Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Des Moines

DES MOINES, formerly Fort Des Moines, a city of the United States, capital of Iowa, at the confluence of the Raccoon with the Des Moines River, which is one of the right hand tributaries of the Mississippi, and is navigable thus far for steamboats. Its public buildings include the old capitol, erected in 1856, the new capitol, founded in 1870, the post-office, with a number of other United States offices under the same roof, the Baptist college, 15 churches, and 5 high schools ; and among its industrial establishments are a paper-mill, a woollen factory, an oil-mill, besides foundries, machine-shops, flour-mills, and plough-factories. There are two public libraries in the town, one of which is maintained by the State, and numbers 15,000 volumes ; and, besides several daily and weekly newspapers, no fewer than six monthly periodicals are published. Forty acres of ground have been appropriated for a public park ; and another area of 100 acres belongs to a park-company. Coal, lime, and clay are abundant in the neighbourhood, and the town is supplied with water from the Raccoon. Des Moines, which dates from 1846, received incorporation in 1851, and was raised to the rank of a city and the capital of the State in 1857. Population in 1860, 3965; in 1873, 15,601.