Windsor Heights, Iowa

The James Sansom Carpenter House was significant to Des Moines cultural history from 1906 to 1939. The 13 acre property named Oakwood estate by its owners J. S. Carpenter and his Spouse Florence L. Carpenter because of the old growth oak forestation. The Carpenters' collection was deemed by art critics as one of the finest collections of etchings and lithographs in America. The house held the Carpenter collection of 125 paintings and 350 etchings. J. S. Carpenter was also known as Sannie or Sandy after his oddly spelled middle name. J. S. Carpenter, a bridge building magnet, founded the Des Moines Association of Fine Arts in 1916. The Association members each contributed $100.00 annually for the purchase of paintings and sculptures. The members also received a 25% discount on art purchased at Association events. Carpenter was known as the Guru of fine arts by the Des Moines community. Visiting artists and dignitaries came to Des Moines to sell their art and often stayed with the Carpenter's at Oakwood. Carpenter was president of the Association from its inception until his death of heart disease in 1939. The Association transformed into the Edmundson Art Museum in 1940 under the auspices of Association Executive member, and Carpenter's close friend Jay N. (Ding) Darling. Darling as President of the Edmundson Art Foundation merged the original collection into the present day Des Moines Art Center.

Buccaneer Arena is a 3,461-seat, with standing room for an additional 700, multi-purpose arena in Urbandale, Iowa, that is home to the Des Moines Buccaneers ice hockey team in the United States Hockey League. Before the Bucs began playing in 1980, the International Hockey League's Des Moines Oak Leafs and Des Moines Capitols franchise played here.

Dowling Catholic High School is a Catholic secondary school in the central United States, in West Des Moines, Iowa, within the Diocese of Des Moines. As of the 2013-14 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,431 students and 94.6 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 15.1:1. The school's enrollment was 81.2% White, 4.1% Black, 10.2% Hispanic, 4.4% Asian and 0.1% American Indian / Alaska Native.

The Thomas I. Stoner House in Des Moines, Iowa, also known as The Highlands, was designed by Wetherell & Harrison and was built in 1931. It includes elements of Spanish Eclectic and Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals architecture. It overlooks the Waveland Golf Course and it has a ceramic tile roof.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. It was deemed significant for its architecture, as "an excellent, virtually unaltered example of the Spanish eclectic style."

The Drake Municipal Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Des Moines, Iowa. It is jointly operated by Drake University and the city of Des Moines, and is located within the Waveland Golf Course between the 17th green and the 18th tee (the highest point in Des Moines at the time of construction). The observatory presents public programs on Friday nights throughout the spring through autumn months and, weather permitting, attendees can observe celestial objects with a variety of telescopes. The main dome of the observatory houses an 8.25 inch refracting telescope, on a German equatorial mount. The ashes of the astronomer Daniel Walter Morehouse, and those of his wife Myrtle, are interred within the wall of the observatory rotunda.

The Allen Hazen Water Tower, also known as the Municipal Water Tower, is a historic structure located on the west side of Des Moines, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

The Olmsted Family Farmhouse, also known as the Olmsted-Urban House, is an historic building located in Urbandale, Iowa, United States. Leander and Charlotte Olmsted from Auburn, New York acquired 80 acres (32 ha) of land in Polk County, Iowa in 1867. They built a house on the property where they raised their sons Millard and Clarence, and bought additional land for their farm. In 1904, about the time Millard married his wife Olive, Leander had this two-story, frame, American foursquare house built. Millard and Olive helped Leander farm and they raised their six children here. Both Millard and his brother Clarence were influential in the formation of Urbandale in 1917 with Clarence serving on the first town council and Millard on the school board. In 1937, 10 acres (4.0 ha) of the farm were platted for building lots. Karl and Matie Urban acquired the house in 1947, and the Urbandale Historic Society bought the house from their estate in 1987. They converted it into their headquarters and to house their collection of Urbandale memorabilia. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2019.

Merle Hay Mall is an enclosed super-regional shopping mall in Des Moines, Iowa, in the United States. Opened in 1959, it is the oldest regional shopping center in Iowa, and was the largest mall in Iowa in terms of gross leasable area before the 2004 opening of Jordan Creek Town Center in neighboring West Des Moines. It was also the site of the deadliest fire in Des Moines' history, which killed eleven people in 1978.The mall's anchor stores are Kohl's, Target and Ross Dress for Less. There are 2 vacant anchor stores that were once Younkers - which is set for remodeling as an ice arena - and Sears - which was demolished in 2021. Applebee's, IHOP, and Starbucks operate on the outparcels of the mall. Other prominent stores in the mall include Old Navy. Most of the mall is in the northwest part of Des Moines, but the wing that contains the former Younkers, Kohl's, and the food court is inside the city limits of neighboring Urbandale. Merle Hay Mall is independently owned by the Merle Hay Mall Limited Partnership, and the family of one of its original developers continues to manage the mall. A Chicago-based company, Urban Retail Properties, handles the mall's leasing duties.

West Des Moines is a city in Polk, Dallas, Warren, and Madison counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. A majority of the city is located in Polk County, a minority of the city is located in Dallas County, and small portions extend into Warren and Madison counties. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 68,723. West Des Moines is the second-largest city in the Des Moines metropolitan area and the sixth-largest city in Iowa. It ranked 94th in Money magazine's list of the "100 Best Places to Live and Launch" in 2008, 77th and 57th on the 100 Best Places to Live in 2014 and 2015, respectively, and 18th on the Hipster Cities of 2015.

Urbandale High School (UHS) is a public high school in Urbandale, Iowa. It is the only high school in the Urbandale Community School District.

The I.O.O.F. Valley Junction Lodge Hall No. 604 is a historic building located in West Des Moines, Iowa, United States. C.S. Yeaton had the two-story brick commercial building constructed from 1897 to 1898. Des Moines architect C.C. Cross was responsible for the design of the Italianate structure. The International Order of Odd Fellows took possession of the building in 1907. A single-story addition was added behind 218 Fifth Street sometime before 1920, and the current storefronts were in place before 1968. The commercial space on the main floor housed a grocer, various hardware stores, and a dry cleaners over the years. The fraternal organization occupied the second floor. The tripartite main facade features two mirror halves. The floor levels in the two storefronts are raised, which is an unusual feature in the surrounding commercial district. The building was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in November 2017. The month before it had been included as a contributing property in the Valley Junction Commercial Historic District.

The Valley Junction Commercial Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district located in West Des Moines, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017. At the time of its nomination it consisted of 72 resources, which included 53 contributing buildings, 17 non-contributing buildings, and two non-contributing structures. What is now the city of West Des Moines was incorporated as Valley Junction in 1893. Its central business district, which is the subject of this historic district, developed near the depot of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. The railroad also had their shops (non-extant) to the southwest of the district in an angle formed by the junction. The linear historic district is composed of most of three blocks of Fifth Street and parts of two cross streets. The buildings are largely one and two stories in height, with one three-story structure. For the most part, the buildings are composed of brick with little to no pressed tin cornices or storefronts of ornamental cast ironwork. Decorative work here features corbelled brick cornices, ornamental blank recessed panels at the parapets, panel and pilaster facade combinations, and a limited but varied range of brick colors. The older buildings (1893-1901) tend to be on the south side of the district. Many of the newer buildings on the north have an inter-war feeling with structures in the Moderne and Art Deco styles. After World War II concrete block construction was more prevalent. The I.O.O.F. Valley Junction Lodge Hall No. 604 (1898) and the Valley Junction-West Des Moines City Hall and Engine House (1901) are individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places.