Wells Fargo plans $1.5M Walnut Street museum
PERRY BEEMAN Nov 10, 2015 | 8:41 pm
1 min read time
264 wordsAll Latest News, Arts and Culture, Banking and FinanceA broad-based effort to revamp Walnut Street got a boost Tuesday when Wells Fargo announced it will build a $1.5 million public museum in its Financial Center lobby.
The 5,500-square-foot Wells Fargo History Museum will be the company’s 12th nationwide and will include a restored 1868 stage coach, said Don Pearson, Wells Fargo regional president. Exhibits will cover the history of the company, and of Des Moines. Admission will be free.
The news came a day after the Des Moines City Council approved the $4.5 million first phase of the Walnut Street streetscape. That work will include replacing the road and adding pedestrian-friendly features to a street that once was a bus transit center. The heart of the resurgent area is from Fifth Avenue and Eighth Street, said Assistant City Manager Matt Anderson.
Walnut Street was once a busy retail center, but it waned when skywalks took pedestrian traffic off the street and the transit mall banned car traffic and parking along the stretch. Now, community leaders want to turn Walnut into another downtown nerve center to go along with the Western Gateway, East Village, Riverpoint, Court Avenue, Ingersoll Avenue and others.
The area near the Wells Fargo branch in the Financial Center includes the fire-damaged Younkers headquarters, now known as the Wilkins Building, which has been eyed for apartments and commercial space. Noce, a jazz club, is expected to open at the end of the year to the west at 1326 Walnut St.
The museum is expected to open late next year, about the time the initial streetscape work is done, company and city officials said.
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