River Bend Neighborhood

Due to technical difficulties, tickets for this week’s River Bend Holiday Home Tour will *not* be available via IowaTix.com. Instead, attendees can purchase tickets for the festive three-home event at 1429 – 9th Street, one of the houses on this year’s tour.

The tour organizers apologize for any confusion this change may have caused.

The Holiday Tour will be this Thursday, December 3, from 6:00 to 9:00 pm, and features three lavishly decorated homes on Ninth Street in the River Bend Neighborhood. Gourmet hors d’oeuvres and holiday desserts will be served, and live musical entertainment wil accompany tour-goers.

Hope to see you there!

The Forest Avenue Library and book drop will be closed November 30 to December 13 due to replacement of the heating and cooling system.

The library will re-open Monday, December 14.

Items on hold will be available for pickup at the North Side Library. Please note that items checked out at Forest will have an extended due date.

Watch Des Moines Public Library’s website, www.dmpl.org, for further updates.

From the Des Moines Public Library:

Early Literacy Stations are now available at Forest Avenue Library. The special computers are set up specially to help kids and toddlers increase and improve their educational skills.

Each Early Literacy Station is a self-contained computer filled with programs specially designed for children ages 2-10, but are also available for older children wishing to improve on their literacy skills.

Each station features computer games that help kids learn as they play. Children are drawn into a variety of adventures with well-known mass media characters such as Sponge Bob Square Pants, Dr. Seuss, and Between the Lions.

The Early Literacy Station has been used at the Forest Avenue Library for over a year now and is funded by the David Kruidenier Funding. They have two stations available and are expecting two more within the next year.

The North Side Library also has two stations which were funded by the Gates Foundation. These two libraries are the only libraries in the Des Moines area that have the Early Literacy Stations. The North Side Library has a bilingual version and Forest Avenue Library will be getting a new bilingual version soon.

For more information about literacy stations stop by the Forest Avenue Library and the North Side Library.

Mark your calendars and plan to attend the upcoming River Bend Holiday Home Tour, Thursday, December 3 and Friday, December 4, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Houses include 1330, 1334, and 1429 9th Street; parking will be available at 9th and Forest.

Come enjoy the sights and sounds of the holidays in these warm and inviting houses, which were once home to some of Des Moines’ most prominent families in Des Moines around the turn of the last century.

Hors d’oeuvres provided at each house, along with live entertainment by local talent.

Tickets are available at $25.00 per person, or $40.00 per couple.

Tickets can be purchased at Dahl’s at 35th and Ingersoll, or at iowatix.com, or by sending a check or money order to RiverBend Neighborhood Association, P. O. Box 408, Des Moines, IA 50302.  Tickets ordered via mail will be available at Will Call at any of the homes on the evening of the tour.

From Michael Baldus, via River Bend neighbor Laura Hansen:

Wednesday, November 18, at 7 pm, the local radio program “The Fallon Forum,” discusses the proposed North-South Metro Parkway. This project was formerly known as the NW 26th St. Interchange/MLK Extension.

As currently laid out, the roadway plan proposes to extend Martin Luther King, Jr. [MLK] Parkway north from Euclid Avenue to the Interstate 80/35 interchange.

The prospective project would also involve major roadway changes to MLK from Euclid south to I-235 near downtown.

Baldus, who will be a guest on the Wednesday evening show, says:

“The north section [of the proposed North-South Metro Parkway] would be destructive environmentally to recreational areas, the south section destructive to neighborhoods and homes. The entire thing would be destructive to Des Moines tax base and quality of life…

I’m writing also to ask that you pass this on…. A broad and much-needed public discussion about this project is about to begin, and the [Wednesday radio show] is the place where it will start. Please call in during the show…, and encourage others to do so.”

The River Bend Neighborhood’s monthly socials are on hiatus until January 2010.  Watch this blog for additional information as it becomes available…. and have a safe and happy holiday season.

The 2009 River Bend Home Tour is this weekend -  Saturday, September 12, 10 am – 4 pm, and Sunday, September 13, 11 am – 4 pm. The houses on display run from one end of the neighborhood to the other, along the historic Ninth Street streetcar route.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children ages 6 – 17. Children aged 5 and under are free.  Tickets can be purchased in advance at the Dahl’s grocery store at 35th and Ingersoll Avenue, or on the days of the tour at the United Way building, 1111 9th St.

The six-house tour route is an easy walk up and down a tree-lined segment of 9th Street. In addition, DART will be honoring our tour tickets for complementary rides along the tour route. Buses run every hour on Saturday and Sunday.

The next River Bend Neighborhood Meeting will be this coming Monday, September 14 at 7:00 PM.

We will meet at the Salvation Army offices at 6th and Forest Avenues.  Please enter through the north door.

1631 9th Street

This Queen Anne bungalow was constructed circa 1910.  The home is listed as a “contributing structure” in the West 9th Streetcar Line Historic District, a National Register historic district.

Soon after construction was completed on the 1631 9th Street home, the lot was subdivided and a similar house was built in its “back yard,” facing Washington Avenue.

The house has undergone several additions and alterations, including a tiny enclosed garage (where the current back porch is located) and a small bedroom addition on the back.

Both homes have undergone periods of vacancy and deterioration in recent years.

When Neighborhood Finance Corporation acquired the property at 1631 9th Street, the back building was in very poor condition.  The basement stairway had fallen in, and the foundation walls were bowing.  It was determined that something needed to be done with that house in order to “complete” the renovation of the home at 1631 9th Street.  Accordingly, the back property was acquired, and the house moved across the alley to a lot directly facing 8th Street.

The home has several unique features including a curved porch column, a large central fireplace in the living room, along with much of the original hardwood flooring, baseboards, and architectural trim.

The substantial renovation scope included correcting all functional obsolescence issues in the kitchen, bathroom, back bedroom, basement access, and bedrooms. The fully renovated home includes: (more…)

1510 9th Street

The home at 1510 9th st is known to many in the area as “the farm house”. Believed to of been built sometime around 1870, the house sat in the midst of what was a large farm and orchard.

At some point, an addition was built, almost doubling the size of the home, and adding a nice curved staircase and landing.

After WW II, like many homes in the area, the house was turned into a boarding house. It had 4 small apartments with kitchens, and apartments on each floor shared a bathroom. The house stayed like this until 2004, when Ralph Henderson bought the home. Henderson had the brick exterior tucked and started on demolition inside.

Later in 2004, Dorothy Hecht and Chad VandeLune bought the house and continued with demolition and started renovation of the property. Doing most of the work themselves, progress has been slow but very rewarding. Some of the home’s features include large windows, high ceilings, a curved staircase and pine floors.

This house is one of the homes featured on the 2009 River Bend Home Tour which will be Saturday, September 12, 10 am – 4 pm, and Sunday, September 13, 11 am – 4 pm. The houses on display run from one end of the neighborhood to the other, along the historic Ninth Street streetcar route.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children ages 6 – 17. Children aged 5 and under are free.  Tickets can be purchased in advance at Dahl’s at 35th and Ingersoll Avenue, or on the day of the tour at the United Way building, 1111 9th St.