June 19 Des Moines, Iowa

     86 and humid this afternoon.

     Neither of us has spent any time in Des Moines, though we lived in Iowa.  We visited Fort Des Moines that I mentioned yesterday.  When we got there he said, you know this is where I was inducted (into the AF in Aug '66).  It was actually a fort in 2 different locations during the 1800's and then this one was built to train black officers for WWI military service.  No other state would allow the camp.  So disgusting.  I asked Tom why they weren't trained with white officers and he said in WWI some black troops served with white officers, but not other soldiers.  The National Defense Act of 1947 created the Department of Defense, with Department of the AF, Army, Marines, Navy etc., under it and also changed the rules where blacks and whites could serve together.  I said that was ridiculous that it took until then and he agreed.  One picture and commentary in the museum said between 1914 and 1920 White Supremists lynched a known 382 black men, many of them still wearing their Army uniforms.  The fort is now used to train Army Reservists and we could see a Marine Corps sign at the end of a building within a fence, but don't know what it said.  People were setting up for an outdoor wedding in the yard of the fort and the sky is overcast, so hope it is done before another storm.
     Walked around and into shops in an area of old buildings near the railroad tracks called Valley Junction.
      On the drive into town we went down Grand Avenue which had blocks of old mansions and lots of older, smaller homes that were still large from turn of the century, I'd guess.
     Salisbury House is a 42 room mansion with various wings that was built for the Weeks Family from 1922-27 and patterned after a huge estate in England.  Much of the stone was brought from the White Cliffs of Dover area.  The floor boards in the dining room are 500 years old.  There are an organ and a grand piano with carved sides in one of the great halls.  The paneling in his bedroom is Iowa walnut from the trees they cut down before building the home.  Some of the furniture is from the 1600-1700's.
The windows in the bedrooms upstairs open out.  Inside some was a small screen that pulled down to cover the opening.  They were made by the Rolscreen Co. which then became the Pella Co.
     The driveway is made from bricks that the City was throwing out when they were going to pave a street and he was able to get them free.  Someone donated a 1929 Packard to display in the large garage.  The servants quarters were a separate 5 bdrm house.  They employed 5-9 servants and gardeners.
   Several authors, including Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway, were friends of his.  Several letters from them were on display.  They often had guests and said Louis Armstrong stayed one time in the guest bedroom.  He owned the Armand Cosmetic company and that is where he made his money.  He invented foundation makeup and held the patent to it until 1947.
     A company was setting up for an outside wedding here too.  The cashier saw my entry in the guest book and said he grew up 1-1/2 hrs from where we live, in Pomeroy.  I asked him how much it costs to rent the lawn and/or house for a function.  $2500-6000, depending on if you will use the house and how much of it.  Sure hope they don't get rained out this afternoon!  There were no canopies over the many chairs set up for the ceremony.  They didn't allow any pictures to be taken inside or out., so don't know what wedding parties are allowed to do.  The chairs etc were facing the house.
     It's 4:15 and we actually haven't had any rain today.  We're going to figure out our short trip tomorrow and Monday's drive and make a couple of more campground reservations and relax this evening.  John invited us back tonite, but Janelle won't get home until 7:00, so too late to make her entertain.