Western Gateway Park is an

urban park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to r ...

located in downtown Des Moines,

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

. Opened in 2006, the park has served as the host to political rallies, the Des Moines Arts Festival, the 80/35 Music Festival, and various athletic events and festivals. The central branch of the

Des Moines Public Library The Des Moines Public Library (DMPL) is the public library system for the city of Des Moines, Iowa. It is the largest public library system in the state of Iowa, with a collection of 552,576 items housed at six locations. Services The library p ...

, the Temple for Performing Arts, and the Des Moines center for the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 col ...

are located within the park. In 2009, 4.4 acres of the park were converted from open green space to a sculpture park, known as the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park. The Pappajohns' contributed 28 works to the park - the most significant donation of artwork ever made to the Des Moines Art Center. The sculpture park is administered by the

Des Moines Art Center The Des Moines Art Center is an art museum with an extensive collection of paintings, sculpture, modern art and mixed media. It was established in 1948 in Des Moines, Iowa. History The Art Center traces its roots to 1916, when the Des Moines A ...

and contains work by many artists such as

Louise Bourgeois Louise Joséphine Bourgeois (; 25 December 191131 May 2010) was a French-American artist. Although she is best known for her large-scale sculpture and installation art, Bourgeois was also a prolific painter and printmaker. She explored a varie ...

Jaume Plensa Jaume Plensa i Suñé (; born 23 August 1955) is a Spanish visual artist, sculptor, designer and engraver. He is a versatile artist who has also created opera sets, video projections and acoustic installations. He worked with renowned Catalan t ...

Deborah Butterfield Deborah Kay Butterfield (born May 7, 1949) is an American sculptor. Along with her artist-husband John Buck, she divides her time between a farm in Bozeman, Montana, and studio space in Hawaii. She is known for her sculptures of horses made f ...

, and

Judith Shea Judith Shea is an American sculptor and artist, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1948. She received a degree in fashion design at Parsons School of Design in 1969 and a BFA in 1975. This dual education formed the basis for her figure based ...

. On October 31, 2008, the 44th president of the United States,

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

held a rally and gave a speech in the park just four days before being elected president. Anothe
Western Gateway Park
is located in Penn Valley, California as part of the Western Gateway Recreation & Park District. In 2019, the Krause Gateway Center opened designed by famed architect

Renzo Piano Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City ( ...

located on the park's edge.

References

External links

* Urban public parks Geography of Des Moines, Iowa Parks in Iowa Des Moines, Iowa 2006 establishments in Iowa {{DesMoinesIA-stub