grocers Wholesale Company Building is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Grocers Wholesale Company Building?

The period of significance for Grocers Wholesale Company Building is recorded as the industrial era, specifically around 1912.

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