Des Moines Menace began their competitive life as an expansion team in the old United States Interregional Soccer League (USISL), playing in the Midwest Division.

They dropped down to the USISL Premier League in 1995, and finished third in the Central Division with a 10–8 record behind divisional champs and Iowa neighbors Sioux City Breeze, qualifying for the post-season playoffs in the process.

Menace lost the national semi final 3–1 to Florida outfit Cocoa Expos, and they then lost the third place playoff to San Francisco United All-Blacks, but it set the wheels in motion for one of American amateur soccer's most storied franchises; Aaron Leventhal led the attack, scoring 10 goals on the season, while goalkeeper Casey Mann posted an impressive 1.73 GAA rating.

The USISL Premier League became the PDSL in 1997, and again Des Moines finished the Central Division campaign in 4th place behind Nebraskan champs Lincoln Brigade with a 6–1–9 record.

1998 saw an improvement in regular season play from the Iowans, as they finished second in the Central Division behind the Colorado Comets with a 9–4–3 record, and qualified for the post-season for the fourth consecutive time.

Des Moines' opponents were the on form San Gabriel Valley Highlanders from Glendale, California, who won 3–1 and went on to take the title, while Menace were left to console themselves with a 4–1 win over Kalamazoo Kingdom in the 3rd/4th place playoff.

They beat the D3 Pro League side New Jersey Stallions 3–1 in the First Round, before losing 3–2 to A-League stalwarts Rochester Raging Rhinos on a Lenin Steenkamp golden goal.

Calloway left his manager's post in the 2002–03 offseason to become head coach of the Syracuse Salty Dogs in the A-League, and he was replaced by Greg Petersen.

Petersen's season in charge was a generally good one; Menace got off to a flying start, rattling off six wins on the trot at the beginning of the year, including a 7–0 demolition of Wisconsin Rebels and a 4–1 thrashing of St. Louis Strikers.

Once again, Menace's excellent early form took them to the US Open Cup for the second consecutive season, although their campaign was a short one as they fell 2–1 at home to Milwaukee-based USASA side Bavarian SC.

Menace stuttered a little in June, losing both their matchups against Boulder Rapids Reserve, but still putting 10 goals past Sioux Falls Spitfire in their two meetings, with Boltnar scoring four.

Des Moines coasted down the home stretch, winning two of their last four games, eventually finishing in second place in the Heartland Division behind Chicago Fire Premier.

The month of June was magnificent for Menace, as they enjoyed a seven-game winning streak that featured a two six-goal hammerings of Wisconsin Rebels and Indiana Blast.

Everything looked to be on course for another trip to the post season, but Menace inexplicably fell apart during the run-in, losing three of their final five games, including a devastating 5–4 loss to Thunder Bay Chill in which the Canadians scored a last-minute winner having been down 4–3 with 20 minutes to go.

The end of season stutter cost Des Moines dearly, as they eventually finished the year third in the Heartland Division behind Chicago Fire Premier and out of the playoffs.

Back in PDL league play, and despite a couple of mid-season losses, both to Thunder Bay, Des Moines continued to provide value for money and goalscoring prowess as the season reached its conclusion: they hit Sioux Falls Spitfire for ten in their two games in early July, with Boltnar and Disangagain doing the damage, and coasted into the playoffs off the back of a 5–0 final day demolition of nine-man Colorado Springs Blizzard, with another two goals from Disang.

Menace moved on to the national stage for the first time since 2001, and beat Western Conference champions Orange County Blue Star 2–1 to reach the 2005 PDL Championship game.

Menace enjoyed their fourth US Open Cup campaign off the back of their early form, and for the second year in a row they proved to be formidable opponents for higher league opposition.

The mid-season saw a slight stutter from Des Moines as they lost three of their next four games, including a pair of demoralizing losses to Boulder Rapids Reserve which would eventually decide the divisional title.

Everything started brightly for Des Moines with a 5–0 opening day victory of Sioux Falls Spitfire, but fell apart quickly, as Menace slumped to an unprecedented three consecutive losses in their next three games.

Unusually, it was Des Moines' road form which proved to be their downfall: they suffered unexpected defeats to St. Louis Lions and Thunder Bay Chill, including a 4–0 battering at the hands of the latter in the penultimate game of the season.

Menace's home form continued to be impressive, and they enjoyed several high-scoring victories in front of their fans, including a 5–1 thrashing of Kansas City Brass, and an easy 8–0 flattening of the torrid Springfield Demize in which Tucker Sindlinger and Nicki Paterson scored two goals each.

However, the lack of consistency in Des Moines' play left them a distant fourth in the table, eight points behind divisional champions Thunder Bay.

Des Moines began 2008 sluggishly; they won just two of their opening six games (although one of those was a 7–0 hammering of Springfield Demize) and were left playing catch-up behind Colorado Rapids U23's and Thunder Bay Chill for the remainder of the season.

In a very tight run-in, Des Moines beat Springfield Demize 2–0 on the road, but then were made to endure two ties in their final two regular season games, which meant their playoff fate was out of their hands.

For the first time in seven years Boltnar was not Menace's top scorer – that honor went to Nicki Paterson with 6 goals, although the 29-year-old Czech player did tally 5 assists.

In a tight playoff race (the top three clubs finished twenty points clear of the fourth-place team), the Menace edged out Real Colorado on head-to-head.

Captain Brandon Fricke headed in the match's only goal on May 21, and the Menace held on to knock off the North American Soccer League side.

On September 18, 2019, Menace owner Kyle Krause announced plans to bring a USL Championship team to Des Moines, pending construction of a downtown stadium.