1. Maybe “Footloose” should have been set in Des Moines. In 1942, the city established an ordinance made dancing illegal between the hours of 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. However, it was repealed in 2009.
2. Starting in 2012, the West Des Moines Community Schools banned "grinding" and other forms of dirty dancing at school events.
3. That infamous Ozzy Osbourne bat bite incident? That happened in Des Moines during an 1982 concert at Veterans Memorial Auditorium. According to Ozzy, the bat was “very salty.”
4. Local favorite Zombie Burger + Drink Lab is known for creating burgers that pay homage to pop culture. Past creations have included “The Ron Burgundy” and “The Nacho Man Randy Savage.”
5. In 2012, Des Moines’ Blank Park Zoo welcomed its third red panda, Razz. There are only an estimated 2,500 to 20,000 red pandas left in the wild.
6. In 2010, “Man vs. Food" host Adam Richman travelled to Des Moines to try (and ultimately fail) Adam Emmenecker Challenge at Jethro's BBQ.
7. The are roughly 100 ounces of gold in the Iowa State Capitol’s dome.
8. Des Moines’ Iowa Primate Learning Sanctuary features a family of six bonobos. Three of the bonobos can communicate with humans using a system of over 400 language symbols.
9. The Iowa State Fair is famous for its annual butter cow sculpture, which has been a fair staple since 1911.
10. One of Ronald Reagan’s first jobs in the entertainment industry was calling Chicago Cubs games for WHO radio in Des Moines.
11. According to Michael McCafferty, a Native American linguistics expert at Indiana University, the name “Des Moines” may derive from the Miami-Illinois word “mooyiinkweena” which means “excrement faces.” Not surprisingly, Des Moines city officials are yet to acknowledge this might be the case.
12. In 2011, town officials from the Des Moines suburb Ankeny used garlic salt donated by the local Tone Brothers Inc. spice company to help melt snow and de-ice 400 miles of roads.
13. Des Moines area native and Drake graduate Emma Verona Johnston held the title “Oldest Living American” from May 2004 to her death in December 2004. She lived for 114 years and 117 days.
14. In 1977, entertainer and outspoken anti-gay activist Anita Bryant was infamously “pied” by a gay rights activist during a televised press conference in Des Moines.
15. Some people say that architect I.M Pei designed windows on a 1968 addition to the Des Moines Art Center to resemble the letters “PEI.” Pei denies this is the case.
16. Iowan Phil Stong set his the coming-of-age book “State Fair” at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines. The book went on to inspire a whopping three movies and a Broadway musical.
17. In 2012 Iowa native Ashton Kutcher was part of a $5 million funding round for the Des Moines-based startup Dwolla, an innovative online payment system aimed at providing an alternative to credit cards.
18. In 2006, an investigation revealed that a 36-year-old Des Moines woman had written her own obituary and falsely informed Polk County that she was dead. She committed the stunt to avoid paying outstanding traffic tickets.
19. Drake alum Billy Cundiff proves that there’s nothing glamorous about being an NFL kicker. He’s signed contracts with a whopping 12 different NFL teams since entering the league in 2002.
20. Des Moines’ NBA Development League team the Iowa Energy in the only professional sports team in America named after a property of physics.
21. Waveland Golf Course is the oldest municipal golf course in America west of the Mississippi river. It opened back in 1901.
22. Actor Brandon Routh was born in the greater Des Moines area. He’s most famous for playing Superman in “Superman Returns.”
23. The web satire publication The Onion is known for poking fun at Des Moines. Two notable Des Moines-set Onion headlines include “Despite Lack Of Natural Disaster, Thousands Flee Des Moines, Iowa” and “Iowa Fashion Week Begins.”
24. Fort Des Moines has a seriously progressive history. In 1917 the facility became the country’s first Officer Candidate School for African American men. During World War II, it was home to the country’s first Women's Army Auxiliary Corps.
25. The National Bar Association was founded in Des Moines after prominent African American lawyers were denied entry to the American Bar Association. Founded in 1925, it’s the oldest African-American attorneys association in the country.
26. Steve Allen, the first host of “The Tonight Show,” attended Drake University for his freshman year of college.
27. 2007 Master’s winner and Iowa native Zach Johnson HAS won 11 PGA championships, but while attending Drake and playing on the golf team, he never thought he’d end up playing professionally. He was eventually persuaded by friends and family to give the pro tour a shot.
28. Because of its riverside location, humans have been living in what’s now the Des Moines area for at least 7,000 years.
29. Des Moines’ Roosevelt High School, which opened in 1925, was the first high school in America to cost over $1 million.
30. The mask-wearing heavy metal band Slipknot was formed in Des Moines in 1995.
31. Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug, whose high-yield wheat strain credited with helping save over a billion lives from starvation, is from Cresco, Iowa, not Des Moines.
However, his World Food Prize, an international award which recognizes agriculture innovators, is headquartered there.
32. In 2013, Forbes Magazine rated Des Moines America’s “Best Place For Business And Careers” for its highly educated workforce and low business costs.
33. Des Moines is known for being the home of the Iowa State Fair, but the first Iowa State Fair was actually held in Fairfield in 1854. The total budget was $323.
34. In December of 2010, a southeast archaeological site that would come to be known as “The Palace” was uncovered while excavators were scouting a new wastewater site. More than 6,000 artifacts, including two partial skeletons and fragments of houses, were eventually uncovered.
35. Prominent aviator Alfred Lawson founded a school in Des Moines known as the University of Lawsonomy. Lawson claimed to know the secret to living to 200 and banned any books he didn’t write from the university, including a basketball rulebook.
36. You’ve heard of test kitchens, but how about test gardens? Des Moines is home to Better Homes and Gardens’ test garden, which features a photography studio and serves as a testing ground for growing plants.
37. The Pappajohn Sculpture Park at the Des Moines Art Center features 25 sculptures from 19 different artists worth an estimated $40 million.
38. In April 2013, Facebook announced it planned to open a new data center in Altoona for $300 million. Microsoft upped the ante earlier this year, announcing plans to open their own data center in West Des Moines worth $1.1 billion.
39. Des Moines settler James C. Jordan was a leader in the local Underground Railroad prior to the Civil War. Later, Jordan would help bring an actual railroad to the area, raising money to establish a railhead in the area.
40. Des Moines was originally named Fort Raccoon. It later became Fort Des Moines and then, finally, Des Moines in 1857.
41. The tallest building in Iowa is Des Moines’ 801 Grand Avenue Principal Building, completed in 1991. The building is 630 feet high and 45 stories in total.
42. Major League Baseball All-Stars Greg Maddux, Rafael Palmeiro, Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, Mark Grace, Rod Beck, Derrek Lee, Carlos Zambrano, Alfonso Soriano, and most recently, Manny Ramirez, have all spent time playing for Des Moines’ minor league baseball squad, the Iowa Cubs.
43. During the 1960s, the Drake University’s Drake relays sold out 48 consecutive Saturdays—an unprecedented run for a track and field event.
What’s your favorite Des Moines fun fact? Tell us in the comments below!
