Sherman Hill- Des Moines’ best Historic District just West of Downtown

Sherman Hill is one of Des Moines’ oldest neighborhoods but newer than East Village. The neighborhood began developing in the 1870s named after Hoyt Sherman, a prominent local figure and brother of Civil War general William Tecumseh Sherman. Sherman Hill was the City’s first wealthy suburb as large Victorian homes were built here. in the late 1800s. Apartment buildings were constructed in the early 20th century as the neighborhood filled in and the wealthy moved further west to neighborhoods like Greenwood and Linden Heights. By the mid-20th century, Sherman Hill experienced  several decades of decline due to suburbanization, highway construction and many of the mansions were subdivided into smaller apartments But a historic preservation movement began in force during the 1970s and fortunately most of the grand homes were saved. Present day Sherman Hill has done well in the “return to the City” movement in Des Moines and several new food & beverage business opened here and new apartments and townhouses are being built on the southern edge of the district.

Thanks to the period of apartments in the early 20th century and subdividing of large mansions, Sherman Hill has a great diversity of rental housing and even for sale housing with a good amount of 2-bed condos, medium sized townhomes, and larger mansions that are relatively modest in price (400Ks & 500Ks). Sherman Hill also has a great tree canopy decent park amenities, great sidewalks and ADA infrastructure and walkable access to Dwtn along with some retail and cultural amenities of its own. For Sherman Hill to become a premiere urban district it simply needs more people. Hopefully dense infill continues along the southern edge on Grand & Ingersoll.

Click here to view my Sherman Hill District on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Excellent Sidewalk and ADA infrastructure.
* Decent bike infrastructure including several bike stations and a couple bike lanes running through the neighborhood. Solid public transit access as well.
* Very racially diverse and decent economic diversity although poverty is still high here.
* Lots of rentals available with studios leasing around $750, 1-beds lease btwn $800-1.4K, 2-beds in the low-mid 1Ks, and even some 3-beds the lease btwn 1.5K-2K.
* Pretty good for sale diversity too. Some 1-beds that sell  200K-350, 2-bed btwn 150K-400 with lots of condo options, and 3 & 4 beds sell btwn 200K-500K with a handful of more expensive mansions.
* Generally pretty safe community but does get some of the Homeless population spilling over from Dwtn.
* Excellent tree canopy except the southern edge of the district.
* No parks within the Sherman Hill boundaries but the excellent Western Gateway Park sits at the southeast corner of the neighborhood. Also the Woodland Cemetery to the west and a decent playground.
* A handful of restaurants & bars and a cafe within the neighborhood along with a couple breweries. Also a historic performing arts space, a couple night clubs, a live music venue, a couple historic mansions and good access to all the cultural activities Dwtn.
* Not a lot of retail in Sherman Hill but some important amenities including a supermarket, drug store, major hospital along with a couple boutique, banks, gyms and salons, and several churches. Good access to all the dwtn retail amenities too.
*Excellent historic homes along with some good in-fill.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

• Large young adult population living here and no a ton of age diversity or households with kids.
• Density is pretty low for an urban district.
• A couple grad schools in the neighborhood; one rated well, the other poorly. Several other schools in the area but at least 1/2 mile away.
• Grand and Ingersoll on the south edge of Sherman Hill is pretty autocentric but some hope with recent infill. MLK on the western edge is just a wide boulevard with noting on it.”