History of Iowa facts for kids
Native Americans lived in what is now Iowa for thousands of years. The written history of Iowa began in the 1680s with explorers like Marquette and Joliet. Until the early 1800s, Iowa was home mostly to Native Americans and a few European traders. France and Spain had loose control over the area.
Iowa became part of the United States after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. But the U.S. gained full control only after the War of 1812. This happened after treaties removed Native American claims to the land. In the 1830s, European-American settlers started to arrive in the Iowa Territory. Iowa became a U.S. state in 1846. By 1860, most of the state was settled and farmed by European-Americans.
At first, farmers grew just enough food for themselves. But after railroads were built in the 1850s and 1860s, they started growing crops to sell. Iowa sent many young men to fight in the American Civil War. After the war, they helped turn Iowa into a major farming state, providing food for the whole country.
Later, farming became more industrial. Large farms grew, and small family farms declined, especially during the Great Depression. During World War II and after, factories became a bigger part of Iowa's economy. In the 1970s and 1980s, economic problems like the oil crisis and the 1980s farm crisis caused prices to drop. Many people left rural areas. Iowa's economy recovered in the 1990s. Today, it has a modern economy with industries, businesses, and finance, where farming is a smaller part.
Contents
Ancient Times in Iowa
When the first Native Americans arrived in what is now Iowa over 13,000 years ago, they were hunters and gatherers. They lived in a landscape shaped by glaciers. By the time European explorers came to Iowa, Native Americans were mostly settled farmers. They had complex ways of life, economies, and governments.
This change happened slowly. During the Archaic period (10,500-2,800 years ago), Native Americans learned to live with their local environments. They slowly settled down more as their populations grew. More than 3,000 years ago, they began to use domesticated plants. Later, during the Woodland period, they relied more on farming. Their societies became more complex, using mounds, pottery, and special ways of getting food.
In the Late Prehistoric period (starting around A.D. 900), more use of corn and social changes led to thriving communities and settled villages. When Europeans arrived, they brought trade goods and diseases. This caused big population shifts and major changes to Native American economies and societies. New tribes arrived, along with the first European explorers and traders.
Early Native American Tribes
By 1804, several Native American groups lived in Iowa. The Sauk (Sac) and Meskwaki (Fox) were in eastern Iowa along the Mississippi River. The Ioway lived along the Des Moines River. The Oto, Missouri, and Omaha were along the Missouri River. The Sioux lived in the northern and western parts of the state. Earlier records also show the Illinois tribe in Iowa, but they were almost gone by 1804. It's thought that fewer than 15,000 Native Americans lived in Iowa in 1804. Some tribes, like the Illinois, Sauk, and Meskwaki, moved to Iowa because of wars with other tribes or the French. In the early to mid-1800s, more groups like the Potawatomi and Winnebago moved into Iowa. But then, almost all Native Americans left the state.
The first Europeans or Americans to meet Native Americans in Iowa were likely the Frenchmen Louis Joliet and Pere Jacques Marquette. In 1673, they explored the Mississippi River and met the Illinois tribe on the eastern side of Iowa. The Illinois people welcomed them and offered peace. Other French, British, and American trappers, traders, explorers, and missionaries later provided more information about Native Americans in Iowa.
The Sauk and Meskwaki were the largest and most powerful tribes in the Upper Mississippi Valley. They had moved from the Michigan area to Wisconsin, and by the 1730s, they were in western Illinois. There, they built villages along the Rock and Mississippi Rivers. They lived in their main villages for only a few months each year. The rest of the time, they traveled through western Illinois and eastern Iowa. They hunted, fished, and gathered food and materials. Each spring, they went north into Minnesota to tap maple trees for syrup.
Fort Madison was built in 1808 to control trade on the Mississippi and keep the British out. In 1813, British-allied Native Americans defeated Fort Madison during the War of 1812. This was Iowa's only real military battle. The Sauk leader Black Hawk first fought against the U.S. at Fort Madison.
In 1829, the U.S. government told the Sauk and Meskwaki tribes to leave their villages in western Illinois. They had to move across the Mississippi River into Iowa. The government said it owned the Illinois land because of Quashquame's Treaty of 1804. The move caused violence. Black Hawk, a respected Sauk leader, protested. In 1832, he returned to reclaim the Illinois village of Saukenuk. For three months, the Illinois militia chased Black Hawk and his group of about 400 Native Americans. They surrendered in Wisconsin, with only about 200 left. This event is known as the Black Hawk War.
As punishment, the government made the Sauk and Meskwaki give up some of their land in eastern Iowa. This land, called the Black Hawk Purchase, was a 50-mile-wide strip along the Mississippi River. The Sauk and Meskwaki gave up more land in 1837 and 1842. By 1845, almost all of them had left Iowa. Other Native American groups also gave up their Iowa land through treaties. Western Iowa was given up by tribes like the Missouri, Omaha, and Oto in 1830. The Ioway gave up their last Iowa lands in 1838. The Winnebago and Potawatomi, who had only recently moved to Iowa, were moved again and left by 1848 and 1846. The last group, the Sioux, gave up their last Iowa land in 1851.
Today, Iowa is still home to one Native American group, the Meskwaki. They live on the Meskwaki Settlement in Tama County. After most Sauk and Meskwaki had been removed, some Meskwaki members returned to hunt and fish in eastern Iowa. They asked Governor James Grimes if they could buy back some of their original land. They collected $735 for their first land purchase and eventually bought about 3,200 acres (13 km²). The Iowa Legislature then worked for ten years to get the Meskwaki tribe an annual payment from the Federal Government.
Iowa's First European-American Settlers
The Black Hawk Purchase opened Iowa lands to settlers for the first time. Official settlement began on June 1, 1833. Before this date, there were likely only 40-50 Americans living in Iowa. Many of these early settlers were trappers and traders, though some came to mine. They often lived near Native American villages.
The very first European-American settlers were French, as the land was first under French control. They came to trade furs, preach, find mines, and explore. Most did not stay long. However, a few received land grants and settled. The first settler seems to have been Julien Dubuque, a French-Canadian man. He arrived at the lead mines near modern-day Dubuque in 1787. He got permission from the Meskwaki to mine the land "as long as he shall please." Other early land grants included land near Montrose to Louis Honore in 1799, and near McGregor to Basil Giard in 1796.
As mentioned, European-American settlement in Iowa was generally small before 1833. Most immigrants who came after 1833 were from other U.S. states. These included Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Many families had moved several times before reaching Iowa. Not all settlers stayed; many moved on to the Dakotas or other areas in the Great Plains.
Settlers soon found an environment different from what they knew back East. Most eastern states had many trees, providing wood for homes, buildings, and fences. Wood also provided fuel. But once past eastern Iowa, settlers found that the state was mostly prairie or tall grass. Trees grew only in the far eastern and southeastern parts, and along rivers.
In most of eastern and central Iowa, settlers found enough timber for log cabins. But they needed other materials for fuel and fencing. For fuel, they used dried prairie hay, corn cobs, and dried animal droppings. In southern Iowa, early settlers found coal along rivers. People moving to northwest Iowa, which also had few trees, built sod houses. Some early sod house residents wrote that "soddies" were cheap to build, warm in winter, and cool in summer. However, they did not mention the bugs, smells, or constant dirt and dampness.
Settlers tried many different fencing materials. Some built stone fences or dirt ridges. Others dug ditches. The most successful fence was the osage orange hedge. This was used until the 1870s, when barbed wire gave farmers a good fencing option.
As settlers came to Iowa, they started communities. Important early towns included Burlington, Dubuque, Davenport, Keokuk, Fort Madison, and Muscatine. By 1836, Iowa had 10,531 people. This fast growth was just the beginning.
Transportation: Railroads Arrive
As thousands of settlers moved into Iowa in the mid-1800s, everyone wanted better transportation. The first settlers shipped their farm goods down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. Steamboats were widely used on the Mississippi and major rivers by the 1850s.
In the 1850s, Iowans became excited about railroads, just like the rest of the nation. By 1860, Chicago had many train lines and was a major transportation center. Iowans wanted to start building railroads in their state too.
In the early 1850s, leaders in river cities like Dubuque, Clinton, Davenport, and Burlington started local railroad companies. They knew that railroads from Chicago would soon reach the Mississippi River across from their cities. By the 1850s, railroad plans were made. This led to the creation of the Illinois Central and the Chicago and North Western Railway, which reached Council Bluffs in 1867. Council Bluffs was chosen as the eastern end for the Union Pacific. This railroad would eventually cross the western U.S. and, with the Central Pacific, form the nation's First Transcontinental Railroad. Soon after, a fifth railroad, the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, also built its line across Iowa. Steamboat traffic continued on the major rivers.
Having five railroads cross Iowa brought big economic changes. Most importantly, Iowans could travel every month of the year. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, even small Iowa towns had six passenger trains a day. Railroads provided year-round transport for Iowa's farmers. With Chicago as a major railroad hub, Iowa's corn, wheat, beef, and pork could be shipped to markets across the U.S. and worldwide.
Railroads also made industry possible. Before 1870, Iowa had some factories in river towns. Most new industries were about processing food or making farm machinery. In Cedar Rapids, John and Robert Stuart, with their cousin George Douglas, started an oats processing plant. This company later became Quaker Oats. Meat packing plants also appeared in the 1870s in different parts of the state. For example, Sinclair Meat Packing opened in Cedar Rapids, and John Morrell & Company started in Ottumwa.
The railroads also needed a lot of coal. Coal mines quickly opened and grew wherever new railroads passed through coal areas. By 1899, Iowa's coal mines employed over 11,000 men. They produced almost 5 million tons of coal each year. In 1919, Iowa had about 240 coal mines. They produced over 8 million tons of coal per year and employed about 15,000 men.
Iowa and the Civil War
Iowa became a state on December 28, 1846. It was the 29th state. Many settlers, both from the U.S. and other countries, continued to move there. Only the far northwestern part of the state was still a frontier.
Iowa supported the Union during the American Civil War. Most Iowans voted for Abraham Lincoln and the Republicans. There was some anti-war feeling, especially among settlers from southern states and Catholics. No battles took place in Iowa. However, Iowa sent large amounts of food to the armies and eastern cities. More than 75,000 Iowa men served in the war, many in fighting units. 13,001 died, mostly from disease. 8,500 Iowa men were wounded. Iowa did not need to use the draft because it had more than enough men volunteer.
Changes in Politics
The Civil War era brought big changes to Iowa, especially in politics. In the 1840s, most Iowans voted Democratic. But in the 1850s, the state's Democratic Party had problems. Iowans soon turned to the new Republican Party. This new party was against slavery and supported land ownership, banking, and railroads.
The political career of James Grimes shows this change. In 1854, Iowans elected Grimes as governor as a Whig. Two years later, they elected him governor as a Republican. Grimes later became a Republican U.S. Senator from Iowa. Republicans took control of state politics in the 1850s and made several changes. They moved the state capital from Iowa City to Des Moines. They also started the University of Iowa and wrote a new state constitution.
From the late 1850s until well into the 1900s, Iowans were mostly Republican. Only once, in 1889, did Democrats elect a governor, Horace Boies. He was reelected in 1891. Democrats gained support from German communities who were against prohibition (banning alcohol). Historically, Democrats were strongest in German areas, especially along the Mississippi River. The German Catholic city of Dubuque remains a Democratic stronghold. Meanwhile, Yankees and Scandinavians were mostly Republican.
Several Republicans from Iowa became leaders in Washington, including Senators William Boyd Allison, Jonathan P. Dolliver, and Albert Baird Cummins.
Women worked to get the right to vote in Iowa. This issue was first seriously considered in 1870. Both houses of the General Assembly passed an amendment for women's suffrage. However, two years later, interest had decreased, and the amendment was defeated. Finally, in 1920, Iowa women gained the right to vote along with the rest of the country.
Iowa: A Home for Immigrants
As Native American lands in Iowa were given up, settlement by the United States moved further west. By 1838, Iowa had 22,859 people, and 42,112 by 1840. A notable event happened on April 30, 1843. Much of central Iowa had been given up by Native Americans in the "New Purchase" of 1842. As the date for settlement approached, settlers gathered at the border. At midnight on April 30, 1843, a cannon fired. Settlers rushed into the new lands, and many areas were settled by sunrise. Most of these settlers were from Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Missouri. The 1840s also saw the arrival of Norwegians in 1840, Swedes in 1845, and Dutch in 1847.
By 1850, Iowa had 192,214 people. Nearly 90% of them were from other parts of America. The largest groups of foreign immigrants were Germans (over 7,000), followed by the Irish (4,885), English (3,785), and Canadians (1,756). Settlement patterns were mostly in the southern and eastern parts of the state, often near rivers. Many things affected immigration, such as railroads reaching the Mississippi, advertising of Iowa lands, good guides and articles, and problems like drought or disease in other states. Immigrants also came due to religious and political problems or economic issues in their home countries.
While some states were against immigrants, Iowa welcomed them. It resisted the Know-Nothing Party, which was anti-immigrant.
In the 1850s, groups called Utopians came to Iowa. They started communities like Icaria, Amana, and New Buda, where property was shared. Icaria was a French colony near Corning, Iowa, started in 1858. Its goal was to live as a purely socialist community. Amana was a religious colony formed by German pietists in 1855. It practiced communism until 1932, then became a center for manufacturing, especially household appliances. New Buda was a planned colony by Hungarian revolutionaries in 1850, but it was never built.
Immigration to Iowa continued to grow throughout the rest of the 1800s, reaching its highest point in 1890. In 1860, 106,081 of Iowa's 674,913 people were foreign-born. Most were German or Irish, but many also came from the rest of the United Kingdom, Norway, and Sweden. African-Americans also began moving to Iowa in larger numbers in the 1860s, going from 1,069 people in 1860 to 5,762 in 1870.
By the 1870s, Iowa had 204,692 foreign-born immigrants. This number grew to 324,069 by 1890. States were competing more to attract immigrants. Iowa created the State Board of Immigration in 1870. It printed promotional materials, like a booklet called Iowa: The Home of Immigrants. This booklet described Iowa's physical features, society, education, and politics. The legislature had it published in English, German, Dutch, Swedish, and Danish.
Foreign immigration slowed down by the early 1900s for many groups. However, some groups were just starting to arrive. Southern and Eastern European immigrants, especially from Italy and Croatia, began coming in the late 1800s and early 1900s to work in Iowa's coal mines. The early 1900s also saw the start of significant immigration from Mexico. In the mid-1970s, refugees from the Vietnam War, like the Tai Dam, Vietnamese, and Lao, came from Southeast Asia looking for a peaceful place to live.
More About Immigrant Groups
Dutch Immigrants
The Dutch came to Iowa in 1847, led by Reverend Hendrik Pieter Scholte. They had several reasons for moving. Many disliked the new leadership in the Netherlands. Economic conditions were bad, made worse by a potato crop failure. They also wanted religious freedom, as they had been treated poorly for their beliefs. This desire for religious freedom likely led them to name their first Iowa colony Pella, a biblical place of refuge. Letters from early Dutch immigrants were published in the Netherlands, encouraging more people to come. More Dutch immigrants continued to arrive in Pella, and later, a new colony was founded at Orange City.
Scandinavian immigration to Iowa mostly included Norwegians and Swedes, with a smaller number of Danes. Norwegians generally settled in the northern parts of the state, Danes in the south, and Swedes in between. Significant Scandinavian immigration to Iowa began in the 1850s and grew until the 1890s. By 1890, there were 72,873 Scandinavians in Iowa. Their reasons for immigrating included economic problems in their home countries (bad crops, low wages, unemployment), unhappiness with church and state, letters from earlier immigrants, and promotional materials from states.
Swedish settlement in Iowa started with New Sweden in 1845 and Burlington in 1846. This was followed by settlement in central Iowa in the 1860s. The first colony, New Sweden, was led by Pehr Cassel.
Norwegian immigration to Iowa began in 1840 at Sugar Creek in southeastern Iowa. It continued with immigration to northern Iowa in the late 1840s. From the late 1850s through the 1880s, Norwegians moved to the western parts of the state. By the early 1890s, Norwegian immigration to Iowa had decreased.
Latino Immigrants
The first Latino group to come to Iowa were Mexicans. Small numbers can be found in the 1850 census. However, large-scale Mexican immigration did not begin until the early 1900s. In 1900, there were 29 Mexicans in Iowa. This grew to 509 in 1910 and 2,560 in 1920. Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and others from Central and South America followed, but most of Iowa's Latino population was and still is Mexican.
The big increase in Mexican immigration in the early 1900s was mostly due to economic reasons. Sugar use was rising across the country. New technology in the sugar beet industry allowed Midwestern farms to grow to meet this demand. As farms expanded, they needed more workers. Growing sugar beets required a lot of hard manual labor. Also, immigration rules for Europeans at the time limited their availability to work in the U.S. Mexican workers were also wanted because they worked hard and accepted lower wages. So, the American Beet Sugar Company recruited Mexicans from Mexico and the southwestern states to work in north-central Iowa, especially around Mason City. For similar reasons, Mexicans were also recruited to work on Iowa's railroads. Many Mexicans recruited for railroads formed communities in Fort Madison, Council Bluffs, Des Moines, and Davenport. Also, a major revolution in Mexico in 1910 caused more Mexicans to leave their country and come to Iowa.
Mexican immigration dropped during the Great Depression as the economy weakened. It stayed relatively low even into the late 1900s. The late 1980s and later periods have seen a return of Mexican immigration. This is because of the increased demand for workers in the food processing industry.
African-American Immigrants
African-Americans began moving to Iowa in larger numbers in the 1860s after gaining freedom. Some of the earliest immigrants may have been brought as slaves by settlers from southern states after the Black Hawk Purchase. This happened even though slavery never officially existed in Iowa. However, the lack of legal slavery did not mean there was no discrimination. An 1838 law prevented African-American settlement in Iowa unless they could show a "fair certificate" of "actual freedom" and pay a $500 bond. While this slowed immigration, some African-Americans still came in the 1840s. Most worked in the mines of Dubuque or in river towns. They often came to be free from slavery. A similar law was passed in 1851 but was rarely enforced and later ruled unconstitutional in 1863.
After the Civil War, African-Americans first settled in farming communities near the southern border. They also settled in river towns along the Mississippi and, to a lesser extent, the Missouri. Polk County was also a destination. Those along the river often worked on boats. Many also worked on railroads and in the lead mines of Dubuque.
Over time, African-Americans moved from farming communities to cities. They also moved from river towns to the coal mines of southern Iowa. This move to cities started around 1870, and the move to coal mining started in 1880. The coal mining shift began when African-Americans were brought from southern states to southern Iowa coal mines as strikebreakers. They then stayed employed there. This immigration was increased by poor economic conditions in the southern states. These conditions were caused by discrimination, crop failures from floods and pests, and unfair economic setups like sharecropping after the Civil War. The significant African-American immigration to the southern Iowa coal fields led to mostly African-American settlements like Buxton.
World War I brought more African-American immigrants to Iowa. Fort Des Moines was chosen as "the only camp in the United States for the training of [African American] officers." Camp Dodge near Des Moines also trained many. Many came to serve their country, and some stayed, bringing family and friends from the southern states. This pattern was repeated in World War II, as Fort Des Moines again trained many African-Americans.
Iowa from 1917 to 1945
In 1917, the United States entered World War I. Farmers and all Iowans experienced a wartime economy. For farmers, the change was big. Since the war began in 1914, Iowa farmers had been doing well financially. They were encouraged to be patriotic by growing more food. Farmers bought more land and raised more corn, beef, and pork for the war effort. It seemed like everyone would benefit as farmers expanded their operations, made more money, and helped the Allied war effort.
After the war, however, Iowa farmers soon saw government help for farms removed. Starting in 1920, many farmers had trouble paying back debts they had taken on during the war. The 1920s were a difficult time for Iowa's farm families. For many, these difficulties continued into the 1930s.
As economic problems got worse, Iowa farmers looked for local solutions. Faced with very low farm prices, some farmers in western Iowa formed the Farmers' Holiday Association. This group, strongest around Sioux City, tried to keep farm products from being sold in markets. They believed this would force farm prices up. The Farm Holiday Association had only limited success because many farmers did not cooperate, and keeping products from market did little to raise prices. Farmers found little relief until 1933. That's when the federal government, as part of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, created a federal farm aid program.
In 1933, Iowa native Henry A. Wallace went to Washington as Secretary of Agriculture. He was a main designer of the new farm program. Wallace, who used to edit Wallace's Farmer, a leading farm magazine, believed that farming would only become prosperous again if agricultural production was reduced. He also believed that farmers should be paid for not using some of their land for crops. These two ideas were part of the Agricultural Adjustment Act passed in 1933. Iowa farmers saw some recovery from this law. But like all Iowans, they did not fully recover until the 1940s. Iowa's only Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Norman Borlaug, began his plant research with funding and research through Iowa State University. His work helped create the important agricultural company Pioneer Hi-Bred.
Iowa Since 1945
Since World War II, Iowans have continued to experience big economic, political, and social changes. In politics, Iowans saw a major change in the 1960s when liquor by the drink became legal. In the 1800s and early 1900s, Iowans had strongly supported prohibition (banning alcohol). But in 1933, when national prohibition ended, Iowans created a state liquor commission. This group controlled and regulated Iowa's liquor sales. From 1933 until the early 1960s, Iowans could only buy packaged liquor. In the 1970s, the General Assembly (state legislature) was reorganized. This happened after a long fight for a fair way to divide legislative districts. Another big political change was in voting. By the mid-1950s, Iowa had developed a fairly competitive two-party system. This ended almost 100 years of Republican control in the state.
In the economy, Iowa has also changed a lot. Starting with the first farm-related industries in the 1870s, Iowa has seen a gradual increase in businesses and factories. The time since World War II has seen a particular increase in manufacturing. While farming is still a very important industry, Iowans also make many other products. These include refrigerators, washing machines, fountain pens, farm implements, and food products that are shipped worldwide.
See also
In Spanish: Historia de Iowa para niños
