Des Moines is the capital of Iowa and the county seat of Polk County.http://www.polkcountybank.com/Locations/Des-Moines.aspx The city is the center of a metropolitan area that consists of West Des Moines, Urbandale, Ankeny, Johnston, Clive, Windsor Heights, Altoona, and Pleasant Hill.http://www.seedesmoines.com/learn_more/our_hometowns.php Des Moines was founded in 1843.http://www.aaanimalcontrol.com/professional-trapper/wildlife/IA-Des-Moines-Wildlife.htm The population of the city is 200,538 and the metropolitan area has a population of 562,906.http://www.census.gov/popest/cities/tables/SUB-EST2009-04-19.xls

Des Moines is home to the Iowa Cubs baseball team in the Pacific Coast League.http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp?sid=t451 The team is a Triple A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. The city is also home to the Des Moines Buccaneers of the United States Hockey League and the Iowa Stars of the American Hockey League.http://www.iowabeautiful.com/central-iowa-tourism/656-iowa-stars-hockey-des-moines-iowa.html

Des Moines was established with the building of Fort Des Moines in 1843 where the the Raccoon and Des Moines Rivers converge.http://uipress.uiowa.edu/books/2009-fall/whittaker.htm The Iowa River Valley was opened for settlers in 1845 and Iowa gained statehood in 1846 .http://uipress.uiowa.edu/books/2009-fall/whittaker.htm In 1857, Des Moines became the state capital and the city charter was adopted.http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=33009 The name of the city was adopted from the French expression la riviere des moines, which means “the river of the monks.”http://books.google.com/books?id=WVJKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA417&lpg=PA417&dq=des+moines+river+of+monks&source=bl&ots=2e4dlicgsz&sig=O_1OH1Gx0C3FOfkvLRXIN-CNucg&hl=en&ei=ADMVTceiCoWPnwfVsoTQDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CEgQ6AEwBzgK#v=onepage&q=des%20moines%20river%20of%20monks&f=false

Des Moines lies at latitude 41° 36'N and longitude 93° 38'W.http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=76 The land area of the city is 75.3 square miles and the elevation is 864 feet above sea level.http://www.idcide.com/citydata/ia/des-moines.htm The annual average temperature is 50F and the annual average precipitation is 34.72 inches.http://www.idcide.com/weather/ia/des-moines.htm The city is located on rolling terrain in south central Iowa along the Des Moines River.http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/158708/Des-Moines

• Des Moines Art Center: Features contemporary art from 19th and 20th century artists.http://www.desmoinesartcenter.org/
• Des Moines Police Museum & Historical Society: Contains artifacts from Des Moines's Police Department History.http://www.dmpso911.com/police/museum.html
• Fort Des Moines Museum and Education Center: Features the U.S. Army's first officer candidate class for African-American men in 1917 and the establishment of the first Women's Army Auxiliary Corps in 1942.http://www.fortdesmoines.org/
• Jordan House Museum: Contains antiques gathered from the heritage of West Des Moines.http://www.thejordanhouse.org/JordanHouse/about_jh/infof.html
• Terrace Hill: Official residence of the Governor of Iowa.http://www.seedesmoines.com/

• Steve Bartkowski: Former NFL Football Playerhttp://www.nfl.com/players/stevebartkowski/profile?id=BAR734085
• Tyson Smith: NFL Football Playerhttp://www.nfl.com/players/tysonsmith/profile?id=SMI769080
• Cloris Leachman: Actresshttp://www.juggle.com/des-moines
• Hugh Millen: Former NFL Football Playerhttp://www.nfl.com/players/hughmillen/profile?id=MIL106899
• Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins: Singerhttp://www.imdb.com/name/nm0914418/
• Corey Taylor: Singerhttp://www.imdb.com/name/nm0852173/
• Brandon Routh: Actorhttp://www.imdb.com/name/nm0746125/