09/01/2026
Did you know Des Moines Water Works Park was almost home to a golf course?
In the summer of 1926, Des Moines leaders were considering a very different recreational future for what we know today as Des Moines Water Works Park.
A proposal called for an 18-hole municipal golf course on approximately 1,000 acres of Water Works reserve ground. Newspaper coverage from Aug. 4, 1926, described the location as an “ideal” site, and Mayor Fred H. Hunter said the proposal would receive serious consideration.
A proposed course layout shows 18 holes winding through the property, including several holes along the Raccoon River, with a clubhouse near the northern end of the course.
But Mother Nature apparently had some thoughts about the idea.
Just weeks later, on Sept. 22, the Des Moines Evening Tribune ran another story with the headline: “Site of Proposed Golf Links Is Under Water Today.”
The news clipping (shown here) included a photograph that showed the proposed course inundated after the Raccoon River overflowed its banks. The newspaper even added a dotted line to show the center of the proposed course — right through the flooded landscape.
The golf course never became part of Water Works Park. Nearly a century later, the park remains a landscape shaped by its relationship with the Raccoon River and, most importantly, its role in providing drinking water for our community. Today, Water Works Park encompasses about 1,500 acres along the river.
