Des Moines Women’s Club, always active in the community, invited many guest speakers to Hoyt Sherman Place to entertain and to educate. They began raising funds for the construction of a 1,400-seat theater in 1917. When the United States entered WWI that same year, all plans were put on hold. Construction of the theater began in 1922. Des Moines Women’s Club also began construction of a second gallery called the Byers Room to house the art collection presented to them by Major S.H.M. and Margaret Byers in 1912. Major Byers served under, and became a close friend of, Hoyt Sherman’s brother, General William T. Sherman.
