Knapp Center
building in Iowa, United States
The Knapp Center is a 6,424-seat multi-purpose arena on the campus of Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. It was built in 1992.
The Knapp Center is the center building for three athletic buildings combined. The Bell Center to the west is a general athletic building with offices, a pool, gym, and locker rooms. To the east is the Shivers' Basketball Practice facility, which opened in 2014. The Knapp Center itself also holds a weight room by the northwest corner of the basketball court.
The namesake of the arena comes from William Knapp, who is the chairman of Iowa Realty and a member of the Drake University Board of Trustees. He played a key role in financing the arena with a $3 million gift towards construction.
After receiving a donation from Hy-Vee, the court was named in honor Drake alum and former Hy-Vee CEO Ron Pearson as "Ron Pearson Court" on September 18, 2010.
Renovations in the summer of 2022 reconfigured the lower bowl of seating, reducing capacity but filling in corners and adding premium seating options.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Knapp Center” is building in Iowa, United States. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Knapp, Center and building, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “building in Iowa, United States” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6421747. Authority coordinates are 41.604, -93.652. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1992, 2014, 2010 and 2022.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Knapp Center”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Knapp Center primary sources, Knapp Center archive and Knapp research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Knapp Center”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Knapp Center” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.