Editing Des Moines, Iowa (section)

===Early settlement===
[[File:Birds Run Site Des Moines.jpg|thumb|upright|Excavation of the prehistoric component of the Bird's Run Site in Des Moines]]
[[File:Flood at Fort Des Moines in 1851 - History of Iowa.jpg|thumb|Flood of Des Moines, 1851]]

Settlers occupied the abandoned fort and nearby areas. On May 25, 1846, the state legislature designated Fort Des Moines as the seat of Polk County. Arozina Perkins, a school teacher who spent the winter of 1850–1851 in the town of Fort Des Moines, was not favorably impressed:

<blockquote>This is one of the strangest looking "cities" I ever saw... This town is at the juncture of the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers. It is mostly a level prairie with a few swells or hills around it. We have a court house of "brick" and one church, a plain, framed building belonging to the Methodists. There are two taverns here, one of which has a most important little bell that rings together some fifty boarders. I cannot tell you how many dwellings there are, for I have not counted them; some are of logs, some of brick, some framed, and some are the remains of the old [[dragoon]] houses... The people support two papers and there are several dry goods shops. I have been into but four of them... Society is as varied as the buildings are. There are people from nearly every state, and Dutch, Swedes, etc.<ref>Perkins, Arozina, 1851 letter in: (1984) "Teaching in Fort Des Moines, Iowa: November 13, 1850 to March 21, 1851." In ''Women Teachers on the Frontier,'' edited by P. W. Kaufman, pp. 126–143. Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut.</ref></blockquote>

In May 1851, much of the town was destroyed during the [[Flood of 1851]]. "The Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers rose to an unprecedented height, inundating the entire country east of the Des Moines River. Crops were utterly destroyed, houses and fences swept away."<ref>Mills and Company (1866) ''Des Moines City Directory and Business Guide.'' Des Moines, Iowa: Mills and Company, p. 6. Microfilm, State Historical Society Library, Iowa City.</ref> The city started to rebuild from scratch.