Portal:Iowa

The Iowa Portal

The flag of Iowa

Iowa (/ˈaɪ.əwə/ ⓘ EYE-ə-wə) is a landlocked state in the upper Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the east and southeast, Missouri to the south, Nebraska to the west, South Dakota to the northwest, and Minnesota to the north. Iowa is the 26th largest in total area and the 31st most populous of the 50 U.S. states, with a population of 3.19 million. The state's capital, most populous city, and largest metropolitan area fully located within the state is Des Moines.

During the 18th and early 19th centuries, Iowa was a part of French Louisiana and Spanish Louisiana; its state flag is patterned after the flag of France. After the Louisiana Purchase, pioneers laid the foundation for an agriculture-based economy in the heart of the Corn Belt. In the latter half of the 20th century, Iowa's agricultural economy began to transition to a diversified economy of advanced manufacturing, processing, financial services, information technology, biotechnology, and green energy production.

Politically, Iowa is notable for the Iowa Caucuses, an influential event in national politics, as well as its high levels of voter turnout and foundational leadership in civil rights including early adoption or support of black suffrage. (Full article...)

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Abbie Gardner's Cabin

The Spirit Lake Massacre (March 8–12, 1857) was an attack by a Wahpekute band of Santee Sioux on scattered Iowa frontier settlements during a severe winter. Suffering a shortage of food, the renegade chief Inkpaduta (Scarlet Point) led 14 Sioux against the settlements near Okoboji and Spirit lakes in Northwestern Iowa near the Minnesota border, in revenge of the murder of Inkpaduta's brother, Sidominadotah, and Sidominadotah's family by Henry Lott, a drunken white whiskey trader. The Sioux killed 35-40 settlers in their scattered holdings, took four young women captive, and headed north. The youngest captive, Abbie Gardner, was kept a few months before being ransomed in early summer. It was the last Native American attack on settlers in Iowa, but the events increased tensions between the Sioux and settlers in the Minnesota Territory. Nearly 30 years after the events, in 1885 Abbie Gardner-Sharp published her memoir, History of the Spirit Lake Massacre and Captivity of Miss Abbie Gardner, which was reprinted seven times in small editions. It was one of the last captivity narratives written of European Americans' being held by Native Americans. In 1891, Gardner-Sharp purchased the primitive family cabin and returned home. For the last 30 years of her life, she subsisted on the modest earnings from her book and souvenir sales. The town erected a historical monument to commemorate the attack. The State of Iowa now maintains the park and Abbie Gardner Sharp home site. (Full article...)

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State Facts

  1. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R)
  2. Ashley Hinson (R)
  3. Zach Nunn (R)
  4. Randy Feenstra (R)


State Symbols

State flag:
Flag of the State of Iowa
State seal:
Great Seal of the State of Iowa
State motto: Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain
State nickname: The Hawkeye State
State bird: Eastern Goldfinch (Spinus tristis)
State flower: Wild Prairie Rose (Rosa pratincola)
State grass: Bluebunch Wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata)
State tree: Oak (Quercus macrocarpa)
State rock: Geode
State soil: Tama
State song: The Song of Iowa
State tartan: Iowa State Tartan
Commemorative
   U.S. coin:
2004 U.S. quarter-dollar Iowa


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