OFFICIAL SEAL: A sheaf and field of standing wheat and farm utensils represent agriculture; a lead furnace and a pile of pig lead are to the right. In the center stands a citizen-soldier holding a US flag with a liberty cap atop the staff in one hand and a rifle in the other. Behind him is the Mississippi River with the steamer Iowa and mountains; above him an eagle holds the state motto. Surrounding this scene are the words “The Great Seal of the State of Iowa” against a gold background.

FLAG: There are three vertical stripes of blue, white, and red; in the center a spreading eagle holds in its beak a blue ribbon with the state motto.

MOTTO: Our Liberties We Prize and Our Rights We Will Maintain.

SONG: “The Song of Iowa.”

FLOWER: Wild rose.

TREE: Oak.

BIRD: Eastern goldfinch.

ROCK OR STONE: Geode.

LEGAL HOLIDAYS: New Year’s Day, 1 January; Birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., 3rd Monday in January; Memorial Day, last Monday in May; Independence Day, 4 July; Labor Day, 1st Monday in September; Veterans’ Day, 11 November; Thanksgiving Day, 4th Thursday in November; Christmas Day, 25 December.

TIME: 6 AM CST = noon GMT.

1 Location and Size

Located in the western north-central United States, Iowa is the smallest of the Midwestern states west of the Mississippi River and ranks 25th in size among the 50 states. The total area of Iowa is 56,275 square miles (145,752 square kilometers), of which land takes up 55,965 square miles (144,949 square kilometers) and inland water 310 square miles (803 square kilometers). The state extends 324 miles (521 kilometers) east-west and 210 miles (338 kilometers) north-south. Its total boundary length is 1,151 miles (1,853 kilometers).

2 Topography

The physical terrain of Iowa consists of a gently rolling plain that slopes from the highest point of 1,670 feet (509 meters) in the northwest to the lowest point of 480 feet (146 meters) in the southeast at the mouth of the Des Moines River. Iowa has the richest and deepest topsoil in the United States. The major rivers are the Mississippi River and the Missouri River. Iowa has 13 natural lakes. The largest are Spirit Lake, at about 9 miles (14 kilometers) long) and West Okoboji Lake, at 6 miles (10 kilometers) long. Both are near the state’s northwest border.

3 Climate

Iowa lies in the humid continental zone and generally has hot summers, cold winters, and wet springs. Temperatures vary widely during the year, with an annual average of 49°f (9°c). Des Moines, in the central part of the state, has a normal daily maximum temperature of 86°f (30°c) in July and a normal daily minimum of 11°f (-4°c) in January. The record low temperature for the state of Iowa is -47°f (–44°c), set as Washta on 12 January 1912. That record was matched on 3 February 1996 in Elkader. The record high is 118°f (48°c), set at Keokuk on 20 July 1934. Annual precipitation averages 32.4 inches (82 centimeters) in Des Moines. Average snowfall statewide is 33.2 inches (84 centimeters).

4 Plants and Animals

Although most of Iowa is under cultivation, such unusual wild specimens as bunchberry and bearberry can be found in the northeast. Other notable plants are pink lady’s slipper and twinleaf.

Iowa Population Profile

Total population estimate in 2006:	2,982,085
Population change, 2000–06:	1.9%
Hispanic or Latino†:	3.7%
Population by race
One race:	98.9%
White:	93.5%
Black or African American:	2.2%
American Indian /Alaska Native:	0.2%
Asian:	1.5%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander:	0.0%
Some other race:	1.5%
Two or more races:	1.1%

Population by Age Group

Major Cities by Population
City	Population	% change 2000–05
Notes: †A person of Hispanic or Latino origin may be of any race. NA indicates that data are not available.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey and Population Estimates. www.census.gov/ (accessed March 2007).
Des Moines	194,163	-2.3
Cedar Rapids	123,119	2.0
Davenport	98,845	0.5
Sioux	83,148	-2.2
Waterloo	66,483	-3.3
Iowa	62,887	1.1
Council Bluffs	59,568	2.2
Dubuque	57,798	0.2
West Des Moines	52,768	13.7
Ames	52,263	3.0

More than 80 native plants have become extinct in the area and at least 35 others are confined to a single location. The federal government classified five plant species as threatened as of April 2006. Among these are the northern wild monkshood and the eastern and western prairie fringed orchids.

Common Iowa mammals include red and gray foxes, raccoon, opossum, and woodchuck. Common birds include the cardinal, rose-breasted grosbeak, and eastern goldfinch (the state bird). Game fish include rainbow trout, smallmouth bass, and walleye. In all Iowa has 140 native fish species.

Rare animals include the pygmy shrew, ermine, black-billed cuckoo, and crystal darter. As of April 2006, the US Fish and Wildlife Service listed eight threatened or endangered species, including the Indiana bat, bald eagle, Higgins’ eye pearlymussel, piping plover, Topeka Shiner, Iowa Pleistocene snail, pallid sturgeon, and least tern.

5 Environmental Protection

Conservation measures in Iowa are generally directed toward preventing soil erosion and preserving watershed runoff. Other concerns include with improving air quality, preventing chemical pollution, and preserving water supplies. In 1997, wetlands covered 1.2% of Iowa. The Wetlands Reserve Program of 1990 was created to reclaim some of the state’s lost wetlands.

The Department of Water, Air and Waste Management, established in 1983, regulates operation of the state’s 2,900 public water supply systems. The department also enforces laws prohibiting open dumping of solid wastes, monitors the handling of hazardous wastes, establishes standards for air quality, and regulates the emission of air pollutants from more than 600 industries and utilities.

In 2003, Iowa had 172 hazardous waste sites listed in the Environmental Protection Agency’s database, 11 of which were on the National Priorities List in 2006.

6 Population

In 2005, Iowa ranked 30th of the 50 states in population with an estimated total of 2,982,085 residents. In 2004, population density was 52.9 persons per square mile (20.4 persons per square kilometer). The median age of all residents in 2004 was 38. In 2005, about 14% of the people were 65 or older while just over 23% were 18 or younger. In 2005, the largest cities and their estimated populations were Des Moines, 194,163 and Cedar Rapids, 123,119.

7 Ethnic Groups

In the 2000 census, Iowa had 61,853 black Americans, 8,989 Native Americans, and 82,473 Hispanics and Latinos living in the state. Among Iowans of European descent, there were 1,046,153 Germans, representing about 35.7% of the population. Other groups included 395,905 Irish residents and 277,487 English residents. The foreign-born population numbered 91,085. The primary countries of origin included Germany, Mexico, Laos, Canada, Korea, and Vietnam.

8 Languages

Iowa English reflects the three major migration streams: Northern in the half of the state above Des Moines, North Midland in the southern half,

Iowa Population by Race

Census 2000 was the first national census in which the instructions to respondents said, “Mark one or more races.” This table shows the number of people who are of one, two, or three or more races. For those claiming two races, the number of people belonging to the various categories is listed. The U.S. government conducts a census of the population every ten years.

	Number	Percent
Total population	2,926,324	100.0
One race	2,894,546	98.9
Two races	29,959	1.0
White and Black or African American	7,856	0.3
White and American Indian/Alaska Native	7,075	0.2
White and Asian	4,369	0.1
White and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	468	—
White and some other race	7,049	0.2
Black or African American and American Indian/Alaska Native	577	—
Black or African American and Asian	266	—
Black or African American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	46	—
Black or African American and some other race	634	—
American Indian/Alaska Native and Asian	198	—
American Indian/Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	24	—
American Indian/Alaska Native and some other race	299	—
Asian and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	275	—
Asian and some other race	750	—
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander and some other race	73	—
Three or more races	1,819	0.1

and a slight South Midland trace in the extreme southeastern corner. Northern words that contrast with Midland words include: crab for crawdad, corn on the cob for roasting ears, barnyard for barn lot, and gopher for ground squirrel. In 2000, 94.2% of all Iowans aged five or more spoke only English at home. Other languages reported by Iowans, and the number speaking each at home, included Spanish, 79,491; German, 17,262; and French, 7,476.

9 Religions

The first church building in Iowa was constructed by Methodists in Dubuque in 1834. A Roman Catholic church was built in Dubuque the following year. Mainline Protestantism is predominant in the state even though the largest single Protestant denomination is the Evangelical Free Church of America, which had about 268,211 members in 2000. Other major Protestant denominations include the United Methodist Church (with 195,024 adherents in 2004), the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (120,075 adherents in 2000), the Presbyterian Church USA (69,974 adherents in 2000), and the United Church of Christ (36,326 adherents in 2005). Roman Catholic Church membership was about 506,698 in 2004. The Jewish community had about 6,400 members in 2000. Muslims numbered about 4,717. Nearly 41.5%

(over 1.2 million) of the state population did not specify a religious affiliation.

10 Transportation

The early settlers came to Iowa by way of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and the Great Lakes, then traveled overland on trails via wagon and stagecoach. The need of Iowa farmers to haul their products to market over long distances prompted the development of the railroads.

In 2003, Iowa had 4,248 miles (6,839 kilometers) of track. Amtrak operates the long-distance California Zephyr (Chicago to Oakland, California) and Southwest Chief (Chicago to Los Angeles, California), serving six major stations in Iowa.

Iowa had 113,377 miles (182,462 kilometers) of public roadway in 2004. In 2004, there were 3,461,000 registered vehicles in the state, including 1,872,000 automobiles, 1,448,000 trucks, and around 1,000 buses. There were 2,003,723 licensed drivers.

Iowa is bordered by two great navigable rivers, the Mississippi and the Missouri. They provided excellent transport facilities for the early settlers via keelboats and paddle-wheel steamers. Today, rivers remain an important part of Iowa’s intermodal transportation system, providing shippers a gateway to an extensive inland waterway system that has access to ports in St. Paul, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Houston, and New Orleans. Most docks in Iowa are privately owned and all are privately operated.

Iowa’s busiest airfield is Des Moines Municipal Airport, which handled 975,859 passengers in 2004.

11 History

The first permanent settlers of the land were the Woodland Indians, who built villages in the forested areas along the Mississippi River and introduced agriculture. Not until June 1673 did the first known white men, explorer Louis Jolliet and the Catholic priest Jacques Marquette, come to the territory. Iowa was part of the vast Louisiana Territory that extended from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border and was ruled by the French until the title was transferred to Spain in 1762.

Napoleon took the territory back in 1800 and then promptly sold all of Louisiana Territory to the amazed American envoys who had come to Paris seeking only the purchase of New Orleans and the mouth of the Mississippi. After Iowa had thus come under US control in 1803, the Lewis and Clark expedition worked its way up the Missouri River to explore the newly purchased land.

Placed under the territorial jurisdiction of Michigan in 1834, and then two years later under the newly created Territory of Wisconsin, Iowa became a separate territory in 1838. The first territorial governor, Robert Lucas, began planning for statehood by drawing aggressive boundary lines that extended county boundaries and local government westward and northward. Under the Missouri Compromise, Iowa came into the Union with Florida as its slaveholding counterpart. A serious dispute, concerning how large the state would be, delayed Iowa’s admission into the Union until 28 December 1846.

State Development The settlement of Iowa was rapidly accomplished. With one-fourth of the nation’s fertile topsoil located within its borders, Iowa was a powerful magnet that drew farmers by the thousands from many areas. The settlers were overwhelmingly Protestant in religion and remarkably uniform in ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Fiercely proud of its claim to be the first free state created out of the Louisiana Purchase, Iowa was an important center of abolitionist sentiment throughout the 1850s. The Underground Railroad for fugitive slaves from the South ran across the southern portion of Iowa to the Mississippi River. When the Civil War came, Iowa overwhelmingly supported the Union cause.

The railroad had been lavishly welcomed by Iowans in the 1850s. By the 1870s, Iowa farmers were battling the railroad interests for effective regulatory legislation. The National Grange (an association of farmers) was powerful enough in Iowa to push through the so-called Granger laws regulating the railroads. Following World War I, conservatives regained control of the ruling Republican Party and remained in control until the 1960s. Then new liberal leadership was forced on the party after the disastrous 1964 presidential campaign of Barry Goldwater and effective opposition from a revitalized Democratic Party led by Harold Hughes.

After Hughes gave up the governorship in 1969 to become a US senator, he was succeeded in office by Robert Ray, a liberal Republican who dominated the state throughout the 1970s. Iowa’s economy suffered in the 1980s from a combination of high debt and interest rates, numerous droughts, and low crop prices. Businesses departed or shrank their work forces.

By the 1990s, however, the companies that had survived were in a much stronger position, and Iowa began enjoying a period of cautious prosperity. The state’s unemployment rate in 1992 was 4.7%, lower than the national average. By 1999, it had dropped to 2.5%, the lowest rate in the nation. In Iowa, as elsewhere in the Midwest, high-tech and service industries continued to pull workers away from farming—and away from the state, causing many to worry about a disappearing way of life.

By 2003, the United States economy was slowly recovering from its 2001 recession, and Iowa was also feeling the effects. In 2005, the state was pursuing a comprehensive economic growth strategy focusing on renewable energy, life sciences, financial services, advanced manufacturing, and improving cultural and recreational opportunities. The governor made Iowa’s energy independence a goal, and to that effect, the state from 2000 to 2005 nearly tripled its ethanol production and by 2006 was projected to be the nation’s leading producer of ethanol.

In 1993, unusually heavy spring and summer rains produced record floods along the Mississippi River by mid-July. The entire state of Iowa was declared a disaster area. The floods forced 11,200 people to evacuate their homes and caused $2.2 billion in damages.

12 State Government

The state legislature, or general assembly, consists of a 50-member senate and a 100-member house of representatives. Senators serve four-year

Iowa Governors: 1846–2007

1846–1850	Ansel Briggs	Democrat
1850–1854	Stepehn P. Hempstead	Democrat
1854–1858	James Wilson Grimes	Whig
1858–1860	Ralph Phillips Lowe	Republican
1860–1864	Samuel Jordan Kirkwood	Republican
1864–1868	William Milo Stone	Republican
1868–1872	Samuel Merrill	Republican
1872–1876	Cyrus Clay Carpenter	Republican
1876–1877	Samuel Jordan Kirkwood	Republican
1877–1878	Joshua G. Newbold	Republican
1878–1882	John Henry Gear	Republican
1882–1886	Buren Robinson Sherman	Republican
1886–1890	William Larrabee	Republican
1890–1894	Horace Boies	Democrat
1894–1896	Frank Darr Jackson	Republican
1896–1898	Francis Marion Drake	Republican
1898–1902	Leslie Mortier Shaw	Republican
1902–1908	Albert Baird Cummins	Republican
1908–1909	Warren Garst	Republican
1909–1913	Beryl Franklin Carroll	Republican
1913–1917	George W. Clarke	Republican
1917–1921	William Lloyd Harding	Republican
1921–1925	Nathan Edward Kendall	Republican
1925–1931	John Hammill	Republican
1931–1933	Daniel Webster Turner	Republican
1933–1937	Clyde LaVerne Herring	Democrat
1937–1939	Nelson George Kraschel	Democrat
1939–1943	George Allison Wilson	Republican
1943–1945	Bourke Blakemore Hickenlooper	Republican
1945–1949	Robert Donald Blue	Republican
1949–1954	William S. Beardsley	Republican
1954–1955	Leo Elthon	Republican
1955–1957	Leo Arthur Hoegh	Republican
1957–1961	Herschel Celiel Loveless	Democrat
1961–1963	Norman Arthur Erbe	Republican
1863–1969	Harold Everett Hughes	Democrat
1969	Robert David Fulton	Democrat
1969–1983	Robert D. Day	Republican
1983–1999	Terry Edward Branstad	Republican
1999–2006	Thomas J. Vilsack	Democrat
2006–	Chester Culver	Democrat
Democratic Republican – Dem-Rep
Independent – Indep
National Republican – Nat-Rep

terms, with half the members elected every two years; representatives serve two-year terms. Each house may introduce or amend legislation, with a simple majority vote required for passage. The governor’s veto of a bill may be overridden by a two-thirds majority in both houses. The state’s elected executives are the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, attorney general, and secretary of agriculture.

As of December 2004, the governor’s salary was $107,482, and the legislative salary was $21,380.54.

13 Political Parties

For 70 years following the Civil War, a majority of Iowa voters supported the Republicans over the Democrats in nearly all state and national elections. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Iowa briefly turned to the Democrats, supporting Franklin D. Roosevelt in two presidential elections. However, from 1940 through 1984, the majority of Iowans voted Republican in 10 of 12 presidential elections. Democrats carried the state in four recent presidential contests (1988, 1992, 1996, 2000), but turned Republican again in 2004. Republicans won 35 of the 45 gubernatorial elections from 1900 through 2002 and controlled both houses of the state legislature for 112 of the 130 years from 1855 to 1984.

In the 2000 elections, Iowa gave Democrat Al Gore 49% of the vote, while Republican George W. Bush received 48%. In 2004, Bush increased his support to 50% to Democrat John Kerry’s 49%. As of the 2006 elections, Democrats had a 3–2 edge in the US House delegation, while a Democrat and a Republican both served in

Iowa Presidential Vote by Political Parties, 1948–2004

YEAR	IOWA WINNER	DEMOCRAT	REPUBLICAN	PROGRESSIVE	PROHIBITION	SOCIALIST LABOR
* Won US presidential election.
1948	*Truman (D)	522,380	494,018	12,125	3,382	4,274
1952	*Eisenhower (R)	451,513	808,906	5,085	2,882	—
						CONSTITUTION
1956	*Eisenhower (R)	501,858	729,187	—	—	3,202
1960	Nixon (R)	550,565	722,381	—	—	—
1964	*Johnson (D)	733,030	449,148	—	1,902	—
				SOC. WORKERS	AMERICAN IND.
1968	*Nixon (R)	476,699	619,106	3,377	66,422	—
				AMERICAN		PEACE & FREEDOM
1972	*Nixon (R)	496,206	706,207	22,056	—	1,332
						LIBERTARIAN
1976	Ford (R)	619,931	632,863	—	3,040	1,452
				CITIZENS
1980	*Reagan (R)	508,672	676,026	2,191	—	12,324
1984	*Reagan (R)	605,620	703,088	—	—	—
1988	Dukakis (D)	670,557	545,355	755	540	2,494
				IND. (PEROT)
1992	*Clinton (D)	586,353	504,891	253,468	3,079	1,177
1996	*Clinton (D)	620,258	492,644	105,159	—	2,315
					REFORM
2000	Gore (D)	638,517	634,373	29,374	5,731	190
2004	*Bush, G. W. (R)	741,898	751,957	—	—	—

the US Senate—Republican Charles Grassley, who won election to a fifth term in 2004, and Democrat Tom Harkin, who won reelection for a fourth term in 2002. Democrat Chet Culver won election as governor in 2006. Following the 2006 elections, there were 30 Democrats and 20 Republicans in the state senate, and 54 Democrats, 45 Republicans, and 1 Independent in the state house. There were 30 women serving in the state legislature following the 2006 elections, or 20%.

Iowa’s presidential caucuses are held in January of presidential campaign years (ahead of New Hampshire, which also has a primary in January). This is earlier than any other state, thus giving Iowans a degree of influence in national politics.

14 Local Government

The state’s 99 counties are governed by boards of supervisors. County officials enforce state laws, collect taxes, supervise welfare activities, and manage roads and bridges. Local government was exercised by 948 municipal units in 2005. The mayor-council system functioned in the great majority of these municipalities. The power to tax is authorized by the state general assembly. In 2005, there were 374 public school districts and 542 special districts.

15 Judicial System

The Iowa supreme court consists of seven justices appointed by the governor, who select one of their number as chief justice. The court exercises appeals jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases, supervises the trial courts, and establishes the rules of civil and appeals procedure. The supreme court transfers certain cases to the six-member court of appeals. The state is divided into eight judicial districts, each with a chief justice. Iowa’s violent crime rate (murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault) in 2004 was 270.9 per 100,000 population. Crimes against property (burglary, larceny/theft, and motor vehicle theft) in 2004 totaled 2,905.3 reported incidents per 100,000 people. Iowa does not have a death penalty. As of 31 December 2004, there were 8,525 prisoners in federal and state institutions.

16 Migration

Iowa was opened, organized, and settled by a generation of native migrants from other states. Around the 1850s, the largest group of foreign immigrants were Germans who had fled military conscription. The next largest group had sought to escape the hardships of potato famine in Ireland or of agricultural and technological displacement in Scotland, England, and Wales. They were joined in the by Dutch immigrants seeking religious liberty and by Norwegians and Swedes. During and immediately after the Civil War, some former slaves fled the South for Iowa, and more blacks settled in Iowa cities after 1900. But many of the migrants who came to Iowa did not stay long. Some Iowans left to join the gold rush and others settled lands in the West.

In the period 2000–05, a net total of 29,386 moved into the state from other countries and a net 41,140 people moved to other states, for a net loss of 11,754 people.

17 Economy

Iowa’s economy is based on agriculture. Although the value of the state’s manufactures exceeds the value of its farm production, manufacturing is basically farm-centered. The major industries are food processing and the manufacture of agriculture-related products, such as farm machinery.

Technological progress in agriculture and the growth of manufacturing industries have enabled Iowans to enjoy general prosperity since World War II. In the early 1980s, however, high interest rates and falling land prices created serious economic difficulties for farmers and contributed to the continuing decline of the farm population. By the early 1990s, the state had recovered. The national recession of 2001 had a relatively mild effect on Indiana’s unemployment rate. Agricultural production was positive in 2002, largely because Iowa escaped the drought that was harming other states in the region.

18 Income

In 2005, Iowa ranked 30th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia with a gross state product (GSP) of $114 billion. In 2004, Iowa had a per capita personal income of $31,058. This ranked 28th in the United States; the national average was $33,050. The three-year average median household income for 2002–04 was $43,042, compared to the national average of $44,473. For the period 2002–04, 9.7% of the state’s residents lived below the federal poverty level, as compared to 12.4% nationwide.

19 Industry

Because Iowa was primarily a farm state, the first industries were food processing and the manufacture of farm implements. These industries have retained a key role in the economy. In recent years, Iowa has added a variety of others—including pens, washing machines, and even mobile homes.

The estimated total value of shipments by manufacturers was $79.47 billion in 2004.

20 Labor

In April 2006, the seasonally adjusted civilian labor force in Iowa numbered 1,674,200, with approximately 59,800 workers unemployed. Iowa’s unemployment rate of 3.6% was below the overall US rate of 4.7%. As of April 2006, approximately 5% of the labor force was employed in construction; 15.5% in manufacturing; 20.5% in trade, transportation, and public utilities; 6.6% in financial activities; 16.4% in government; 7.6% in professional and business services; 13.2% in education and health services; and 8.7% in leisure and hospitality services.

The labor movement generally has not been strong in Iowa, and labor unions have had little success in organizing farm laborers. The Knights of Labor, consisting mostly of miners and railroad workers, was organized in Iowa in 1876. But the Knights practically disappeared after 1893, when the American Federation of Labor (AFL) established itself in the state among miners and other workers. The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) succeeded in organizing workers in public utilities, meat packing, and light industries in 1937. After 1955, when the AFL and CIO merged, the power and influence of labor unions increased in the state.

In 2005, 157,000 of Iowa’s 1,369,000 employed wage and salary workers were members of unions. This represented 11.5% of those so employed. The national average is 12%.

21 Agriculture

Iowa recorded a gross farm income of $14.2 billion in 2005, the third highest in the United States. Nearly half of all cash receipts from marketing came from the sale of livestock and meat products. During 2000–04, Iowa ranked first in output of corn for grain and soybeans and fifth for oats.

Two important 20th-century developments were the introduction in the 1920s of hybrid corn and the utilization on a massive scale of soybeans as a feed grain (during World War II). In 2004, Iowa had 89,700 farms, with an average size of 353 acres (143 hectares) per farm. Nearly all of Iowa’s land is tillable and about nine-tenths of it is given to farmland. Corn is grown practically everywhere; wheat is raised in the southern half of the state and in counties bordering the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.

In 2004, production of corn for grain totaled 2.24 billion bushels, soybeans totaled 497.4 million bushels, oats totaled 10.1 million bushels, and hay totaled 6.24 million tons.

22 Domesticated Animals

Iowa had an estimated 3.6 million cattle and calves in 2005, worth around $3.2 billion. In 2004, Iowa was ranked first among the 50 states in the number of hogs and pigs with 16.1 million, worth around $1.77 billion.

Pigs, calves, lambs, and chickens are raised throughout the state, particularly in the Mississippi and Missouri river valleys, where good pasture and water are plentiful. Iowa farmers are leaders in applying modern livestock breeding methods to produce lean hogs, tender corn-fed cattle, and larger-breasted chickens and turkeys. In 2003, Iowa farmers produced an estimated 30.7 million pounds (14 million kilograms) of sheep and lambs, which grossed a total of around $31.6 million. Also during 2003, Iowa farmers produced 267.7 million pounds (121.6 million kilograms) of turkeys, worth $96.4 million. In the same year an estimated 10.4 billion eggs were produced, worth around $460.5 million.

Iowa dairy farmers produced 3.8 billion pounds (1.7 million kilograms) of milk from 201,000 dairy cows in 2003.

23 Fishing

Fishing has very little commercial importance in Iowa. Game fishing in the rivers and lakes, however, is a popular sport. In 2004, there were 429,689 sport fishermen licensed in the state.

24 Forestry

Lumber and woodworking were important to the early settlers, but the industry has since declined in commercial importance. In 2004, Iowa had 2.7 million acres (1.1 million hectares) of forestland, which represents 7.5% of the state’s land area, up from 1.6 million acres (650,000 hectares) in 1974. The state’s lumber industry produced 78 million board feet of lumber in 2004.

25 Mining

The value of nonfuel mineral production in Iowa was estimated at $478 million in 2003. The top products were crushed stone, construction sand and gravel, cement, crude gypsum, which collectively accounted for 97% of the total mineral value produced. In 2001, Iowa ranked second in production of crude gypsum. In 2003, Iowa was a significant producer of crushed stone (34.7 million metric tons), portland cement, and construction sand and gravel (13 million metric tons). The state is also a producer of common clays.

26 Energy and Power

Although Iowa’s fossil fuel resources are extremely limited, the state’s energy supply has been adequate for consumer needs. In 2000, Iowa consumed 372 million Btu (93.7 million kilocalories) per capita, to rank 19th among the states. In 2003, the state’s production of electricity (utility and nonutility) totaled 42.1 billion kilowatt hours. The total installed capacity was 10 million kilowatts. Coal-fired plants supplied the vast majority of generated power (85%), with nuclear power plants in second place (9.5%). The remainder came from gas, hydroelectric power, and other sources. Iowa has one single-unit nuclear plant, the Duane Arnold plant in Palo.

Extensive coalfields in southeastern Iowa were first mined in 1840. The state’s annual bituminous coal production reached nearly 9 million tons in 1917–18. Coal output in 1994 was only 46,000 tons. Recoverable coal reserves totaled 1.1 billion tons in 2001. As of 2004, Iowa had

no production of crude oil or natural gas. There are no refineries in Iowa.

27 Commerce

Iowa had 2002 wholesale sales of $33.5 billion and retail sales of $31.1 billion. The most valuable categories of goods traded were agricultural raw materials, durable goods, groceries and related products, and farm supplies. Iowa’s exports of goods originating within the state had an estimated value of $7.3 billion in 2005.

28 Public Finance

The public budget is prepared by the Department of Management with the governor’s approval and is adopted or revised by the general assembly. The fiscal year runs from 1 July to 30 June.

Iowa’s fiscal year 2004 budget included revenues of $15.3 billion and expenditures of $13.4 billion. The largest general expenditures were for education ($4.67 billion), public welfare ($3.1 billion), and highways ($1.36 billion). The state had an outstanding debt of $4.8 billion, or $1,644.98 per capita (per person).

29 Taxation

Iowa’s personal income tax schedule has nine brackets. In 2006, the lowest bracket was at 0.36% and the highest was at 8.98%. Iowa’s corporate income tax ranges from 6% to 12%. Iowa’s retail sales tax is 5%, with exemptions for basic foods and prescription drugs. Some local governments have local-option sales taxes of up to 2%. There are also state excise taxes on motor fuels, tobacco products, amusements, pari-mutuels, insurance premiums, and other selected items. The state directly controls alcohol sales. Other state taxes include license fees and stamp taxes. Property taxes are all local. Localities collect over 40% of the taxes in Iowa.

Total state tax collections in Iowa came to over $5.7 billion in 2005, with 39.2% generated by the state income tax, 29.9% by the state sales tax, 15.7% by state excise taxes, 3.2% by the state corporate income tax, and other taxes 11.9%. The state placed 33rd in the nation in terms of tax burden in 2005.

30 Health

In October 2005, the infant mortality rate was 5.2 per 1,000 live births. The overall death rate was 9.5 per 1,000 people in 2003. The leading causes of death were heart disease and cerebrovascular disease. About 20.8% of all Iowans ages 18 and older were smokers in 2004. The mortality rate from HIV infection was 1 per 100,000 persons, the lowest in the nation. In 2004, the reported AIDS case rate was at about 2.2 per 100,000 population.

Iowa’s 116 community hospitals have about 11,000 beds. In 2004, Iowa had 218 doctors per 100,000 people and 1,009 nurses per 100,000 people in 2005. In 2004, there were 1,546 dentists in the state. In 2001, the average expense for hospital care was $1,437.60 per inpatient day. In 2004, about 10% of the population was uninsured.

31 Housing

In 2004, there were 1,292,976 housing units in Iowa, of which 1,175,771 were occupied; 73.8% were owner-occupied, placing the state fourth in the nation in the percentage of homeownership. About 74.7% of all units were single-family, detached homes. About 31.5% of all units were built in 1939 or earlier. Most households relied on utility gas and electricity for heating. It was estimated that 52,215 lacked telephone service, 4,728 lacked complete plumbing facilities, and 5,037 lacked complete kitchen facilities. Average household size was 2.42 people.

In 2004, 16,300 privately owned housing units were authorized for construction. Median home value was $95,901. The median monthly cost for mortgage owners was $942. Renters paid a median of $533 per month.

32 Education

In 2004, 89.8% of Iowans age 25 and older were high school graduates and 24.3% had obtained a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Total enrollment in public schools was estimated at 482,000 in fall 2002 but expected to drop to 452,000 by fall 2014. Enrollment in private schools in fall 2003 was 45,309. Expenditures for public education in 2003/04 were estimated at $4.28 billion.

As of fall 2002, there were 202,546 students enrolled in institutions of higher education. As of 2005, Iowa had 63 degree-granting institutions. Iowa has three state universities and 35 private colleges. Since the public community college system began offering vocational and technical training in 1960, total enrollment has increased rapidly and the number of different career programs has grown. Iowa’s small liberal arts colleges and universities include Briar Cliff College, Coe College, Cornell College, Drake University, Grinnell College, Iowa Wesleyan College, Loras College, and Luther College.

33 Arts

There is an opera company in Des Moines, and there are art galleries, little theater groups, symphony orchestras, and ballet companies in the major cities and college towns. The Des Moines Arts Center is a leading exhibition gallery for native painters and sculptors. The Des Moines Arts Festival, established in 1998, has drawn an attendance of nearly 800,000 people each year. The 2002 ArtFair SourceBook ranked it as the Sixth Best Fine Arts Festival in the nation. There are regional theater groups in Des Moines, Davenport, and Sioux City. The Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa has an international reputation.

The Iowa Arts Council (IAC) was established as a state agency in 1967. In 1986, the IAC became a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, which also includes the State Historical Society of Iowa. Humanities Iowa, founded in 1971, sponsors over $1.5 million of programs each year. Iowa’s arts programs have a total audience of nearly seven million people. There are over 36,000 contributing artists for the programs. The state offers arts education to about 120,000 schoolchildren. There are over 800 art associations in Iowa.

34 Libraries and Museums

As of the end of fiscal year 2001 (June), Iowa had 537 public library systems, with a total of 561 libraries, of which 24 were branches. That year, the public library system had total book and serial publication holdings of 11.45 million volumes and a circulation of nearly 25.5 million. Among the principal libraries in Iowa are the State Library in Des Moines, the State Historical Society Library in Iowa City, the libraries of the University of Iowa (also in Iowa City), and the Iowa State University Library in Ames.

Iowa had 134 museums and zoological parks in 2000. The Herbert Hoover National Historical Site, in West Branch, houses the birthplace and grave of the 31st US president and a library and museum with papers and memorabilia.

35 Communications

In 2004, about 95.4% of all occupied units had telephones. In June of that year, there were 1,445,711 mobile phone subscribers. In 2003, 64.7% of Iowa households had a computer and 57.1% had Internet access. The first commercial radio station west of the Mississippi, WDC at Davenport, began broadcasting in 1921. In 2005 there were 110 major radio stations, including 37 AM stations and 73 FM stations. In the same year, Iowa had a total of 21 network television stations.

36 Press

In 2005, Iowa had 37 dailies (21 evening, 16 morning) and 12 Sunday papers. The Des Moines Register remained the leader, with a morning circulation of 152,800 and a Sunday circulation of 243,302 as of 2002. Other major newspapers and their estimated daily circulations at 2002 include the Cedar Rapids Gazette (63,493), Dubuque Telegraph Herald (28,621), Sioux City Journal (41,182), and the Waterloo Courier (42,679). Also published in Iowa were over 100 periodicals,

among them Better Homes and Gardens and Successful Farming.

37 Tourism, Travel & Recreation

The Mississippi and Missouri rivers offer popular water sports facilities for both out-of-state visitors and resident vacationers. Notable tourist attractions include the Effigy Mounds National Monument (near Marquette), which has hundreds of prehistoric Indian mounds and village sites. Tourist sites in the central part of the state include the state capitol and the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site (West Branch), with its Presidential Library and Museum.

Iowa has about 85,000 acres (34,400 hectares) of lakes and reservoirs and 19,000 miles (30,600 kilometers) of fishing streams. There are 52 state parks and 7 state forests.

In 2005, there were about 30.5 million visitors to the state. This showed an increase from 17.1 million in 2001. Travel generated expenditures of about $4.3 billion in 2002; in 2005, the figure was $5 billion. In 2005, there were over 62,290 travel-related jobs in the state.

38 Sports

Iowa has no major league professional sports teams, but do sponsor the Iowa Barnstormers in the Arena Football League. Minor league baseball and basketball teams make their home in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Clinton, Sioux City, Burlington, and the Quad Cities. High school and college basketball and football teams draw thousands of spectators, particularly to the state high school basketball tournament at Des Moines in March. Large crowds also fill stadiums and fieldhouses for the University of Iowa games in Iowa City and Iowa State University games in Ames.

In intercollegiate football competition, the University of Iowa Hawkeyes belong to the Big Ten Conference. They have a legendary wrestling program that has won the NCAA Championship 20 times. The Iowa State University Cyclones are in the Big Twelve Conference. A popular track-and-field meet for college athletes is the Drake Relays, held every April in Des Moines.

Horse racing is popular at state and county fairgrounds, as is stock car racing at small-town tracks. The Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa is held in July. There are rodeos in Sidney and Fort Madison and the National Balloon Classic is held in Indianola. Iowa has over 350 golf courses, eight major ski areas, and is the nation’s leading state in pheasant hunting.

39 Famous Iowans

Among Iowa’s most influential governors were the first territorial governor, Robert Lucas (b.Virginia, 1781–1853); William Larrabee (b.Connecticut, 1832–1912); and Harold Hughes (1863–1969). Iowa has produced a large number of radical dissenters and social reformers. Abolitionists, strong in Iowa before the Civil War, included Josiah B. Grinnell (b.Vermont, 1821–1891), and Asa Turner (b.Massachusetts, 1799–1885). George D. Herron (b.Indiana, 1862–1925) made Iowa a center of the Social Gospel movement before helping to found the Socialist Party. William “Billy” Sunday (1862–1935) was an evangelist with a large following among rural Americans. John L. Lewis (1880–1969), head of the United Mine Workers, founded the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).

Iowa can claim two winners of the Nobel Peace Prize: religious leader John R. Mott (b.New York, 1865–1955), and agronomist and plant geneticist Norman E. Borlaug (b.1914). Distinguished scientist George Washington Carver (b.Missouri 1864–1943) was an Iowa resident.

Iowa writers of note include Hamlin Garland (b.Wisconsin, 1860–1940) and Wallace Stegner (1909–1993). Two Iowa playwrights, Susan Glaspell (1882–1948) and her husband, George Cram Cook (1873–1924), were instrumental in founding influential theater groups. Columnists Abigail Van Buren (Pauline Esther Friedman, b.1918) and her twin sister Ann Landers (Esther Pauline Friedman Lederer, 1918–2002) are from Sioux City. Iowans who have contributed to America’s musical heritage include popular composers Meredith Willson (1902–1984) and Peter “PDQ Bach” Schickele (b.1935), jazz musician Leon “Bix” Beiderbecke (1903–1931), bandleader Glenn Miller (1904–1944), and opera singer Simon Estes (b.1938). Iowa’s artists of note include Grant Wood (1892–1942), whose American Gothic is one of America’s best-known paintings.

Iowa’s contributions to the field of popular entertainment include William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody (1846–1917); circus promoter Charles Ringling (1863–1926) and his four brothers; and one of America’s best-loved movie actors, John Wayne (Marion Michael Morrison, 1907–1979). Johnny Carson (1925–2005), host of the Tonight Show for 30 years, was born in Corning. Iowa sports figures of note are baseball Hall of Famers Adrian C. “Cap” Anson (1851–1922) and Robert “Bob” Feller (b.1918), and football All-American Nile Kinnick (1918–1944).

40 Bibliography

BOOKS

Bristow, M. J. State Songs of America. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000.

Dykstra, Mary. Iowa. Milwaukee, WI: Gareth Stevens, 2006.

Genoways, Ted, and Hugh H. Genoways, eds. A Perfect Picture of Hell: Eyewitness Accounts by Civil War Prisoners from the 12th Iowa. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2001.

Kule, Elaine A. Iowa Facts and Symbols. Rev. ed. Mankato, MN: Capstone, 2003.

Morrice, Polly Alison. Iowa. 2nd ed. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, 2007.

Murray, Julie. Iowa. Edina, MN: Abdo Publishing, 2006.