60 Fun Facts About Iowa

What is the capital and largest city of Iowa?

Its name comes from the French Rivière des Moines, probably 'River of the Monks'.

Which two rivers form almost all of Iowa's eastern and western borders?

It is the only state whose east and west borders are almost entirely rivers; the Big Sioux completes the western edge.

Iowa takes its name ultimately from which Indigenous people?

The Ioway are a Chiwere-speaking Siouan nation once part of the Ho-Chunk Confederation.

Iowa's nickname, the Hawkeye State, comes from a character in which author's work?

Hawkeye is the hero of The Last of the Mohicans; the name was officially adopted by the territorial governor in 1838.

Iowa became the 29th state in December of which year?

President James K. Polk signed the admission bill on 28 December.

Which two French explorers first documented Iowa, travelling down the Mississippi in 1673?

The land stayed French, then Spanish, until the Louisiana Purchase; the state flag copies the French tricolour.

Iowa's state flag is patterned after the flag of which country?

Iowa spent the 18th century as part of French, then Spanish, Louisiana.

Iowa is the nation's largest producer of which two commodities?

In 2008 its 92,600 farms grew 19% of US corn and raised 30% of its hogs.

By roughly what ratio do hogs outnumber people in the state?

Some 22.6 million hogs live in facilities large enough to need manure management plans.

About what fraction of Iowa's corn crop goes into ethanol?

Renewable fuels make up about eight percent of the state's GDP.

Iowa held the first Democratic presidential caucus in the nation in which year?

The state's slow, multi-tier caucus process forced it to start early; the Republicans followed in 1976.

How do Iowa caucuses differ from a primary?

Candidates who do poorly frequently drop out within days.

Which state's primary moved ahead of Iowa on the 2024 Democratic calendar?

The 2020 Democratic result was delayed by reporting errors and the state party chair resigned.

The Iowa State Fair's famous Butter Cow has been a fixture since which year?

J.K. Daniels sculpted the first; Norma 'Duffy' Lyon carved them for 45 years from 1960, plus butter Elvis and butter John Wayne.

Where was the very first Iowa State Fair held, in 1854?

It cost about $323 to stage and moved permanently to Des Moines in 1879.

Which act drew the Iowa State Fair's biggest-ever grandstand crowd, 26,200 people in 1972?

Johnny Cash drew 23,500 over two shows in 1970 and the Beach Boys 25,402 in 1975.

In Field of Dreams, Ray Kinsella builds a baseball diamond in his cornfield in which Iowa town?

The film was based on W. P. Kinsella's novel Shoeless Joe and was nominated for Best Picture.

What does the voice in the cornfield whisper to Ray in Field of Dreams?

He sees a vision of Shoeless Joe Jackson standing in the middle of the imagined diamond.

The Bridges of Madison County, with Streep and Eastwood, is set among which Iowa landmarks?

Robert Kincaid is photographing them for National Geographic; Roseman Bridge features prominently.

Which US president was born in West Branch, Iowa, in 1874?

He was raised a Quaker, sent to Oregon at 11, and was among Stanford's first graduates.

Which Hollywood legend was born Marion Robert Morrison in Winterset, Iowa?

His birthplace museum is in Winterset, in the same county as the covered bridges.

Grant Wood's American Gothic was inspired by a house in which Iowa town?

He was driven around town by a young local painter and spotted the Carpenter Gothic 'Dibble House'.

Who modelled for the two figures in American Gothic?

Nan Wood Graham wore the colonial-print apron; dentist Byron McKeeby held the pitchfork.

The Amana Colonies were founded by religious refugees from which country?

The villages ran an almost self-sufficient communal economy for eighty years.

How many villages make up the Amana Colonies?

They sit on 26,000 acres in Iowa County and include Main, East, High, Middle, South and West Amana plus Homestead.

What does RAGBRAI stand for?

First held in 1973, it is the largest bike-touring event in the world and runs west to east.

In which direction does RAGBRAI cross Iowa each year?

Riders traditionally dip a rear wheel in the western river and a front wheel in the Mississippi.

Which conference do the Hawkeyes play football in?

Iowa State's Cyclones play in the Big 12; the two schools have won more than 30 NCAA wrestling titles between them.

Which sport have the Hawkeyes and Cyclones combined to win more than 30 NCAA team titles in?

Northern Iowa and tiny Cornell College have a title apiece as well.

Caitlin Clark, the Iowa Hawkeyes star drafted first overall in 2024, grew up in which city?

She once scored 60 points in a high school game for Dowling Catholic.

Which WNBA team took Caitlin Clark first overall in the 2024 draft?

She was Rookie of the Year and All-WNBA First Team in her first season.

Which school in the state's 'City of Literature' is home to the famous Writers' Workshop?

Iowa City was named a UNESCO City of Literature because of it.

Effigy Mounds National Monument in northeast Iowa preserves prehistoric mounds shaped like what?

It holds the largest assemblage of animal-shaped mounds in the world, in the hilly Driftless Area.

Which That '70s Show actor was born in Cedar Rapids in 1978?

His fraternal twin Michael had a heart transplant as a child.

The Sergeant Floyd Monument in northwest Iowa honours the only member of which expedition to die en route?

Charles Floyd died there in 1804, probably of a burst appendix.

The city at the state's northwest corner sits at the head of navigation of which great river?

Its metro area spills into Nebraska and South Dakota.

Meredith Willson based The Music Man's fictional setting on his boyhood in which real Iowa town?

The 1957 show won five Tonys and its cast album won the first Grammy for a musical theatre album.

Kurt Warner, the only undrafted player to be NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP, played college football where?

He was born in Burlington, went to high school in Cedar Rapids, and stocked grocery shelves before the Arena League.

The inventor of the bread-slicing machine, Otto Rohwedder, came from which Iowa city?

His 1912 prototype burned in a fire and the working machine only arrived in 1928.

Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper died in a 1959 plane crash near which Iowa town?

They had just played the Surf Ballroom, which still hosts an annual memorial concert.

Which cereal giant was formed in 1901 partly from an oat mill in Cedar Rapids?

The famous cylindrical package arrived in 1915.

Which is the only Iowa city located west of the big river that forms the state's western border?

A shift in the river's course left it stranded on the Nebraska side.

Roughly what was Iowa's population in the 2020 census?

The 2020 count of about 3.19 million made it the 31st most populous state; it is the 26th largest by area.

Which industry, along with insurance, is the state capital a major national centre for?

Principal Financial Group and Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield are headquartered there.

What was the state capital called when it was incorporated in 1851?

The fort of 1843-46 was named for the river, and the city shortened the name soon after.

Iowa's first wartime governor, credited with the state's strong support for the Union, was whom?

About 116,000 Iowa men were subject to military duty out of a population of 675,000.

Northwest Iowa is home to some of the world's largest concentrations of what?

Green energy is part of Iowa's move away from a purely agricultural economy.

Which Iowa city hosts the annual Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival?

The city also has the Figge Art Museum and the Quad City Air Show.

Which town in central Iowa is home to a well-known Dutch community?

Germans are Iowa's largest ethnic group, followed by the Irish and English.

Iowa has 99 counties but 100 county seats. Which county has two?

Des Moines, the capital, sits in Polk County.

Iowa's Hawkeye State nickname comes from which James Fenimore Cooper novel?

Judge David Rorer was among the influential Iowans who promoted the nickname in the 1830s.

The Ioway people, from whom the state takes its name, spoke a language of which family?

They were once part of the Ho-Chunk Confederation that spread across several Midwest states.

Which president signed Iowa's admission bill into law on December 28, 1846?

A clamour for statehood arose almost as soon as Iowa gained territorial status.

The 1832 Black Hawk War was triggered by a disputed 1804 treaty between Quashquame and which future president?

Harrison was then governor of the Indiana Territory; the Sauk and Meskwaki were forced to sell land under the Black Hawk Purchase.

Iowa's only federally recognised tribe is the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi, based near which town?

The Meskwaki Settlement west of Tama hosts a large annual pow-wow.

What is Iowa's all-time record high temperature, as of 2018?

The state's humid continental climate swings from that to winter lows below -18 °F.

The Sioux City metropolitan area spans Iowa and which two neighbouring states?

The city sits where the Missouri, Floyd and Big Sioux rivers converge and is the largest in western Iowa.

Where does the Interstate 80 truck stop billed as the world's largest sit?

The Iowa 80 stop lies in the eastern part of the state, not far from the Quad Cities.

Which Triple-A baseball team plays in Des Moines as an affiliate of Chicago's National League club?

High-A teams include the Cedar Rapids Kernels and the Quad Cities River Bandits.

Which PGA Tour golf event has been held in the Quad Cities since 1971?

The Principal Charity Classic is a Champions Tour stop, and Des Moines Golf and Country Club hosted the 2017 Solheim Cup.