View looking north up 5th avenue from the Polk County Courthouse grounds. The courthouse is on the left. The trolley is turning east onto Court Avenue. visible on 5th is the Federal Building, Hoods Hotel and Gabrio W F Co. The building in the center…
View looks west across the Des Moines River, just south of the Locust Street Bridge. On the left is the Public Library and on the right is the Des Moines Coliseum. In the distance is the Observatory Building and The Savery Hotel. The Coliseum was…
Originally planned at four stories, the Chamberlain Hotel grew to six stories before its completion in 1903. D.S. Chamberlain hired W.L. Brown, former manager of the Savery hotel, to oversee construction of the building. Current site of the Ruan Two…
This view looks south down Sixth Avenue from Locust Street. Automobiles, trolley cars and horse drawn carriages all crowd the road. On the right are housed Higgin’s Pharmacy, the State Insurance Company and Boston Market. Beyond that is Utica…
Looking east down Locust street we see the Clapp Block (with the Iowa Mutual Tornado sign) and the Observatory Building both on the right side of the street. Capital Center is what currently occupies that side of the street. The left side of street,…
The Iliad Hotel was located in the Exposition Building, which formed in 1872. The building was meant to highlight Iowa goods. In 1892 two floors were added to the building and became the Iliad. The building later became Grand Department Store. The…
View of downtown Des Moines taken from the top of the Central Life Building, facing northwest. Several churches are visible including St. Paul's Episcopal, First Baptist, Central Presbyterian (the building under construction), Central Christ…
