Hoyt Sherman House

Several years after a young and then impoverished Major Sherman arrived in Des Moines, he wished to acquire one of the 5-acre plots that had belonged to the Purley estate. In 1850, on the day of the auction, he was asked to act as its clerk of sale for a fee of $5, reducing his worldly assets to $95. When a rival bidder offered $100 for the plot he was desperate to acquire, he added his $5 fee to the bid and thus nudged out his rival. 

It wasn't until twenty seven years later that Sherman was able to build his show-piece mansion - in the same year that his brother, Senator John Sherman (1823-1900), was appointed 32nd United States Secretary of the Treasury under President Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822-1893). 

The verandah that once spanned the front and west side of the mansion has since been removed along with the towering cupola that is today only half of the size it used to be. The original walnut and oak panelled walls in the entrance hall and reception rooms remain unchanged, as do the decorative marble fireplaces in the parlor and drawing room. Among many Civil War heroes, visitors to the house included William McKinley (1843-1901), 25th President of the United States, and First Lady Mrs Julia (Dent) Grant. 

Des Moines' old landmark once stood at the center of the Sherman estate that occupied almost a block-square landscaped tract on a slight rise overlooking the surrounding neighbourhood. Winding driveways lead up to the arched Victorian doorway. Among the many trees on the estate is an elm planted by the Abigail Adams Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in memory of Henry Cantwell Wallace (1866-1924), 7th United States Secretary of Agriculture.

After Sherman's death in 1904, the mansion stood unoccupied for three years until the Des Moines Women's Club acquired it as their clubhouse. By adding an art gallery to display their collection they created the first public art museum in Des Moines that today contains a number of 19th and 20th century paintings, as well as elaborately carved 17th-century furniture and other rare artefacts. In 1923, they erected an auditorium with 1,400 seats for club programs, that is today the primary venue for Ballet Des Moines. "Sherman Hill" takes it's name from the house and in 1977 it was added to the National Registry of Historic Places.