River Bend Neighborhood

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.

McHenry Park Trail Connection Public Meeting

August 26, 2009

WHAT: The City of Des Moines Park and Recreation and Engineering Departments will hold a public meeting regarding a possible new trail connection extending from the Neal Smith Recreational Trail north into McHenry Park. This option is brought about due to the Army Corps of Engineers’ recently-proposed layout of the Birdland levee.

Des Moines residents and recreational trail users, particularly those in the McHenry Park, Highland Park, Oak Park, Birdland Park and Union Park neighborhoods are encouraged to attend to hear options and share their opinions, as well as any concerns, about this possible new trail route and the associated benefits and impacts to the park.

McHenry Park is located at 1012 Oak Park Avenue.

WHEN:    Wednesday, August 26, 2009
6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

WHO:   Des Moines Park and Recreation Department
Des Moines Engineering Department

WHERE:   Polk County North Senior Center
Park Fair Mall, Second and Euclid Avenues
Des Moines, Iowa 50309

From Diana Rezac:

River Bend Social

Tuesday, August 25 at 6:00 PM

Sambetti’s
1430 2nd Avenue
245 9780

Please RSVP to dkrezac [at sign] msn [dot] com.

This year’s River Bend Neighborhood Home Tour 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.

1224 9th Street

The home at 1224 9th Street was constructed in 1876, and served as the boyhood home of John Ruan, founder of Ruan Transportation Corporation.

The home was also the original headquarters location of Ruan Transportation, which is now one of the top ten privately-owned transportation service companies in the country with 162 locations, 5,600 employees and 4,500 professional drivers.

By the mid 1990’s, the house had been abandoned and had fallen into great disrepair.

In 2004, retired city planner and historic preservation activist Bob Mickel approached the River Bend Neighborhood Association with an offer to give the home to the Neighborhood Association. The one wish attached to the gift was to use the site to pay homage to John Ruan’s mother Rachel.

The original concept was to have a museum on the first floor of the home, honoring Mr. Ruan’s mother and showcasing her love for gardens, along with Ruan Transportation history.  The second floor would serve as the Neighborhood Association’s offices and a place for the neighborhood to house historic materials.

In January 2008, three homeless individuals entered the property and took out portions of the front staircase to burn in the fireplace (which was inoperable).  A fire started in the walls of the structure and destroyed nearly 60% of the roof.  At that time, the Neighborhood Association had a painful decision to make – tear down the badly damaged structure, or find the money to repair the roof before further damage occurred.  Individuals from the association submitted an emergency grant request to the state to preserve the structure until additional funding could be arranged.

Realizing the dream of a museum and Association offices had disappeared in the fire, the Association partnered with the city of Des Moines and Neighborhood Finance Corporation to fund restoration of the property.  Through this partnership we now have a beautiful single family home, a historic structure saved, and a great cornerstone at the entrance to the historic West Ninth Streetcar District.

This home will be open for touring during the 2009 River Bend Home Tour, Saturday September 12th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday September 13th from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.  This year’s theme is “West 9th streetcar line Historic District.”

Monday, August 10
7:00 pm
Salvation Army on 6th Avenue
North Door
From Diana Rezac: “This is the time to hear about the positive steps are neighborhood is taking.”