About The River Bend Neighborhood

The River Bend Neighborhood is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the City of Des Moines, Iowa. The Neighborhood is bounded by Hickman Road to the north, University Avenue to the south, 2nd Avenue to the east, and 9th Street to the west.

Within this area, you’ll find a diverse mix of families living in some of the oldest homes in the city. Many of the houses in River Bend date back to the 1870’s.

River Bend offers:

  • Close proximity to downtown Des Moines, including the Civic Center, the Convention Center,Veteran’s Auditorium, the Library, the YWCA, the YMCA, Iowa Cubs Baseball,shopping, health clubs, Court Avenue, night clubs, restaurants and more.
  • Recreational areas to the north and the east, featuring parks along the Des Moines River with playgrounds, picnic areas, a new swimming pool, tennis courts, ball diamonds, jogging and bike trails, a marina and boating.
  • Educational opportunities such as Grand View College, Drake University and the Des Moines Area Community College Urban Campus. For children, a child development preschool, a head start program, Moulton Elementary and North High School are all close.
  • Affordable housing. While many of the older homes in the neighborhood have been restored, there are also many beautiful homes available for restoration. There are also many affordable apartments in the area.
  • Medical care is just minutes away. Mercy and Iowa Methodist medical centers are to the south, Iowa Lutheran and Metropolitan Medical Center are to the east, Broadlawns and Veterans hospitals are to the west.
  • Access to Public transportation. Two bus routes provide service to north and west shopping centers as well as downtown.
  • Affordable Business Space along Sixth Street, including attractively redeveloped older buildings.
  • Dedicated Neighborhood Based Service Delivery (NBSD) team working on problems in the area. The River Bend has made a great deal of progress from its low point in the sixties and seventies. The Neighborhood still has problems common to older areas of the city. The NBSD’s goal is to help the city work with the Neighborhood to address these problems.