The Iowa Portal
Iowa (/ˈaɪ.əwə/ ⓘ EYE-ə-wə) is a 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. A portion of the larger Omaha, Nebraska, metropolitan area extends into three counties of southwest Iowa. Other metropolitan statistical areas in Iowa include Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo-Cedar Falls, Ames, Dubuque, Sioux City, and the Iowa portion of the Quad Cities. Iowa is home to 940 small towns, though its population is increasingly urbanized as small communities and rural areas decline in population.
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, women's rights, and same-sex marriage. Iowa's standard of living is ranked among the best states and it performs highly on metrics such as governance, education, infrastructure, and safety. (Full article...)
Selected article -
Davenport (US: /ˈdævənpɔːrt/ DA-vən-port) is a city in and the county seat of Scott County, Iowa, United States. Located along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state, it is the largest of the Quad Cities, a metropolitan area with a population of 384,324 and a combined statistical area population of 474,019, ranking as the 147th-largest MSA and 91st-largest CSA in the nation. According to the 2020 census, the city had a population of 101,724, making it Iowa's third-most populous city after Des Moines and Cedar Rapids. Davenport was founded on May 14, 1836, by Antoine Le Claire and named for his friend George Davenport.
From 1860 until 1980, Davenport enjoyed a long period of industrial and population growth, averaging yearly increases of about 760 people. Over that period, Davenport industries were diverse, from manufacturing locomotives, a major meat-packing plant, a Caterpillar loader plant, a historic movie-projector plant, to car and truck wheel manufacture. These and other industries left, and since 1980, population growth has been flat, hovering around 100,000 over the past 40 years. (Full article...)
Did you know? -
- ... that the Iowa Cow War started due to bovine tuberculosis testing?
- ... that the Iowa Colored Cowboys played softball for audiences of over a thousand people, in an atmosphere similar to a Harlem Globetrotters show?
- ... that an Iowa TV station's prior decision to disaffiliate from the Fox network meant that The Simpsons were originally unseen in the Quad Cities?
- ... that Robert Spencer Finkbine spent 13 years as the superintendent of construction of the Iowa State Capitol?
- ... that because Larrabee County was not established, Iowa remains a state with 99 counties?
- ... that during the 1984 Democratic presidential primaries, Alan Cranston scheduled his advertisements in Iowa around airings of The Day After?
Related Portals
Subcategories
Related WikiProjects
Things you can do
|
Here are some tasks awaiting attention:
|
General images
State Facts
- Date admitted to Union: December 28, 1846 (29th State)
- Demonym: Iowan
- Capital: Des Moines
- Elected state officers:
- U.S. Senators:
- Chuck Grassley (R)
- Joni Ernst (R)
- U.S. Representatives:
- Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R)
- Ashley Hinson (R)
- Zach Nunn (R)
- Randy Feenstra (R)
- Total area: 56,272 square miles (145,744 km2) (23rd most extensive state)
- Highest elevation: Hawkeye Point 1,670 feet (509 m) (42nd highest state)
- Mean elevation: 1,100 feet (335 m) (22nd highest state)
- Lowest elevation: Mississippi River 480 feet (146 m) (37th lowest state)
- Population (2022 estimate): 3,200,517 (32nd most populous state)
- Number of counties: 99 counties
- Number of municipalities: 947 municipalities
- Time zone: CST=UTC-06, CDT=UTC-05
- USPS code: IA
- ISO 3166 code: US-IA
- Adjacent states: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota
- State government website: Iowa.gov
State Symbols
State flag: | |
State seal: | |
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: |
Topics
New articles
Rules | Match log | Results page (for watching) | Last updated: 2025-01-09 21:22 (UTC)
Note: The list display can now be customized by each user. See List display personalization for details.
- Scott Samuelson (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Pirhayati (talk · contribs · new pages (38)) started on 2025-01-09, score: 40
- East Nodaway River (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by SamuelNelsonGISP (talk · contribs · new pages (29)) started on 2025-01-08, score: 60
- Middle Nodaway River (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by SamuelNelsonGISP (talk · contribs · new pages (29)) started on 2025-01-08, score: 60
- West Nodaway River (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by SamuelNelsonGISP (talk · contribs · new pages (29)) started on 2025-01-08, score: 60
- Margaret Lloyd (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by DontCallMeLateForDinner (talk · contribs · new pages (11)) started on 2025-01-06, score: 20
- East Fork One Hundred and Two River (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by SamuelNelsonGISP (talk · contribs · new pages (29)) started on 2025-01-06, score: 60
- Middle Fork One Hundred and Two River (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by SamuelNelsonGISP (talk · contribs · new pages (29)) started on 2025-01-06, score: 60
- West Fork One Hundred and Two River (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by SamuelNelsonGISP (talk · contribs · new pages (29)) started on 2025-01-06, score: 60
- Kent Lovern (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Elixiri (talk · contribs · new pages (2)) started on 2025-01-04, score: 20
- Joe Scarpello (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Kingzwest (talk · contribs · new pages (4)) started on 2025-01-05, score: 32
- Mighty Jumbo (wrestler) (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Kingzwest (talk · contribs · new pages (4)) started on 2025-01-04, score: 28
- Iowa Confluence Water Trails (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by VoidParadox (talk · contribs · new pages (1)) started on 2025-01-03, score: 54
- Tim P. Vos (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Huzaifa88 (talk · contribs · new pages (1)) started on 2025-01-02, score: 20
- Sy Chatman (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Sportsagentsam (talk · contribs · new pages (3)) started on 2024-12-31, score: 34
- Carson Hansen (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by BullDawg2021 (talk · contribs · new pages (9)) started on 2024-12-31, score: 34
- Martez Brown (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Sportsagentsam (talk · contribs · new pages (3)) started on 2024-12-30, score: 20
- Omar Brown (safety) (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Butters.From.SouthPark (talk · contribs · new pages (35)) started on 2024-12-26, score: 32
Associated Wikimedia
The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:
-
Commons
Free media repository -
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals -
Wikidata
Free knowledge base -
Wikinews
Free-content news -
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations -
Wikisource
Free-content library -
Wikiversity
Free learning tools -
Wikivoyage
Free travel guide -
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus
Collaborators
This portal is maintained by WikiProject Iowa and the following Wikipedians: