Fort Des Moines Historic Preservation Plan

Fort Des Moines History

Originally established as a cavalry post in 1903, Fort Des Moines is one of only two National Historic Landmarks in Polk County and the first to be designated a National Register Historic District for its service as the Provisional Army Officer Training School, which marked both the U.S. Army's first recognition of its responsibility to train black officers and the establishment of a military tradition among African Americans. Fort Des Moines was also the birthplace of the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC), later renamed the Women's Army Corps (WAC), during WWII. It was the first and largest such training center during the war, training over 72,000 women, including 3,069 officers--the first women officers in the Army at any level.

Choosing a Consultant Team

A Request for Proposals was issued to find a team of consultants to complete a historic preservation plan for Fort Des Moines. The City received seven excellent proposals from local firms as well as from around the country. After careful scoring and thoughtful discussion, a review committee chose Keffer/Overton Architects of Des Moines.

Keffer/Overton has substantial work history with the Fort. Their predecessor firm was one of two firms that designed and oversaw construction of the 174 WAC buildings constructed in 1942. Since 1997, they have reviewed the conditions of and historically consulted on 30 buildings in Fort Des Moines. They have been directly involved in the historical restoration and/or adaptive reuse of 7 buildings in Fort Des Moines in recent years.

Keffer/Overton teamed with Genus Landscape Architects, who worked on the Superblock Master Plan, and Dr. Penelope LeFew-Blake, who is the leading historian on Fort Des Moines and the author of several papers and books on Fort Des Moines.

We’re excited that this team has tremendous background and experience with the Fort that will enable them to put together an appropriate, thorough, and feasible plan!

The proposal will go before City Council for approval this summer.

The Planning Process

After we receive approval from City Council, we will get started with forming our Planning Committee and providing background information to the Consultant Team. The Planning Committee should include city representatives, Fort Des Moines stakeholders, specific individuals or user groups as deemed appropriate.

There will be opportunity for public input in this process. Meeting information will be posted on this website.

If you’d like to be included on an email list of interested individuals to receive updates as we progress or have any questions or comments regarding this project, please contact Mindy Moore, Park Planner at 515-248-6349 or msmoore@dmgov.org.

Additional Documentation - The large sizes of the following documents prohibit them from being posted in their entirety. Only the title pages, table of contents, introductions and/or summaries have been included.

Relevant Council Communications

Fort - Related Links


City of Des Moines logo

City of Des Moines, Iowa
Parks and Recreation