Best Web Design in Urbandale, IA (2026)

Web Design for Urbandale, Iowa

Urbandale is a fast-growing suburb on the northwest edge of Des Moines, spanning Polk and Dallas counties, that grew from a small streetcar-and-coal-mining village of a few hundred into a city of about 45,000. Incorporated in 1917, it is now an insurance-and-finance employment hub within Greater Des Moines. It is also home to Living History Farms, the 500-acre open-air museum where Pope John Paul II drew an estimated 350,000 people in 1979.

AppWT works with Urbandale, IA businesses from Livonia, Michigan, mostly online and travelling as needed.

About Urbandale

Also known as. Streetcar suburb of Des Moines (historic identity).

History. Built as a streetcar suburb; a rail line constructed in 1905 was meant to run to Grimes and Woodward but was terminated at Urbandale, giving the 'Urbandale Line' its name. Incorporated on April 16, 1917, in part to establish its own school district; it had 298 residents by 1920. Coal mines employed early residents and closed by the end of the 1940s; streetcar service ended in 1951. Rapid post-World War II expansion in the 1960s and 1970s pushed the population to 45,580 by 2020. Growth has spread west into Dallas County, among the fastest-growing counties in the United States.

Local economy. Finance and insurance dominate, accounting for roughly 18% of local employment. Marsh & McLennan Companies is among the largest employers, with about 1,000 to 1,100 workers. The Urbandale Community School District (700-800 employees) is a top employer. Manufacturing has a presence, including Quality Manufacturing Corp. Part of the Greater Des Moines metro, a national center for the insurance industry.

Culture and community. Beggars' Night, a Des Moines-area tradition dating to 1938 in which children tell jokes for candy the night before Halloween; the metro moved the custom to Halloween night in 2025. Living History Farms offers immersive living-history programming across three historic eras. The Des Moines Buccaneers junior hockey team plays at Buccaneer Arena. Notable residents include NFL wide receiver Allen Lazard, hockey goaltender Scott Clemmensen, and 2022 U.S. Disc Golf Champion Gannon Buhr.

What makes Urbandale distinct. The city straddles two counties; westward growth put Dallas County among the fastest-growing in the U.S., 8th nationally in 2019 with about 36% growth. Beggars' Night, where kids must earn candy by telling a joke, is a distinctly Iowa custom centered on the Des Moines metro. Pope John Paul II's 1979 visit to Living History Farms drew one of the largest crowds in Iowa history, an estimated 350,000 people. President Barack Obama held a 2012 re-election rally at Living History Farms. Tornadoes struck the city in October 1966 (F2) and July 2024 (EF1).

Urbandale Landmarks and Local Life

• Living History Farms - a 500-acre open-air museum that includes the recreated 1876 town of Walnut Hill
• The Living History Farms field where Pope John Paul II celebrated an outdoor Mass for an estimated 350,000 people on October 4 - 1979
• Buccaneer Arena - home of the Des Moines Buccaneers
• The Olmsted Family Farmhouse - added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2019