I’ve been to Des Moines at least once a month since I joined the board of Komen Greater Iowa (KGI) in January – their current office is located in the Merle Hay Mall Tower. We are moving to a location in West Des Moines which will give us storefront visibility. Monday, I drove to Des Moines for our monthly finance committee meeting. We first met at the new office space before going to Merle Hay so that I could get a tour. It is located close to the first apartment building I lived in when I moved to Des Moines in August of 1973.
I got to town early so decided to drive by the apartment to take a picture — it really hasn’t changed too much . The deck is different – when we lived there it was solid wood and now has metal railings and the building has changed colors – I like the looks of the apartment building better the way it was when we lived there.
When I got home from Des Moines, I got out my photo albums to see if I had any pictures and, of course, I did!
This is me (New Year’s Day 1975) in front of our West Des Moines apartment.
This is the apartment as it looks today.
We lived in that apartment for almost 3 years – purchasing and moving into our first home in Urbandale in 1976. This home is located close to the current KGI office so I stopped there on my way to the meeting at Merle Hay to take a picture. Comparing the two pictures of the house is amazing – the tree in the front yard was very young (so were we!) when we lived there… the second picture shows how tall it is. Check out the garage – in the first picture you don’t see any trees behind it or the house and in the second there are several trees behind them.
They added a fireplace, added brick archway to the porch, changed the brick façade and it looks like the fence in the back was taken down. It also looks like the siding and its color has been changed. I like how this home and its surroundings looks today – it has matured gracefully…
This is the home we purchased in 1976 in Urbandale
This is the home today…
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