Grave of Wilson Alexander Scott

A granite slab on a knoll in Des Moines marks the grave of a man you can thank for the state capitol's location. Wilson Alexander Scott was born in Indiana and settled here in the eighteen forties, eventually acquiring a large tract of land. He donated nine and one-half acres of the land on which the Iowa capitol now stands.

But fortune turned against him. Ruined by the financial panic of eighteen fifty seven, Scott set out for the gold fields of Pikes Peak and died along the way in Nebraska Territory in eighteen fifty nine. By his own wish his body was carried back and buried that November on the small piece of homestead that his creditors could not seize.

The state placed this monument over him in nineteen twenty five.