A history of Drake Municipal Observatory, Des Moines, USA: from riches, to rags, to restoration

In this paper we discuss the history of Drake Municipal Observatory in Des Moines, Iowa (USA), and identify three phases of its history: the early building stage, a period of decline, and the restoration. We also cover the initial purchase of the 8.25-in Warner & Swasey/Brashear refractor and its installation on the main Drake campus and introduce Daniel Walter Morehouse, the principal driving force behind the creation of Drake Municipal Observatory in 1920 as a joint initiative of Drake University and the City of Des Moines. Following Professor Morehouse's death in 1941, the observatory endured decades of decline until late twentieth-century efforts to restore the Observatory. We conclude this paper by discussing the educational role of the Observatory, the remarkable comet (C/1908 R1) discovered by Daniel Morehouse, and his research output while based at Drake Observatory.