Oldest home in Des Moines

The Larnerd Case house (also known as Rose Hill) at 3111 Easton Boulevard, is said to be the oldest home in Des Moines.  Different sources cite the original construction date from the early 1840′s to 1850.

 Owners appear to have loved the home, one even after moving across country from it.  A widowed Elizabeth Davis sold the property in 1914 to move west.  When she died, her will instructed that a mirror made out of walnut from the home’s bannisters be returned.  The Borg family accepted the delivery and hung it on their wall.

The Larnerd Case house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 for its architectural and historical significance.

For newspaper citations on Rose Hill, click here.   Articles can be viewed at the downtown Central Library at 1000 Grand Avenue. 

DeNato, Pat.  Tales of D.M.’s Oldest Home.  The Des Moines Tribune, 28 March 1993. 

Shotwell, Walter E.    Attention, restoration buffs:  Oldest D.M. house for sale.  Des Moines Tribune, 22 May 1980.

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Des Moines and Polk County History Books

E-books seem to be popping up all over the place nowadays, and believe it or not, there are quite a few Iowa history books in the public domain (published before 1923) that are available online.  Swing by the Des Moines History Books page of our local history wiki to peruse some of the titles available. There is also a link to the Google Books Library we created that has a larger list of available titles, including numerous county histories. You can even download the books from the Google Library as a PDF or EPUB book (for those of you that own a compatible e-book reader). The page even has a short list of old fashioned paper books the library owns.

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Rissers’ 1895

 Rissers’ Dry Goods and Carpet, 607-609 E. Locust Street.  According to 1895 City Directory, owned by Chas E. and Wm H (brothers).  Image:  Des Moines Illustrated Souvenir, 1895

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Camp Dodge 1917

Keep clicking on the image to make it larger.

Library of Congress citation information:  http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pan.6a31225

I will post images from the library’s collections in the future, I promise!

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Men and Women of Iowa Biographies Index

The Des Moines Public Library maintains a scrapbook collection of biographical information on a large number of prominent Iowans dating from 1909 to the present.  The index is available online at our Local History Wiki.    Articles themselves are not available online, but they can be viewed at the downtown Central Library at 1000 Grand Avenue.

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