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Curious Iowa: Why did the Iowa capital move from Iowa City to Des Moines?
Burlington and Iowa City held the capital designation before Des Moines
Oct. 6, 2025 5:30 am
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The Old Capitol building proudly sits in the center of the Pentacrest on the University of Iowa campus. Today, the building is home to the Old Capitol Museum, but as its name implies, it once was home base for state legislators.
One curious Iowan from Cedar Rapids wondered why the Iowa capital moved from Iowa City to Des Moines. So, they wrote to Curious Iowa, a Gazette series that answers readers’ questions about our state and how it works, for the answer.
Where was the territorial capital of Iowa?
Before Iowa became its own territory, the land known today as the state of Iowa was part of the Michigan territory and later the Wisconsin territory.
According to the Wisconsin Historical Society, Burlington, Iowa briefly served as a temporary Wisconsin territory capital while a permanent capitol was built in Madison. The creation of the Iowa territory pushed the Wisconsin legislature to move to Madison earlier than planned.
In 1838, Iowa was designated as its own territory. The Iowa Territory was made up of land that would become the state of Iowa, most of Minnesota, and parts of North and South Dakota.
Territorial Gov. Robert Lucas chose Burlington as the temporary capital. As the population of the Iowa territory grew and spread out, Chauncey Swan, John Ronalds and Robert Ralston, three commissioners appointed by the legislature, set out to find a new location for the capital. The goal was to choose a place that was more centrally located.
Liz Crooks, director of the Pentacrest Museums, said many cities put in bids to become the new capital. All of the river cities, from Dubuque to Keokuk, had placed bids, and Burlington wanted to remain the capital.
Crooks said that it was common for a brand-new location to be chosen as the capital site in order to avoid political gamesmanship and disruption of existing communities.
In 1839, what is today Iowa City was mostly wilderness. There were about 500 white settlers in the area, Crooks said, noting that there was a small trading post south of Iowa City called Napoleon, That’s where present day Napoleon Park is.
“The land was not surveyed. Nothing had been laid out until that site was chosen (for the capital), then they began surveying it and selling off lots,” Crooks said. “The population expanded very quickly after that, as you could expect.”
Crooks said they don’t have records that point to why the exact location was chosen, but noted that being located along the Iowa River would facilitate transportation.
How long did it take to build Old Capitol?
Construction of the stone capitol — known today as Old Capitol — began on July 4, 1840. During construction, the Iowa Territorial Legislature used the a hotel built by Walter Butler located facing Washington Street east of Clinton Street in Iowa City. This hotel was called Butler’s Capitol.
John F. Rague, who designed the first Illinois capitol, was chosen as the architect for the stone capitol. Just nine days after the cornerstone was laid, Rague resigned.
“He had many disagreements about the quality of the limestone, about the deviations from his plans,” Crooks said.
“Then everyone was left on their own to determine what he had intended, and we don’t know what the original plans look like,” Crooks said. “We don’t know how much it deviated from what he had in mind. We do know that there was particular confusion about the staircase, which is one of our most notable architectural pieces. They had a lot of trouble constructing a spiral staircase and a reverse spiral staircase.”
On Dec. 5, 1842, the Fifth Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Iowa convened in the stone capitol. The final cost was $300,000, well over the original $100,000 budget.
“And at that point, they had not built the porticos on the east or west side … they did not complete a spiral staircase to the lower floor, that was just a regular staircase,” Crooks said, noting that the building did not look how we know it today until the building underwent major renovations between 1921 and 1924.
Iowa became a state on Dec. 28, 1846. Iowa City remained the capital of Iowa until 1857.
Why did the Iowa capital move to Des Moines?
As the state grew and added more legislators, the legislature outgrew the stone capitol.
Kevin Mason, associate professor of history at University of Northern Iowa, said that in the 1840s and 1850s, the population of the now state of Iowa was building in the Eastern half of the state and moving west.
“And in the same way that Iowa City became a great target for a capital in 1841, by 1857, Des Moines makes a lot of sense as where the capital should be located,” Mason said.
In 1857, a constitutional compromise allowed for the capital to move to Des Moines and for Iowa City to have exclusive rights to host the State University of Iowa.
According to the Iowa Journal of History & Politics (1916), some state officers had started the move to Des Moines by Oct. 1, 1857.
Because there were no railroads in Iowa at the time, moving the contents of Old Capitol to Des Moines had to be done by wagon, and “snow flew before the task was completed.”
A blizzard caused a treasurer’s safe to be left on a prairie until the storm passed.
“They had to unload it and then come back and get it … because the roads were so muddy they needed a sled to pull it,” Crooks said.
On Dec. 1, 1857, the Old Capitol became the first permanent building of the University of Iowa.
How long did it take to build the Iowa Capitol in Des Moines?
During the construction of the golden domed capitol we know today, the Brick Capitol was the temporary capitol building. The Brick Capitol was destroyed by a fire in 1892. It was located where the Soldiers and Sailors monument is today.
In 1870, the General Assembly set aside $1.5 million for the construction of a permanent capitol building. But the project blew past that budget, ending with a price tag of $2.8 million.
Mason noted that the Capitol was designed and built in the Gilded Age.
“If you ever visit the Iowa Capitol in Des Moines, it is immediately overwhelming … it is one of those places that will immediately seem representative of the age,” Mason said.
A competition was held for construction ideas and the Board of Commissioners selected an architectural plan from John Cochran and Alfred Piquenard, who accepted the project with assistants Mifflin Bell and William Hackney.
Hackney was the only one to stay on the project until the Capitol was finished in 1886. Cochran left the firm before construction started, Bell left the project and moved to Washington, D.C., and Piquenard died in 1876.
In 1871, the cornerstone was laid, but it deteriorated over the winter and needed to be removed. A second cornerstone was laid in September 1873.
According to the Iowa State Capitol Visitor Guide, changes were made to the original design, mostly on the golden dome. Piquenard had designed a tall, slim dome but Bell adjusted the design for a shorter, larger dome. The dome is covered in 23-karat gold and rises 275 feet above the ground.
While the building was completed in 1886, the project wasn’t truly finished. The outside steps to the west and south weren’t done. Public hallways were not decorated, and, spaces had been planned for art but there wasn’t funding to hire artists.
Through time, these projects were completed. Today, the Capitol showcases artwork, artifacts and woodcarvings.
You can tour both the Iowa Capitol and Old Capitol for free. Iowa Capitol tours run Monday through Saturday. The Old Capitol is open for tours Wednesday through Saturday.
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