Johnstone, Dr. Anna E. and Andrew A., House

1810 8th St., Des Moines, Iowa. County/parish: Polk.

Added to the National Register of Historic Places October 25, 1996. NRIS 96001152.

1 contributing building.

Also known as:

  • Royal House

From Wikipedia:

Dr. Anna E. and Andrew A. Johnstone House

The Dr. Anna E. and Andrew A. Johnstone House (also known as the Royal House) is a historic house in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. Built in 1887, the Queen Anne-style house was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. It was included as a contributing property in the Polk County Homestead and Trust Company Addition Historic District in 2016.

It was a 10-room house, on a triple lot.

Anna E. Johnstone was a teacher before marrying. Andrew A. Johnstone owned a china and glassware store in downtown Des Moines.: 211  They had two daughters. Andrew died of a stroke in 1892. Anna sold Andrew's business, moved with the children to a rented apartment, and rented out the house. She sold insurance and real estate and returned to school, receiving a medical degree in 1900 and becoming a doctor of osteopathy, and one of the first women to accomplish that. She moved back into the house and used part of it to operate her osteopathy practice.

Anna was a student of Dr. Summerfield S. Still, who ran an osteopathic hospital and school in downtown Des Moines, and lived in North Des Moines.: 134 

The house was still in the family in 2013: it was owned and occupied by Jon Royal, a great-grandson of Anna E. and Andrew A Johnstone.

Anna Johnstone died in 1848.

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National Park Service documentation: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75337380

LC