Haymarket Commercial Historic District, Commercial historic district in Council Bluffs, Iowa, United States

Haymarket Commercial Historic District is a collection of 28 structures, with 19 original buildings positioned where Main and Pearl Streets meet. Most are two-story brick buildings with cast-iron storefronts and decorative metal cornices across the top.

Council Bluffs was founded in the late 1840s as Kanesville by Mormons; when Brigham Young called the faithful to Salt Lake City in 1852 the community ceased to be majority Mormon, and it was renamed Council Bluffs in 1853. The district's buildings, among the earliest surviving commercial structures in the city, went up in three periods: 1865–1880, 1880–1900 and 1900–1930. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, when it held 28 resources, 19 of them contributing buildings.

The name Haymarket comes from the forked junction of Main and Pearl Streets, where the city's scales stood in the 1890s. The district sits on the south side of the central business district, and the buildings north of that intersection carry primary facades on both streets.

The district is easy to explore on foot since the buildings cluster tightly around a central intersection. Take time to look up and notice the details of the storefronts and metalwork on each building.

In the 1890s, public scales stood at the heart of the district where traders weighed goods and conducted business. This detail reveals how central this spot was to daily commerce in the region.