By Dave Elbert
Des Moines streets bear the names of 17 U.S. presidents, 17 states, a handful of Iowa politicians, war heroes, pioneer families and more.
Naming rights are largely the domain of developers, who often defaulted to landscape and nature: Greenwood, Hillside, Woodland, Elm, Walnut, Maple and such. They also honor family and friends: John Lynde Road, (John) Payne Road, (Samuel) Robertson Drive and (Albert S.) Kingman Boulevard.
Occasionally, a group of names are selected to evoke specific images. At the turn of the 20th century, the Highland Park area was home to three now-defunct colleges, prompting developers to name nearby streets for famous academic centers: Oxford, Cambridge, Cornell and Columbia. They even threw in the ancient Greek mathematician Euclid for good measure.
Similarly, Radio City Mobile Home Court in northeast Des Moines pays tribute to early radio stars with avenues named for Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Jackie Gleason and streets honoring George Gobel and Red Skelton.
A handful of early Des Moines streets honor pioneer business leaders, including Wesley Redhead, Fredrick M. Hubbell and Jefferson Polk.
We also honor war heroes, including Civil War generals Marcus Crocker and Phillip Sheridan, and four Iowans killed in World War I: Merle Hay, Harrison McHenry, Donald MacRae and Edward Fleur.
But why is a major east-west road named in honor of Stephen Douglas, the Democrat who ran against Abraham Lincoln in 1860? That’s a head scratcher.
Des Moines’ 17 presidential streets honor all of our chief executives between George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, except James Monroe, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor and James Polk, who was in office in 1846 when Iowa became a state. (The streets named Tyler, Taylor and Polk honor local residents, not presidents.) Actually, Des Moines once had a Monroe Street, too, but it was eliminated in 1908, after six suburbs merged into the city and nearly 200 street names were eliminated.
The only presidential addresses Des Moines recognizes after Lincoln honor James Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt and Warren Harding.
Notably absent from the list are Ulysses Grant, who was the first president to visit Des Moines, in 1875; Iowa native Herbert Hoover; and Ronald Reagan, who lived in Des Moines in the 1930s.
For some reason, Iowa is not among the 17 states whose names appear on local streets.
When street names were consolidated in 1908, city planners made an effort to recognize Indian names, including Cherokee, Mahaska and Tonawanda.
By then, of course, the city already had a street named Des Moines, which has Indigenous origins from the 17th century, when French explorers first arrived in Iowa. Some said the name was French for “the monks,” which is questionable, given there were no French monks anywhere near Iowa at the time.
Others said the city’s name came from an Indigenous language that translated to “the mounds.”
My favorite, however, is the explanation provided by former Des Moines Register reporter Mary Challender. In 2003 she wrote, Des Moines was the name given by one Indigenous tribe to a rival group upstream. French explorers misinterpreted the name, which actually meant “the excrement faces.”
Dave Elbert has covered local history and business news for more than 40 years, first for the Des Moines Register and then the Business Record. Find more of Elbert’s Backstories at dsmmagazine.com.
Show Comments (0)