East Village

By Sarah C. Oltrogge

A little neighborhood in the shadow of the state capitol, East Village in downtown Des Moines used the statehouse dome as a backdrop to establish itself in what was low, mostly unusable land along the Des Moines River. Just after the dawn of the 20th century, the neighborhood burgeoned with blue-collar industry and corner stores, while boasting the convenient use of railroads for industrial development and travel. It seemed to be in competition with the west side, where the insurance industry and wealthy neighborhoods blossomed on high ground. By midcentury, though, East Village suffered as a mobile population chose suburban shopping malls over traditional mom-and-pops. By 1990, buildings were in disrepair, and crime was increasing. A group of dedicated individuals came together and, with assistance and cooperation from the city, brought East Village back into focus, with a clear urban identity that sparked a renewed sense of pride.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Sep 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9781439624456

Sarah C. Oltrogge

Since 2000, Sarah C. Oltrogge has worked for the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, a state agency housed in the State Historical Museum of Iowa located in East Village. She is a former board member and president of Historic East Village, Inc., and is involved in historic preservation efforts across Des Moines.

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INTRODUCTION

Just after about 1900, there were two distinct downtown areas of Des Moines, with the Des Moines River serving as an unintentional boundary. The east side was at a disadvantage early on, with its land lower and less usable than the high ground to the west, where tall buildings could create a towering skyline. But the east side had successfully secured the state capitol, completed in 1886, and its residents were looking forward to the growth and prosperity a building of its stature was sure to bring.

Even so, those expectations were never fully realized. Large insurance companies preferred the west side, and residential growth grew faster heading west than east. As such, the two sides became seemingly independent of each other. The area also had a high immigrant population, particularly Scandinavians, who were able to form their own pocket community in which they could observe their traditions freely.

Horace E. Teachout was a civic leader for the east side and built the first skyscraper in the neighborhood in 1911. We must look after our interests, because unless we do, nobody else will, reported the Plain Talk newspaper. Teachout was instrumental in beginning the East Side Commercial Club, which unified business owners and strengthened them as one voice.

City leaders recognized the need for aesthetic improvements along the Des Moines River and began the City Beautiful Movement. Changes unfolded gradually between 1900 and 1937, as the city built up its new municipal center on the east side, cleaned up the area along the river, and established parks and a citywide boulevard system. Well-worn billboards were cleaned up but not altogether abolished until some time later. All these outdoor improvements allowed east side residents to enjoy and be proud of their own neighborhoods.

In 1957, the city of Des Moines and the state of Iowa began plans for a metro freeway to tie into the 41,000-mile system officially known as the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways. That year, the Des Moines City Council voted 5-0 in support of the freeway plan. Vast areas of land on both the east and the west sides of downtown were purchased and cleared for this major undertaking, which began in 1958.

It was at this time that enclosed shopping malls began to make their mark on society. This was no more apparent in the Midwest than when the Southdale Center in Edina, Minnesota, opened in 1956, the first fully enclosed mall with a two-level design. It had central air-conditioning and heating, a comfortable common area, and competitive department stores as anchors. Nine years later, there were 7,600 shopping centers in the United States. Suburban development in Des Moines and population growth after World War II created the need for more housing and more convenient retail shopping. Many of the strip malls of the 1950s and 1960s served these new housing developments and directly competed with the mom-and-pop establishments.

The scope of downtown living and conducting business in Des Moines was shifting even farther westward. By 1971, the city had cleared obvious areas along East Grand Avenue east of Fourth Street, the block north of the federal courthouse, and the east end of Walnut Street between

Fifth and Sixth Streets. The riverfront area north of Des Moines Street was also completely cleared and being redeveloped. On the east side alone, 105 buildings were demolished between 1948 and 1989, 41 of them between 1980 and 1989.

By the 1990s, what became known as East Village was run down. The buildings that remained were ignored, showing obvious disrepair or patching attempts, like outdated siding and false facades. The after-hours bar scene intensified and crime increased. On weekends, the streets emptied as downtown workers went to their western suburban homes.

Architect Kirk Blunck, an early east side supporter with strong historic preservation ideals, purchased several structures, including the Teachout and Hohberger buildings, and began restoring them in the late 1990s. His efforts began a chain reaction that made neighboring building owners begin to clean up their own properties. The real coup came once these renovations were completed in 2000. West side suburban businesses moved back downtown and chose East Village as home. Places like Kitchen Collage (an upscale culinary supply store) and Sticks Gallery (led by nationally known artist Sarah Grant) began to filter in.

It was also during this time of resurgence that a group of individuals came together to advocate saving what historic buildings remained. Threatened by the loss of two blocks of structures deemed important to the East Village historic character and sense of place, these individuals formed Historic East Village in 2002 (incorporated in 2003). The organization’s goals were to reverse the trend of demolition by undertaking activities designed to preserve East Village as a healthy, vital center of commerce and social activity and to promote preservation, rehabilitation, and reuse of the commercial, civic, residential, and religious buildings in this traditional business district.

With assistance and cooperation from the City of Des Moines, East Village brought itself back into focus, with a clear identity and reinvention of itself as a hip, urban place to shop and live. Innovative development such as the East Village Square artist live-work lofts drove the sense of uniqueness. Des Moines was ready to embrace the diversity upon which it had been built, and this was apparent particularly in the East Village, as it became home to gay bars and organizations. There is also a high African American population residing in low-income housing just to the north and a center of Latino business just to the east.

The golden dome of the state capitol once again became a symbolic backdrop to the neighborhood oriented around it. The urban revitalization, where old buildings abut new and where longtime east side residents live alongside young professionals, continued in 2008. The river that once divided the east and the west is being redeveloped as a center of recreation in the metro and brings with it a renewed sense of pride for East Village, the little neighborhood in the shadow of