Emergency Biohazard Cleanup Near Fairground Des Moines, IA

Des Moines began as Fort Des Moines, an Army post established in 1843 where the Raccoon River meets the Des Moines River; the town was incorporated on September 22, 1851, and the 'Fort' was dropped when it was chartered as a city in 1857.

Des Moines became Iowa's state capital in 1857, when the capital was moved west from Iowa City, and it is also the seat of Polk County.

Des Moines is the largest city in Iowa, with 214,133 residents in the 2020 census and an estimated 212,086 in 2025.

Des Moines has about 90,105 households averaging 2.30 people each, and about 60.5% of its homes are owner-occupied, a notably high rate for a state capital.

The Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines, completed in 1886, is the only five-domed state capitol in the United States, and its 275-foot main dome is gilded with 23-karat gold leaf.

Des Moines is one of the world's great insurance capitals - long nicknamed the 'Hartford of the West' - and is home to the headquarters of the Principal Financial Group.

Des Moines hosts the Iowa State Fair every August, one of the largest and most famous state fairs in America, drawing around a million visitors to see exhibits like the life-size butter cow and eat food on a stick.

Every four years Des Moines becomes the center of American politics as the hub of the Iowa caucuses, the first contest of the presidential nominating process.

Des Moines' Pappajohn Sculpture Park packs 4.4 acres downtown with works by artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Jaume Plensa and Ai Weiwei, donated by philanthropists John and Mary Pappajohn.

Des Moines' universities include Drake University, founded in 1881, and Des Moines University, an osteopathic medical school founded in 1898.