Going up
River’s Edge Discovery Center is taking shape
- Messenger photo by Bill Shea <BR> The steel skeleton of the River’s Edge Discovery Center is being assembled. The center, located on the riverfront along First Street near Central Avenue, will be operated by Webster County Conservation. Expected to be completed next year, the center will be filled with displays about Iowa’s water.
- Messenger photo by Bill Shea <BR>The extended boom of a Jensen Builders Ltd. crane towers over the River’s Edge Discovery Center being built in Fort Dodge.
- Messenger photo by Bill Shea <BR> The steel skeleton of the River’s Edge Discovery Center is being assembled. The center, located on the riverfront along First Street near Central Avenue, will be operated by Webster County Conservation. Expected to be completed next year, the center will be filled with displays about Iowa’s water.
- Messenger photo by Bill Shea <BR>The extended boom of a Jensen Builders Ltd. crane towers over the River’s Edge Discovery Center being built in Fort Dodge.
Trending
The steel skeleton of the River's Edge Discovery Center is being assembled, giving the public an idea of the size and appearance of the new facility along the riverfront in downtown Fort Dodge.
"It's starting to move up," Webster County Supervisor Niki Conrad said Wednesday.
"We are so excited about having that for the community," she added.
Conrad joined Fort Dodge City Manager David Fierke and Dennis Plautz, the chief executive officer of the Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance, to provide some updates on local projects during a Meet and Eat session sponsored by the Growth Alliance. It was held at Pizza Ranch, 3311 Fifth Ave. S.
The River's Edge Discovery Center is along First Street north of Central Avenue in a large open area next to the Des Moines River that longtime residents will recall was once the site of an AGP plant.
Construction was started early in the spring, and after weeks of work on foundations and footings, the framework of the building is going up.
The 13,000-square-foot building will be filled with educational displays about Iowa's water, including the water cycle, wetlands, rivers, lakes and even glaciers.
Jensen Builders Ltd., of Fort Dodge, has a $6.7 million contract to build it. The county received a $4 million Destination Iowa grant from the state to help pay for it.
Construction of the center dovetails with the creation of seven jetties being built into the river downstream where the little dam once stood. A riverfront park will be built at the west end of Central Avenue near the center. First Street near the center is being rebuilt.
Plautz said the creation of the center in downtown Fort Dodge is the result of the partnership between the city and county governments.
"But for that, that would not be there," he said.
Conrad said she has attended numerous meetings with county officials from across the state and has found that the cooperation between Fort Dodge and Webster County is rare.
"This doesn't happen all across the state," she said.
Conrad also reported that Badger Lake at John F. Kennedy Memorial Park north of Fort Dodge has been restocked with fish. She said it will be a couple of years before those fish will be mature enough for fishing.
She added that the trail around the lake is "just about done."