Haymarket Commercial Historic District
Haymarket Commercial Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district in Council Bluffs, Iowa. It covers about 17.6 acres and includes 28 resources: 19 contributing buildings and nine non-contributing buildings. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 11, 1985 (NRHP reference number 85000774).
The district is at the Haymarket, where Main Street and Pearl Street meet, the fork where the city’s scales were located in the 1890s. It sits on the south side of the central business district.
Council Bluffs began in the late 1840s as Kanesville, founded by Mormons. After 1852, Brigham Young invited Mormons to Salt Lake City, and the town was renamed Council Bluffs in 1853.
The Haymarket district contains some of the city’s oldest commercial buildings. It developed between 1865 and 1930, in three periods: 1865–1880, 1880–1900, and 1900–1930. The two-story brick buildings are vernacular commercial structures with first-floor storefronts of cast iron and metal cornices on top. More decorative details appear on the 1880s and 1890s buildings; the oldest ones are simpler.
Most buildings north of the Main Street/Pearl Street intersection face both streets, with primary facades on each side.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 17:36 (CET).