Des Moines's flag, designed by Walter T. Proctor and adopted on April 15, 1974, features a blue field with a red vertical band along the hoist that slants inward. Three white horizontal "bridges" cross the flag, representing the Walnut, Locust Street and Grand Avenue bridges that span the Des Moines River.
The bridges are not random architectural details. They symbolize connection – Des Moines is a city built on both banks of a river, and the bridges were essential to its urban development. The design captures this forked geography.
It is also the heart of the American insurance industry – Principal Financial Group, Nationwide, Allied Insurance all have major operations here. Des Moines has quietly become a major financial center of the Midwest.
Politically, Des Moines is famous for the Iowa caucuses – the first vote of the American presidential cycle. Every four years, the whole world watches Des Moines for the first signs of who will become president. The flag does not show this political importance, just three simple bridges. But those bridges carry the symbolic weight of a crossroads city.