Drake Apartments for Rent

The Drake neighborhood is located in zip code 50311, which is situated in the north part of the city of Des Moines and in Polk County. The boundaries for the Drake neighborhood are 42nd Street to the west, Jefferson Avenue to the north, 24th Drive and 24th Street to the east, and Interstate 235 to the south. The area also includes the campus of Drake University.

This neighborhood is noted for the range of historic homes that line the streets of the residential parts of the community. These single family detached residences are almost exclusively two story structures.

These historic buildings date from as far back as 1885, with the most recent having been built around 1920. They vary greatly in size as well, with the smallest homes measuring just over 700 square feet and the largest almost 2300 square feet. These mature houses are situated on streets that are lined with many mature trees, giving this neighborhood in the heart of the city a much more suburban feel.

The neighborhood is ideally located for faculty or staff members who work at Drake University as well as for doctors who may be on staff at Broadlawns Medical Center or the V.A. Hospital serving Central Iowa. Merle Hay Mall is a short distance northwest of the Drake neighborhood and has stores such as Kohl’s, Target, Younkers, Sears, Old Navy and more.

The university is most well known for its law school which is the country’s oldest law school west of the Mississippi River. It was established in 1865 by Chester C. Cole, who was a member of the Iowa Supreme Court from 1864 to 1876.

Broadlawns Medical Center is a public hospital that offers acute care through its many specialty clinics. It is also widely known for its residency program in family medicine, one of the first fully accredited family medicine residency programs in the Midwest.