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Des Moines Attractions and Things to See

Des Moines is the biggest city and capital of Iowa, incorporated in 1851 as Fort Des Moines, but in 1857, it would be shortened to Des Moines, presumably named after the Des Moines River, that some believe was named after the French Riviere des Moines that means the "River of the Monks". It has become a significant city in this country because it has numerous major insurance companies, and is home to many significant financial services and publishing businesses located here. Forbes magazine ranked it as the "Best Place for Business" in 2010, and Kiplinger's Personal Finance would list it as number 9 in its 2008 Best Cities list. It is also quite important as the location of the first major electoral event in nominating the President of the United States, ever since 1972.

The area has a great history that began over 3,000 years ago, when the juncture of the Raccoon and Des Moines Rivers attracted early humans, since numerous prehistoric occupation sites have been discovered in the downtown area by archaeologists, with at least three late prehistoric villages being uncovered that date from 1300 AD to 1700, as well as 15 t0 18 prehistoric American Indian mounds seen the downtown area by the early settlers, unfortunately, none of them are left now. The city began in 1843, when Captain James Allen oversaw the construction of a fort on the site where the two river met, and he would use the name Fort Raccoon after one of them. The War Department would instruct him to change the name to Fort Des Moines, and it had been constructed to protect the settlers from the Meswaki and Sauk Indians that had already been moved from their traditional lands in eastern Iowa. In 1846, the fort would be abandoned after those two tribes had been removed from the state altogether.

Des Moines is a cultural center for the state and home to many history and art museums, along with performing arts groups; and the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines often hosts the finest Broadway shows and other live professional theater, as well as the Des Moines Playhouse and Temple for Performing Arts. Since 1973, the Des Moines Metro Opera has been performing, offering award-winning outreach and educational programs to the community and has become one of the biggest performing arts organizations in the state. Ballet Des Moines was started in 2002 and performs two productions each year, as well as offering excellent opportunities for outreach and education. The Des Moines Symphony has play at various venues, along with giving seven pairs of performances in classical concerts each year, entertaining with the New Year's Eve Pops and the yearly Yankee Doodle Pops concerts. The Metro Arts Alliance provides the Jazz in July each year, with free jazz shows every day at many venues throughout the city in the month of July. The Des Moines Art Center was designed by world famous, I. M. Pei and presents numerous art exhibitions and educational programs along with hands-on studio art classes. The Salisbury House and Gardens is a 42 room mansion sitting on 10 gorgeous acres that had been named after the King's house in Salisbury, constructed during the 1920s by the Weeks family, featuring authentic 16th century English oak and rafters that date to Shakespeare's era and a fabulous world class collection of original art, rare books, tapestries and jewelry. In 2009, the PapaJohn Sculpture Park opened in the Western Gateway Park with a magnificent collection of 24 world class sculptures that has been valued at over $40 million that was donated by Des Moines philanthropists John and Mary Papajohn. They occupy 4.4 acres of beautiful green space that has been designed as an outdoor art museum.

Other significant museums include the Wallace House museum, the Des Moines Art Center, Terrace Hill, the official residence of the state's governor, Des Moines Police Museum & Historical Society, State Historical Society of Iowa, Fort Des Moines Museum and Education Center, the Science Center of Iowa, Jordan House museum and the Salisbury House.
The city has numerous sports teams that play baseball, hockey, arena football, soccer and basketball, with 53 city parks for individual activities, that offer hiking, biking, swimming, tennis, swimming, and three golf courses, 28 miles of trails, three family aquatic centers, three swimming pools and five community centers.