Shelaine Harbart feels an overwhelming sense of sadness when she travels by two aging red buildings that were once part of Fort Des Moines.

"The fact that so much of our Fort Des Moines history has been sold off or demolished kind of makes you want to hang on to what you've got, and makes you very sad to know that it could be wiped away so easily," the Army Reserves sergeant said.

Harbart nominated two buildings that once served as Fort Des Moines officers' quarters to the list of sites deemed by the Rehabbers Club to be in imminent danger of neglect or demolition.

Fort Des Moines Community Bank owns the building at 613 Dickman Road, and the City of Des Moines owns the other at 610 Dickman Road.

"I wanted to do this a little bit for Col. (Louis) Erbstein," said Harbart, 37, of the man who devoted himself to preserving Fort Des Moines' history before he died in October. "I wanted to do it for a lot of us soldiers who look at those buildings and hate to see something deteriorate in front of you, especially when it has something to do with serving the country."

The buildings, constructed in the early 1900s, stood as two of about 20 similar structures in an area known as officers' quarters row. They were built of red brick on a foundation of stone and concrete, according to the Library of Congress American Memory Web site. Both have basements and once had porches.

"When they first built Fort Des Moines in 1903 it was primarily for the cavalry officers and they wanted a space where the cavalry officers could be where the open field was," said Michael Kates, Fort Des Moines Museum education director. "Where they would be on hand at any point and time to actually go out and do maneuvers."

President Ronald Reagan was commissioned as a lieutenant at Fort Des Moines in 1937.

"And it is quite possible he could have stayed in one of these buildings," Kates said.

Building No. 7, now owned by the city, was completed in 1907 for $13,864 and was home to one field grade officer and his family. Building Nos. 14-15, now owned by Fort Des Moines Community Bank, were completed in 1909 at a cost of $22,759 and was home to two junior-grade officers and their families, according to the Library of Congress Web site.

Kates said the buildings likely have stood vacant since the 1970s or early 1980s and that roughly 15 percent of the original Fort Des Moines exists today.

Fort Des Moines was designated as a national historic landmark in 1974 and any reconstruction must restore buildings to their original state.

Fort Des Moines Community Bank is a branch of Community State Bank. Community State Bank president and CEO Keith Welling said the bank does not have plans for the officers' quarters.

Structurally, the building is in "pretty good shape" and could be transformed into office space, he said. Attempts have been made to sell the building, but Welling said restoration requirements may be stifling interest.

"It takes someone that knows how to do that stuff," he said. "We would sure entertain individuals or groups that can come up with a valid plan."

Park planner Mindy Moore said the City of Des Moines does not have any current plans for its officers' quarters building.

Harbart said the buildings making the endangered list is a key first step.

"We're just hoping to hang on to whatever we can," she said.