Des Moines 1922

White and blue text on a red, white and blue striped background

Des Moines is the capitol city of the state of Iowa. Native Americans were the earliest inhabitants of the area. Fort Des Moines was founded in part to keep the Native Americans separated from the colonial settlers and gain control of the area for the settlers. The town of Fort Des Moines was chartered in 1853 and shorted to “Des Moines” in 1858. It became a mining town and benefited from trade with its prime location on two rivers.

It is likely that this is an artifact from a 1922 Des Moines Chamber of Commerce membership campaign that advertised Des Moines as “a central city with a central market.” Early advertising from 1920 promoted Des Moines as the distribution center of the “greatest producing section of the globe.”