This week in Des Moines
Nothing on Des Moines’s calendar for the next two weeks yet.
About Des Moines
Des Moines began in 1843 as Fort Des Moines, an army post built where the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers meet. Settlers moved into the fort after the soldiers left, the town became a city in 1851, and in 1857 it dropped the word Fort and became Iowa's capital. Its Capitol, finished in 1886, has a gold-leafed main dome ringed by four smaller domes and looks west over downtown. Today families walk the lighted trail around Gray's Lake, ride the paved river trails, and come back each August for the Iowa State Fair.