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| Iowa |
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# Entered Union  Year Settled 29th      Dec. 28, 1846     1788  Nickname Hawkeye State  Rank     Population 30th      3,002,555  Rank     Square Miles 26th      56,272  State Bird Eastern Goldfinch aka American Goldfinch  State Flower  State Tree  State Motto Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain Although it is sometimes called the "Corn State," Iowa really is a breadbasket for the U.S., with 90 percent of its land devoted to farming. The main products are corn and hogs. Named for the Iowa River, which was named for the Iowa, or Ioway, Indians, Iowa joined the Union in 1846 as the 29th state. Iowa is the birthplace of President Herbert Hoover. The capital is Des Moines.  Many of the people who founded Iowa were from the Netherlands. Can you think of something the Netherlands is famous for that people might have brought with them? Hint: it's a type of flower.  If you answered "tulips," you would be right. You'd also be right to guess that Iowa still loves this springtime flower. So much so that the state holds a three-day Tulip Festival in the city of Pella to remember the sacrifices of the town's Dutch founding fathers.  Hendrik Pieter Scholte, born in 1805 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, was the founder of Pella. Scholte was a minister who immigrated with his wife, three daughters and a following of 800 people to build their "City of Refuge" in America in the late 1840s. They came to seek religious freedom. They moved to a rural area and by necessity Scholte became a jack-of-all-trades. He laid out a plan for the town, chose names for the streets, and built a "make-do" church.  He took care of legal affairs, started a lime and brick kiln and a sawmill, opened a bank, established a newspaper, and became the postmaster and the land agent. That's a lot of extra work for an already busy preacher! As you can tell, tulips were just one part of Dutch culture that Scholte and his followers brought with them to Pella.  William Frederick Cody “Buffalo Bill†William Frederick Cody, born in February 26, 1846 in Iowa Territory known as Buffalo Bill, was a buffalo hunter, U.S. army scout, and an Indian fighter. But he is probably best known as the man who gave the Wild West its name.  He produced a colorful show called Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World, which had an international reputation and helped create a lasting image of the American West. Buffalo Bill was a major contributor in the creation of the myth of the American West, as seen in Hollywood movies and television.  Have you ever seen a Flying Purple People Eater? If you go to the National Balloon Classic in Indianola, Iowa, in August, you just might. The Flying Purple People Eater is an insect-like hot-air balloon -- one of more than 100 -- that takes part in this three-day event.  Held each year, this hot-air balloon competition and race began in 1970 as the first U.S. National Championship in ballooning. Do you know how hot-air balloons work? Balloons are aerostats, which means that they are lighter than air when inflated. Once a balloon is in the air, it moves with an air mass or wind, which carries it along at the same speed and in the same direction as the air.  Do you remember how the Wizard landed in Oz? He was in a hot-air balloon. The pilot of the balloon has control of the altitude (how high or low the balloon flies) and can alter its course by finding an air mass going in a slightly different direction.  Hot air balloons use ordinary air as the lifting gas. By heating the air inside the balloon, the pilot makes that air lighter than the outside air, and the balloon rises. As the internal air cools, the balloon becomes heavier and descends unless the pilot adds more heat. |
