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Welcome to East Des Moines ...

East Des Moines is located in Polk County<1>.


The location of East Des Moines has been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (ie- the GNIS).<2>


While we don't have a date for the founding of East Des Moines, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1858.

A typical abbreviation for East Des Moines: E. Des Moines

East Des Moines is 780 feet [238 m] above sea level.<3>.

Time Zone: East Des Moines lies in the Central Time Zone (CST/CDT) and observes daylight saving time

Communities near East Des Moines ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near East Des Moines.

  • Des Moines
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Ankeny
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ankeny have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ankeny
    • Ankeny is located in Polk County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 70,068 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ankeny <4>
  • West Des Moines
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Des Moines have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Des Moines
    • West Des Moines is located in Polk County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 69,057 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for West Des Moines <4>
  • Urbandale
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Urbandale have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Urbandale
    • Urbandale is located in Polk County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 44,650 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Urbandale <4>
  • Waukee
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Johnston
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Johnston have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnston
    • Johnston is located in Polk County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 23,092 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Johnston <4>
  • Altoona
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Altoona have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Altoona
    • Altoona is located in Polk County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 19,503 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Altoona <4>
  • Clive
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clive have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clive
    • Clive is located in Polk County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 17,444 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clive <4>
  • Indianola
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
  • Grimes
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around East Des Moines. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for East Des Moines.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of East Des Moines. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around East Des Moines.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around East Des Moines. See our Newspapers Page for East Des Moines.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for East Des Moines ...

Looking for more information about East Des Moines? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to East Des Moines, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for East Des Moines.

Adding East Des Moines to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of East Des Moines in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for East Des Moines was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<5>

From that list, the East Des Moines post office opened in 1858.

We also found East Des Moines in the book titled Business Atlas and Shippers' Guide (1895).

For more details, see References and Mentions for East Des Moines.

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for East Des Moines. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Polk County: www.co.polk.ia.us/

The official website for State of Iowa: https://www.iowa.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of Iowa's counties, including Polk, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<3>The elevation is an estimate for the area around East Des Moines - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>A copy of their list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 10 Mar 2024