March is Iowa History month, and what better time to flex your brain muscles with a few trivia facts?
The word "Iowa" comes form the American Indian tribe of the Ioways. Iowa became the 29th state on December 28, 1846. It is the only state bordered by two navigable rivers; the Missouri River to the west and the Mississippi River to the east. Take a trip to Lake Itaska, Minnesota, and walk across the head waters of the Mississippi. Mud Island Park in Memphis, Tennessee holds a scale model of the river; you can walk the entire river from headwaters to the Gulf of Mexico.
1673 - Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette are the first Europeans to visit Iowa.
1682 - Robert de La Salle claims Iowa for France as part of the Louisiana Territory.
1788 - The first permanent settlement is established in Dubuque.
1803 - Iowa becomes part of the United States through the Louisiana Purchase.
1812 - Iowa becomes part of the Missouri Territory.
1832 - The Black Hawk War occurs.
1838 - The Iowa Territory is established.
1846 - Iowa is admitted to the Union becoming the 29th state. 1928 - Iowan Herbert Hoover is elected the 31st U.S. president.
Tree: Oak Flower: Wild Rose Bird: Eastern Goldfinch
Iowa ranks first in beef, pork, corn, soybean and grain production.
One Iowa family farm grows enough food and fiber to feed 279 people.
Iowa is also first in egg production - almost 16 BILLION eggs were produced from Sept. 2019 thru Aug, 2020.
Places to visit:
A culture known as the Effigy Moundbuilders inhabited northeastern Iowa between 1400 and 750 B.C. The more than 200 mounds of earth that remain within Effigy Mounds National Monument—several shaped like animals such as bears, birds and bison—were believed to have been used for ceremonial purposes or to track celestial events.
Sergeant Charles Floyd was the only member of the Corps of Discovery to die during the Lewis and Clark expedition exploring the unchartered West. On August 20, 1804, he succumbed to infection caused by a ruptured appendix. A 100-foot obelisk marks his final resting place in Sioux City.
When the Winnebago Indians were forced to leave their homeland in Wisconsin in 1840, the U.S. government offered the tribe protection on their new temporary land in Iowa from other tribes and illegal settlers. Completed in 1842, Fort Atkinson was the only fort built by the United States to protect one Indian tribe from another.
And of course, visit Heartland Museum to learn about what our early pioneers used to settle this land.