Des Moines was not yet a formal city when Barlow Granger installed his printing press in a disused barracks in a fort that was forming a settlement at the confluence of the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers.
The first issue of his Iowa Star reached its first readers in the town of about 500 people then known as Fort Des Moines on July 26, 1849 — 175 years ago. It was summer. It took him another two years before the city of Des Moines was incorporated and eight years before it became the capital of Iowa.
As part of its 175th anniversary celebration in July, the Des Moines Register will recount its origins and historical highlights in an article that will be published online and in print. But that's just one of the Des Moines stories the community's oldest news source is trying to tell.
Other businesses also took root in the mid-19th century
As the Star grew, changed hands, and eventually became the Des Moines Register, other businesses were formed and now constitute the economic engine of Iowa's largest metropolis.
Hoyt Sherman, who came to town the same year the Star began publishing, would go on to found Equitable, the Iowa Insurance Company, along with other early residents, the first insurance company west of the Mississippi River. This was the starting point for the financial services sector that today contributes significantly to the Des Moines metro economy.
Long at the helm of Equitable was FM Hubbell, who also built a real estate empire that still exists under the leadership of his descendants, whose property, Terrace Hill, is now the Iowa Governor's mansion. Masu. Another early investor, Edward Temple, founded Bankers Life. Bankers Life is a global principal financial group still headquartered in Des Moines.
Des Moines becomes the center of communications organization
Register was not the only publishing company that rose along with the city. Meredith Corp., which started with Successful Farmer, has grown to become one of the world's largest magazine publishers. During the same period, the Wallace family began to gain business and political fame with the creation of another agricultural magazine, Wallace's Farmer.
The third generation of the Henry Wallace family went on to serve as Vice President of the United States and founded the Pioneer Highbred Hybrid Seed Company. The company now has an extensive research campus in Johnston and is part of Corteva Agriscience.
Also in the 1890s, the Iowa Bystander newspaper was founded to serve Des Moines' African American community and, under the leadership of publisher James B. Morris, became a leader in Iowa's civil rights movement for 50 years. I became a representative.
Founded more than a century ago at Iowa State University, radio station WOI is the flagship of Iowa Public Radio, with sister television stations serving central Iowa for the first time and now part of the ABC network. Des Moines television stations WHO and KCCI (the latter then founded by Register sister company Cowles Communications) soon joined.
Please tell us your company's story
There are countless other business pillars in Des Moines and throughout Iowa that date back to the 19th century and continue to contribute to our shared history today. For 175 years, the Des Moines Register has been telling the story. This year, we want to celebrate those stories along with those of the Des Moines Register.
We are inviting businesses across Iowa that are more than a century old to submit brief information about when they were founded, their mission, and some interesting facts about their history. We will create an online list from all users who have submitted information and will run a large article on a small number of users in a special package in July as part of the Register's month-long anniversary celebration. It's a schedule. To participate, fill out the form at DesMoinesRegister.com/OldestBusinesses.
Have questions? Contact Business and Research Editor Bill Steiden at wsreiden@registermedia.com or 515-284-8546.
