Des Moines Gas Station Must Be Moved
By Margaret Foster | Online Only | Feb. 24, 2009
If moved in time, this 78-year-old former Conoco station could become an office or visitors center east of downtown Des Moines.
Credit: Historic East Village Inc.
UPDATE: Des Moines resident Jerry Bassman purchased the building in July 2009 and plans to move it on Aug. 1, 2009.
Tear down a 1930s terra cotta gas station for a parking lot? No way, says a grassroots group in Des Moines.
Faced with the demolition of a Mediterranean-style Conoco station, the board of Historic East Village Inc. voted last night to take possession of the building. Owner Jim Cownie will donate the 27-by-44-foot station to the group, but he has given them a deadline of Mar. 13 to move it off the site.
"This is a huge step for us," says Sarah Oltrogge, president of the 14-member nonprofit, which formed in 2003 in response to the city's proposal to raze several historic structures in the East Village neighborhood of Des Moines. (Today those buildings have been renovated as loft-style apartments, restaurants, and shops.) "This is the first time we've been faced with something like this. It's going to be a challenge."
The group must raise $50,000 by next month; so far, it has secured $37,000 in pledges, including $2,500 from Conoco Corporate. Owner Cownie promised to donate $10,000 toward the relocation.
"[The Cownie family] has been very supportive and very cooperative,” says Jack Porter, consultant with the State Historical Society of Iowa.
The gas station could become a visitors center or office building, Oltrogge says. Her group is working to move the building to a temporary site: a vacant lot owned by the city. She hopes it can stay there and become part of a city park planned for the spot.
"It's the principle of saving the building," Oltrogge says. After years of watching historic sites being torn down, her group is determined to relocate the gas station "to make sure we don't lose any more."
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