Historic Tour #3 – First and Court

100 Court Avenue is now an office building but it was once the Kurtz Wholesale Warehouse.  Previously, it was a grocery warehouse and in the 19th century this was the site of the Dickerson Agricultural Implement Company (owned by William Dickerson, a Prussian immigrant).

Most of early Des Moines’ trade was with farmers.  Farmers traded their surplus harvest for items which they could not manufacture on their own farms, such as farm implements, buttons, and coal oil lamps to name a few.  Pioneer farmers were basically subsistence farmers, using oxen for power, and they were for the most part self-sufficient.  However, the growth of Des Moines from 1845 to 1880  parallels a revolution in agricultural technology.  The shift from ox power, subsistence farming, to horse-powered and the beginnings of commercial farming.  new horse-drawn machines enabled one farmer to complete more work in one day and gradually farm more land.  The Dickerson Agricultural Implement company is an example of an urban business which fostered this shift in technology.

Excerpt from:

Hunter, Dan.  Des Moines: Confluence of People and Resources.  1982:  Public Library of Des Moines.

Historic Tour #2 – First and Walnut

DeMoine House from A Picture Album of the Early History of Des Moines, 1917?

The Polk County Office Building currently stands at First and Walnut.  It was constructed in 1910 as a U.S. Post Office.  Prior to the post office, other businesses occupied the same plot of land:  The DeMoine House, a fashionable hotel, stood there in 1850 and in 1886, George Conradi’s Tavern (below).

Des Moines Power Station, April 1926

The Des Moines Electric Light Company, Power House, 105 Chestnut.

1926 Des Moines City Directory.

Present Ideas from 1908.

Last week I said I was going to post Des Moines holiday ads from long ago, but I had to post these Christmas gift ideas from the 1908 Midwestern.  Lots of things to buy a wife, only one to buy a husband!  Surely there was something out there besides suspenders!

Historic Des Moines Holiday Ads

Through this holiday season, I thought it would be fun to post holiday advertisements of current and former Des Moines businesses.  This week, we start with a Younkers ad from The Midwestern, December, 1907.