West Des Moines

History

The West Des Moines area used to be home to the Sac and Meskwaki peoples. Near the stroke of midnight on October 11, 1845, a gunshot was fired by a cattle farmer, James Cunningham Jordan (1813–1891) to declare that the area was open for Anglo-European settlement. His residence, the Jordan House, has been restored and is now an historical home museum and home to the West Des Moines Historical Society. The Jordan House was a stop on the Underground Railroad, and abolitionist John Brown visited the Jordan property multiple times, at least once while escorting a group of freedom-seeking enslaved people to Canada. In West Des Moines' early years, the town was a trading and shipping junction. West Des Moines incorporated as the city of Valley Junction on October 9, 1893. In its early days, Valley Junction was home to the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad's switching facilities and repair shops due to its location at the junction of several railroad lines. The Rock Island's facilities moved out of Valley Junction and back into Des Moines in 1936. The speed limit of an hour had existed for all automobiles Valley Junction since 1911. However, 1915 an Englishman named Jack Prince built a one-mile (1.6 km) oval race track, designed to let race cars break that speed limit ten times over. The wooden track was made of of 2x4's laid on edge. It was one of 24 such tracks nationwide; it had seating for over 10,000 people. On August 7, 1915, the eyes of the auto world were on Valley Junction in anticipation of the fastest auto race in history. Ralph DePalma, winner of the Indianapolis 500 that year, was one of at least a dozen drivers vying for the $10,000 purse. Before a crowd of 7,000 people, a tire blew, lunging Joe Cooper's car over the rail. Cooper was killed and…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of , of which is land and is water. West Des Moines's location in the Raccoon River valley has left parts of it, particularly the Valley Junction area, prone to flooding. After the Great Flood of 1993, a floodwall was constructed along Walnut Creek (near the boundary with Des Moines) to protect that area. West Des Moines has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfa). While nearby Clive, Urbandale, and Windsor Heights use the same street numbers for north–south streets that Des Moines uses, West Des Moines has its own street numbering system. Thus, 86th Street in Clive and Urbandale becomes 22nd Street in West Des Moines. Iowa Highway 28, which forms most of the boundary between Des Moines and West Des Moines, is 63rd Street in Des Moines but 1st Street in West Des Moines. Many of the east–west streets share the same name with Des Moines, although the numbering of these east–west streets starts over in West Des Moines.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Lincoln High School
  High · Des Moines · 2,403 students · 26.7:1 ratio
• Valley High School
  High · West Des Moines · 2,152 students · 17.9:1 ratio
• East High School
  High · Des Moines · 2,040 students · 21.7:1 ratio
• Roosevelt High School
  High · Des Moines · 1,986 students · 30.1:1 ratio
• Johnston Senior High School
  High · Johnston · 1,790 students · 20.1:1 ratio
• North High School
  High · Des Moines · 1,458 students · 22.1:1 ratio
• Urbandale High School
  High · Urbandale · 1,347 students · 14.8:1 ratio
• Johnston Middle School
  Other · Johnston · 1,166 students · 18.2:1 ratio