County Past
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Des Moines County, Iowa

Historic newspapers, landmarks, and county history layers for genealogists and local historians.

—newspaper titles
—digitized titles
34historic places
—earliest paper
1834formed
38,910pop. 2020
92cemeteries
—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 34 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1974. Most listings are in or near Burlington, Sperry, Mediapolis.

Summary generated automatically from the source data on this page.

Newspapers

Library of Congress

Newspaper directory data for Iowa is not yet loaded on this site. Browse Des Moines titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

22 of 34 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

34 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
Allen, Robert and Catharine (Ripley), HouseSperryBuilding2025
Aspen Grove Cemetery Historic DistrictBurlingtonDistrict2022
Baptist ChurchSperryBuilding1977
Burlington High SchoolBurlingtonBuilding2024
Burlington Public LibraryBurlingtonBuilding1975
Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Passenger StationBurlingtonBuilding1976
Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Freight HouseBurlingtonBuilding1983
Cascade BridgeBurlingtonStructure1998
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy StationBurlingtonBuilding2002
Church of St. John the BaptistBurlingtonBuilding1982
Crapo Park and Arboretum Historic DistrictBurlingtonDistrict1976
Darwin, Mary, HouseBurlingtonBuilding1980
Des Moines County Court HouseBurlingtonBuilding2003
Dodge, Augustus Caesar, HouseBurlingtonBuilding1980
Downtown Commercial Historic DistrictBurlingtonDistrict2015
First Congregational ChurchBurlingtonBuilding1976
Forney, James M., HouseBurlingtonBuilding1986
German Methodist Episcopal ChurchBurlingtonBuilding1977
Hawkeye Creek BridgeMediapolisStructure1998
Hedge BlockBurlingtonBuilding1982
Heritage Hill Historic DistrictBurlingtonDistrict1982
Hotel BurlingtonBurlingtonBuilding1987
Jagger-Churchill HouseBurlingtonBuilding1982
Lagomarcino-Grupe CompanyBurlingtonBuilding2013
Manufacturing and Wholesale Historic DistrictBurlingtonDistrict2012
Melcher, Dennis Melcher, Pottery and HouseDanvilleBuilding2003
Prairie Grove SchoolW. BurlingtonBuilding2019
Schramm BuildingBurlingtonBuilding1999
Snake AlleyBurlingtonStructure1974
Snake Alley Historic DistrictBurlingtonDistrict1975
Starker-Leopold Historic DistrictBurlingtonDistrict1983
The Capitol TheaterBurlingtonBuilding1996
West Jefferson Street Historic DistrictBurlingtonDistrict1991
White, Abiathar and Nancy, HouseBurlingtonBuilding2014

Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Property links open NRHP nomination files at the National Archives.

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Des Moines was formed in 1834 (1834-10-01) from unknown / original county.

DES MOINES created by Michigan Territory from non-county area in present Iowa.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Des Moines County population from 1840 to 2020 (Census historical series).

47k26k5,5771840188019201930196020002020
18401860188019001920194019501960198020002020
5,57719,61133,09935,98935,52036,80442,05644,60546,20342,35138,910

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau historical county population (Forstall 1790–1990) and public-domain / CC0 county population series through 2020.

Cemeteries & historical places

USGS GNIS

92 cemeteries and 0 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 80 of 92 listed
NameLatLon
Apostolic Christian Cemetery41.05576-91.04936
Aspen Grove Cemetery40.82856-91.1198
Augusta Cemetery40.76011-91.27377
Bazel Cemetery40.90559-91.0557
Blakeway Cemetery40.81254-91.35182
Burlington Cemetery (historical)40.86667-91.13167
Burlington Jewish Cemetery40.82272-91.13131
Burlington Memorial Park Cemetery40.8417-91.15153
Burlington Roman Catholic Cemetery40.82082-91.10291
Butcher Cemetery40.95783-91.25695
Carter Burial Plot40.76115-91.24737
Carter Cemetery40.92625-91.31234
Chandler Cemetery40.74069-91.15194
Chief Tama Grave40.87559-91.09181
Covenanter Cemetery41.00175-91.23401
Cowles Farm Plot40.75869-91.11372
Criner Cemetery40.87782-91.12654
Dolbee Cemetery41.0179-91.04689
Dravis Cemetery40.95284-91.06905
Driscol Cave Burial Site (historical)41.04572-91.045
Driskell Family Cemetery40.99871-91.04838
Elliott Cemetery40.78706-91.24492
Flint River Township Cemetery40.86116-91.15306
Franklin Mills Cemetery40.90837-91.15015
Freitag Cemetery40.91338-91.12547
Gallaher Cemetery40.97419-91.26209
Greenwood Cemetery40.83679-91.18473
Hawkeye Cemetery41.04546-91.04722
Hazel Grove Cemetery41.06081-91.17298
Hinson Family Plot40.97781-91.03348
Hukill Farm Cemetery40.98815-91.10243
Huron Island Cemetery41.05004-90.95848
Jackson Cemetery40.93996-91.17991
Jaggar Cemetery40.85642-91.34599
Johnson Cemetery40.82226-91.20848
Kingston Cemetery40.9767-91.04348
Kossuth Cemetery41.0121-91.1357
Latty Cemetery40.90298-91.1222
Lee Burial Plot40.78198-91.26959
Leuins Point Cemetery40.83737-91.24963
Linn Grove Cemetery41.00169-91.23646
Long Creek Methodist Cemetery40.81272-91.31454
Loper Cemetery40.95726-91.14237
Meyers Family Plot40.8667-91.11681
Middletown Cemetery40.83475-91.26098
Miller Family Plot40.74448-91.19181
Millersburg Cemetery40.96983-91.33895
Mohnike Cemetery40.73687-91.19992
Mormon Cemetery40.77504-91.23348
Newberry - Haight Cemetery40.97073-91.04429
North Sixth Street Catholic Cemetery40.8208-91.1027
North Walker Cemetery40.89947-91.10597
Northfield Cemetery41.05937-91.12456
Old County Home Cemetery40.80454-91.20389
Old Danville Cemetery40.85281-91.31642
Old Geode Park Cemetery40.80559-91.37571
Old Stone Cemetery40.95781-91.19876
Pegtown Cemetery40.97781-91.09181
Porter Cemetery40.77504-91.16959
Prairie Grove Cemetery40.88008-91.24778
Prugh Farm Plot40.7586-91.1138
Ramsey Cemetery40.92958-91.33805
Renner Farm Cemetery40.83337-91.36404
Rock Spring Cemetery40.75171-91.1931
Round Prairie Cemetery41.03559-91.10737
Sacred Heart Cemetery40.77337-91.09931
Saint Johns Cemetery40.89821-91.19222
Saint Mary's Catholic Cemetery40.97682-91.05506
Saint Marys Cemetery40.94332-91.1898
Saint Marys Cemetery40.82405-91.16904
Saint Paul's Lutheran Cemetery40.93212-91.06978
Salem Lutheran Cemetery40.90333-91.20457
Schilb - Bolick Cemetery40.89557-91.21242
Schnupper Farm Cemetery40.83615-91.20848
Sharon Cemetery41.04818-91.23612
Shiloh Cemetery40.76503-91.20792
Shinar Cumberland Presbyterian Cemetery40.96929-91.28682
Shinar Cumberland Presbyterian Church Cemetery40.96906-91.28541
Siefken Family Plot40.90837-91.28626
Sixth Street Catholic Cemetery40.82092-91.10203

Source: USGS Geographic Names Information System (public domain). Cemeteries from the 2021 NationalFile archive; historical places from GNIS HistoricalFeatures topical extract.

Historical markers

HMdb link

Marker text and photos from the Historical Marker Database (HMdb) are not embedded here. HMdb allows non-commercial reuse with attribution, but commercial/compensated use needs written permission; this is a commercial site, so we only link out.

Search HMdb for Des Moines County, Iowa

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