Opened in 1908, it served as the main venue for large public events in Des Moines for four decades.

Herbert Hoover launched his 1932 re-election campaign from the Coliseum, and several other U.S. Presidents spoke there, including Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, and William Howard Taft.

Drake University played basketball in the Coliseum for a number of years, and it was used for wrestling, boxing, ice skating, and circus events.

A YMCA was later built on the site, but that was torn down in 2015.

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