News

Doors to the Past 2023

2023 Doors to the Past Tour is back — tickets available!

After three years, Sherman Hill’s “Doors to the Past” Tour is back, September 16 and 17!

Discover history in your own backyard! You’ll love this self-guided tour:

  • See inside more than a dozen historic Sherman Hill homes — including several homes featured for the first time ever.
  • Get ideas for your own home and learn restoration tips.
  • Meet owners, neighbors, historic home enthusiasts, and new friends.

Discounted, early-bird tickets available here. Get yours today!

Want to help by volunteering and earning a free ticket? Sign up here.

Volunteer at Doors to the Past Tour — earn a free ticket

Photo by HiddenDSM

We are looking for volunteers to help put on this year’s home tour!

With more than 15 stops and a lot of ticket sales, it takes a village to put on the event.

Volunteers will be assigned to one of the beautiful homes or points of interest on our tour to take tickets, direct guests, answer questions, and/or help our homeowners with other tasks. In exchange for volunteering, you will receive a free ticket to the tour. We can accommodate individuals or groups of volunteers.

Can you help? Learn about our volunteer shifts and sign up here. All volunteers earn a free ticket!

Halloween on the Hill Will Be Back in 2022

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues in Central Iowa, Sherman Hill has delayed the return of Halloween on the Hill until 2022. With Halloween falling on a weekend this year, we expected a likely huge crowd and hosting a safe event remains our priority.

Since its inception in 2010, Halloween on the Hill has grown to become Des Moines’s premier Halloween event. At the core of Halloween on the Hill has always been a desire to use this fun event help others. For a decade, residents of the historic Sherman Hill neighborhood have gone all out to decorate their homes with spooky scenes while also collecting food items for the Des Moines Area Religious Council (DMARC) Food Pantry Network. In 2019, Halloween on the Hill raised over $1,000 and collected nearly 5,000 individual items in support of the DMARC Food Pantry Network. However, the need to help those who face food insecurity in our community has never been greater.

This year, Sherman Hill is partnering with three neighborhood businesses to support DMARC with the Scare Away Hunger! campaign. Please visit Gateway Market (2002 Woodland Ave.), Lua Brewing (1525 High Street), and Smokey Row (1910 Cottage Grove Ave.) where you can purchase special Halloween masks or make a donation directly to DMARC.

All funds raised will be used to support DMARC’s Food Pantry Network, which last year assisted more than 58,000 individuals in Greater Des Moines, 35% of whom were children and youth age 17 or younger. Established in 1976, it is the largest food pantry network in Iowa with pantry sites located in West Des Moines, Ankeny, Clive, Johnston, Urbandale, and Des Moines.

August 3rd – National Night Out and Q3 Neighborhood Meeting

Join us August 3rd at 6pm for National Night Out and our 3rd Quarter Neighborhood meeting. Bring your chairs and blankets – we’ll be on the Hoyt Sherman lawn.

  • Palm’s Caribbean Cuisine will have food for purchase at 6pm
  • We’ll have 100 free ice cream sandwiches available sponsored by Krause+
  • We’ll start our Q3 meeting at 6pm
    • Krause+ update on nearby developments
    • Beacon of Life update
  • Sonic the Hedgehog starts at dusk!