Portal:Iowa
The Iowa Portal
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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 -
Merle Hay Mall is an enclosed super-regional shopping mall in Des Moines, Iowa, in the United States. Opened in 1959, it is the second oldest regional shopping center in Iowa, and was the largest mall in Iowa in terms of gross leasable area before the 2004 opening of Jordan Creek Town Center in neighboring West Des Moines. It was also the site of the deadliest fire in Des Moines' history, which killed eleven people in 1978.
The mall's anchor stores are Target, Kohl’s (Not connected to the mall.), Dinks Pickleball, and Ross Dress for Less. There is one vacant anchor store that was once Younkers - which is set for remodeling as an ice arena. The mall used to have a Sears which was demolished in 2021. Applebee's, IHOP, and Starbucks operate on the out parcels of the mall. Other prominent stores in the mall include Old Navy. Most of the mall is in the northwest part of Des Moines, but the wing that contains the former Younkers, Dinks Pickleball and the food court is inside the city limits of neighboring Urbandale. (Full article...)
Did you know? -
- ... that Iowa politician June Franklin wrote to ten members of the US Congress urging them to declare Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a federal holiday?
- ... that S. H. M. Byers not only coined the phrase "Sherman's March to the Sea", but also wrote Iowa's state song?
- ... that Alice Ilgenfritz Jones was one of "Two Women of the West" from Iowa who wrote the 1893 feminist utopian novel Unveiling a Parallel?
- ... that Iowa government social worker Catherine G. Williams started out as a tap dancer?
- ... that because Larrabee County was not established, Iowa remains a state with 99 counties?
- ... that William Miller Beardshear was known as the "father of Iowa State College", now known as Iowa State University?
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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: |
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Rules | Match log | Results page (for watching) | Last updated: 2025-02-22 21:16 (UTC)
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- List of Iowa tornadoes (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Ktkvtsh (talk · contribs · new pages (27)) started on 2025-02-22, score: 53
- Lagos Marriott Hotel (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by SuperSwift (talk · contribs · new pages (7)) started on 2025-02-22, score: 30
- 1882 Grinnell tornado (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by EF5 (talk · contribs · new pages (30)) started on 2025-02-22, score: 54
- Dasia Taylor (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Suriname0 (talk · contribs · new pages (2)) started on 2025-02-21, score: 36
- Gyrosigma acuminatum (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Soup011 (talk · contribs · new pages (3)) started on 2025-02-19, score: 20
- Larry McBurney (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Vycl1994 (talk · contribs · new pages (12)) started on 2025-02-21, score: 30
- Psilocybe caeruleorhiza (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Dgrootmyers (talk · contribs · new pages (3)) started on 2025-02-20, score: 20
- Hrishikesh Vinod (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Holt Neeson (talk · contribs · new pages (1)) started on 2025-02-19, score: 30
- John Sherwin (Iowa Justice) (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by IowaHistorian1997 (talk · contribs · new pages (1)) started on 2025-02-14, score: 36
- Der Demokrat (Iowa) (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by WorldlyVoice (talk · contribs · new pages (6)) started on 2025-02-18, score: 40
- Judd Lawler (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Vycl1994 (talk · contribs · new pages (12)) started on 2025-02-18, score: 20
- Keshon Gilbert (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Butters.From.SouthPark (talk · contribs · new pages (31)) started on 2025-02-13, score: 40
- 2025 Iowa House of Representatives District 100 special election (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Longestview (talk · contribs · new pages (19)) started on 2025-02-14, score: 40
- Trumbull White (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by LindaGriffithSmith (talk · contribs · new pages (1)) started on 2025-02-12, score: 35
- 2025 Iowa Senate District 35 special election (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Longestview (talk · contribs · new pages (19)) started on 2025-02-14, score: 40
- Curtis Jones (basketball) (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by GPL93 (talk · contribs · new pages (14)) started on 2025-02-12, score: 36
- James Williams (defensive lineman) (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Yankees10 (talk · contribs · new pages (7)) started on 2025-02-12, score: 26
- Moisés Ballesteros (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Yankees10 (talk · contribs · new pages (7)) started on 2025-02-11, score: 30
- 2024–25 Northern Iowa Panthers women's basketball team (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by DWarr13 (talk · contribs · new pages (1)) started on 2025-02-09, score: 35
- Jon Beavers (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by James Allison (talk · contribs · new pages (5)) started on 2025-02-09, score: 20
- 1995 Northern Iowa Panthers football team (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Patriarca12 (talk · contribs · new pages (23)) started on 2025-02-08, score: 36
- Larry Mullins (American football) (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Tassedethe (talk · contribs · new pages (125)) started on 2025-02-08, score: 30
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