Iowa History

THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION WILL ONLY BE OF INTEREST TO YOU IF

YOU CAME FROM IOWA , KNEW SOMEONE FROM IOWA , LIVED IN
IOWA FOR A SPELL, MARRIED SOMEONE FROM IOWA (IF SO, IT MAY
BE BEST TO KEEP THESE FACTS TO YOURSELF UNTIL SUCH TIME
AS YOUR SPOUSE BRINGS UP SOME OTHER OBSCURE FACT), HAD
OTHER RELATIVES (NO MATTER HOW DISTANT) FROM IOWA , WENT
TO SCHOOL IN IOWA , DROVE THROUGH IOWA ; OR, SHOULD YOU BE
ONE OF THOSE VERY RARE PEOPLE WHO HAS A DEEP SENSE OF
PURSUIT OF IOWA FACTS - A RARE PERSON, INDEED.

IOWA TRIVIA---KNOWLEDGE WE CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT!

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Ripley's Believe It or Not has dubbed Burlington’s Snake Alley the
most crooked street in the world.

Strawberry Point is the home of the world's largest strawberry.

The first chiropractic adjustment was given in Davenport in 1895 by D.D.

Palmer to a deaf janitor to restore his hearing. The adjustment worked and
D.D. went on to start the first chiropractic college in the world, the Palmer
College of Chiropractic. There are now more than 25 chiropractic colleges in
the world, more than 60,000 chiropractors, and chiropractic is the 3rd
largest health profession in the world.

D.D. Palmer's son B.J. Palmer started the first radio station west of the
Mississippi River at the Palmer College of Chiropractic - WOC. B.J. later
purchased WHO in Des Moines and the two stations broadcast together as
WOC-WHO. The station broadcasted out of B.J.'s home on Brady St. in
Davenport and this is the station that gave future president Ronald Reagan
his first job in the entertainment business. He worked at the station as a
sports broadcaster and during his inauguration speech President Reagan
thanked B.J. Palmer for giving him his first job.

The state's smallest city park is situated in the middle of the road in
Hiteman.

Scranton is home to Iowa’s oldest water tower still in service. Built in 1897
and holds 40,000 gallons.
Dubuque is the state's oldest city.

Crystal Lake is home to a statue of the world's largest bullhead fish.

Rathbun Lake Dam and Reservoir is the largest body of water in the state. It
covers 1000 acres

Spirit Lake is the largest glacier-made lake in the state.

West Okoboji is the deepest natural lake in the state. Its depth is 136'.

Imes Bridge is the oldest of Madison County’s six bridges.

Iowa’s longest and highest bridge crosses Lake Red Rock.

Elk Horn is the largest Danish settlement in the United States.

At 16 miles, East Okoboji is the longest natural lake in the state.

Kalona is the largest Amish community west of the Mississippi River.

The state's lowest elevation point (at 480 feet) is in Lee County.

The Holliwell Bridge is the longest bridge in Madison County.

Francis Drake was 66 years old at his inauguration and is Iowa's oldest
governor.

Iowa 's oldest continually running theater is in Story City .

The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art houses the largest collection of Grant Wood
artwork.

Fenelon Place Elevator in Dubuque is the world's steepest and shortest

railway.

Wright County has the highest percentage of grade-A, topsoil in the nation.

Quaker Oats, in Cedar Rapids, is the largest cereal company in the world.

The Saint Francis Xavier Basilica in Dyersville is the only basilica in the
United States situated outside a major metropolitan area.

Clarion is the only county seat in the exact center of the county.
Dubuque is home to the only county courthouse with a gold dome.

Cornell College is the only school in the nation to have its entire campus
listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Sergeant Floyd Monument in Sioux City honors the only man to die
during the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Maynard Reece, born in Arnolds Park, is the only artist to win the Federal
Duck Stamp competition five times.

A bronze life-sized sculpture of a Norwegian immigrant family (circa 1860) is

located on a six acre restored prairie site located at the East entry to Lake
Mills on Highway 105.

Iowa 's only operating antique carousel is located in the city of Story City .

Knoxville 's National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum is the only
museum in the country dedicated to preserving the history of sprint car
racing.

Iowa's only fire tower is situated in Yellow River State Forest.

Sabula is Iowa 's only town on an island.

Herbert Hoover, a West Branch native, was the 31st president of the United
States and the first one born west of the Mississippi.

Mamie Doud Eisenhower's birthplace is located in Boone and includes a

restored frame house, complete with summer kitchen and original furniture
from the family.

Van Meter is the hometown of baseball's Bob Feller, an Iowa farm boy who
went on to greatness with the Cleveland Indians during the Golden Age of
baseball.

Born Donnabelle Mullenger in Denison, Oscar Award-winning actress, Donna

Reed, started her career at the young age of 16.

Born Marion Robert Morrison in Winterset, John Wayne was the son of a
pharmacist and grew up to become one of Hollywood 's most popular movie
stars. The famous actor was born on May 26, 1907.
Meredith Wilson, who played with the famous John Philip Sousa and the New
York Philharmonic before launching his career as a famous composer and
lyricist, is a Mason City native, in addition he wrote THE MUSIC MAN.

The Meredith Wilson Museum is located in Mason City.

Jay Berwanger, the first winner of the Heisman Trophy, was born in
Dubuque in 1914. In 1935 He was a halfback for the Univ. of Chicago (a Big
Ten team at that time.)

Glenn Miller, noted trombonist and orchestra leader, was born in Clarinda
located in Southwest Iowa .

The town of Fort Atkinson was the site of the only fort ever built by the U.S
government to protect one Indian tribe from another.

Campers and motor homes are manufactured in Winnebago County They're

called Winnebago's.

Iowa is the only state whose east and west borders are 100% formed by
water. Missouri (& Big Sioux) and Mississippi rivers.

The highest double track railroad bridge in the world, the Kate Shelley
Bridge , is located at Boone.

Iowa is the only state name that starts with two vowels.

Iowa State University is the oldest land grant college in the U.S.A.

Decorah hosts Nordic Fest a three-day celebration of Decorah's

Scandinavian heritage.

The National Balloon Museum in Indianola chronicles more than 200 years of
ballooning history.

Sheldon High School Summer Theatre, the only high school repertory in
Iowa and one of just a few in the nation presents a different play for each
week in June and July.

Clarion, the county seat of Wright County, is the only town that can claim
John Phillips as their local hero.

Wright county is the county with the most artesian wells.

Eagle Grove has an artesian well that has run nonstop for over 100 years
and is still flowing. Folks from all over go there and fill jugs with its pure
water.

Iowa means: "Beautiful Land."

Now, see how much smarter you are? Didn't you wonder how you ever got
along without this info? Whew