Des Moines is planning to tear down three deteriorating buildings at Fort Des Moines where, 100 years ago this month, the U.S. Army's first African-American officers received their commissions.

The buildings — a granary, built in 1904 to serve the cavalry, and two mess halls, built in 1942, when Fort Des Moines was a training center for the Women's Army Corps — have been neglected for years.

There are holes in the granary's ceiling and floor, and the basement is a safety hazard, city officials say. The mess halls are in better shape, but there are structural concerns there, too.

It would cost a combined $6.2 million to save all three buildings, according to Jim Hoff, facilities manager for the city.

That's not money the city, which owns the historic site, is going to spend, City Councilman Joe Gatto said.

"It's either going to be a private donor that comes in to save them or they're going to have to be torn down," he said. "As they sit now, it is a disgrace for the people that served here."

Officials from Blank Park Zoo, which sits just southwest of the fort, are eyeing the space for a second zoo entrance.

But local preservationists like Jack Porter say removing the granary and mess halls would further degrade the site's historic value.

Fort Des Moines, which once spanned 640 acres, is significantly smaller today. What remains is centered on the original parade grounds and surrounding red brick buildings that were at one time officers’ quarters, barracks, a chapel, stables and storehouses.

"When you continue to disrespect the historic value of the fort, and you keep eating away at its integrity, eventually you’ll get to a point where it’s no longer historic," Porter said.

"They salute veterans and they say they care about the people who served, but they don’t want to spend any money to respect their service or their memory."

A history of military firsts

The Fort Des Moines Provisional Army Officer Training School was established in 1901 several miles south of the Des Moines city limits.

It is the site of two landmark moments in U.S. military history:

During World War I, it became the first base in U.S. military history where African-America officers trained to serve in leadership roles.

During World War II, it was home to the first Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, where more than 72,000 women completed training to assist the military mission.

The Fort Des Moines Museum and Education Center, located on the fort's grounds, honors those historic firsts.

After WWII, the fort's buildings were used as housing for returning veterans, but the Army eventually began to dispose of portions of the land. Parcels were sold to the city, the Des Moines school district and private owners.

Many buildings have already been torn down, including a row of officers' quarters that faced the north side of the parade grounds.

Surviving portions of the base were turned over to the city in the 1950s. It was declared both a National Historic Landmark and a National Historic District in 1974.

In more recent years, a bank and an apartment complex have been built near the parade grounds. The site also is home to the Fort Des Moines Community Corrections Complex, a work-release facility for low-risk offenders.

In July, local developer Blackbird Investments began work a $40 million effort to restore and convert four-century-old army barracks and two old horse stables into 142 low-income apartments.

An uncertain fate

The granary and mess halls are located in a portion of the fort that's in the poorest condition, according to the Fort Des Moines Historic Preservation Plan approved by the city in 2010.

"The engineering studies I've done say that they're probably beyond preservation because of the condition," said Mark Vukovich, CEO of Blank Park Zoo, who helps oversee the site.

Vukovich would like to create a second zoo entrance to replace the buildings, but he's been reluctant to push the issue because of the historical restrictions on the buildings.

There are 172 properties in Polk County on the National Register of Historic Places. The national program was established in 1966 under the National Historic Preservation Act in order to coordinate public and private support to "protect America's historic and archaeological resources."

Fort Des Moines' status as a National Historic Landmark is the highest designation a property can achieve.

"The city could do whatever they want with this if it were an ordinary property," said Steve King, deputy state historic preservation officer with Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs.

But when the Army turned over the buildings to the city, it gave King's office the responsibility of approving any changes proposed for the land.

This week, the Des Moines City Council directed the Community Development Department to review demolition plans, which triggered a 10-day study to determine the buildings' historic significance.

A notice for demolition will be filed with the city's Urban Design and Review Board, which makes recommendations to the City Council and the state.

No demolition or alteration to the buildings or fort grounds can take place without authorization from the state Historic Preservation Office.

Gatto, who represents the south side, said the city will not consider a motion to demolish the buildings before November.

"We've saved so many of the buildings here with private development from Blackbird. I think that's the story that needs to be told," he said.

Blackbird plans to build housing and commercial properties on a 20-acre field on the fort property just north of its current barracks project.

“It just takes one little stimulus in an area that has seen slow development to see some energy put back into it," said Rachel Wegmann, a spokeswoman for Blackbird. “When they see new housing go up, it’s a trigger or incentive for them to start looking at different sites for shopping or for businesses opening up offices."

Vukovich wants to see improvements come to the zoo's long-neglected neighbor.

"Some people have said the zoo isn't interested in historic preservation, but I'm the only one taking care of the fort," he said.

When a drunk driver drove through the chain-link gates, the zoo fixed it, he said. And the zoo spent half a million dollars renovating one of the WWII-era buildings for a new service center.

"We want this to be an area that people come to," he said. "But without some of these (buildings) going away, that can't happen."