Iowa Trivia & Tidbits - Page 5

Looking for Iowa trivia? Try our list Iowa little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

Built in 1886, St. Anthony of Padua Chapel near Festina in Winneshiek County (pop. 21,310) offers a little piece of heaven to visitors. The chapel measures only 14 feet by 20 feet, seats eight and is among the smallest in America.

first appeared: 6/25/2006

The Lake Red Rock area near Knoxville (pop. 7,731) is home to the state's largest lake and covers its largest expanse of public land. Managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the recreational paradise has more than 50,000 acres of sandy beaches, woodlands, rocky bluffs and wetlands for outdoor enthusiasts.

first appeared: 6/4/2006

The last steam engine built by Datong Locomotive Works in China chugs at the Boone and Scenic Valley Railroad in Boone (pop. 12,803). Railroad enthusiasts bought the steam locomotive and shipped it to Iowa in 1989.

first appeared: 5/21/2006

Harry Lloyd Hopkins (1890-1946), the principal architect of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs in the 1930s, was born in Sioux City. Hopkins also served as a liaison between Roosevelt and Britain's Winston Churchill and the Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin.

first appeared: 5/14/2006

The nation's first female school superintendent was Phoebe W. Sudlow, who served from 1874 to 1878 as superintendent of Davenport Public Schools. In 1878, she became the first female professor at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

first appeared: 4/23/2006

The nation’s largest collection of national bank notes on permanent display is housed in the Higgins Museum in Okoboji (pop. 820). Notes representing 278 Iowa towns showcase the history of national banking from 1863 to 1935.

first appeared: 4/9/2006

No news was bad news for Lost Nation (pop. 497) when the local newspaper folded. So in 1986, an entirely volunteer staff began producing and publishing The Community Scoop, a nonprofit weekly newspaper. The hometown paper published its 1,000th issue last year. Now that’s good news!

first appeared: 3/26/2006

George Gallup, born in 1901 in Jefferson (pop. 4,626), popularized polling after contradicting The Literary Digest, the poll-of-record at the time, and correctly predicting Franklin Roosevelt would defeat Alf Landon in the 1936 presidential election.

first appeared: 3/12/2006

The Keokuk (pop. 11,427) Firefighter Memorial, completed last November, honors firefighters David McNally, Nate Tuck and Jason Bitting, who died in a 1999 duplex fire while trying to rescue three children, who also perished.

first appeared: 2/26/2006

An 1894 winding iron staircase graces the sidewalk in downtown Traer (pop. 1,594). E.E. Taylor, founder of the town’s Star-Clipper newspaper, built the elegant outdoor staircase to conserve indoor space and provide access to his second-story newspaper office. The stairs are a national historic landmark.

first appeared: 2/12/2006

Covering 14,112 acres, Stephens State Forest is the state’s largest and includes land in Appanoose, Clark, Davis, Jasper, Lucas and Monroe counties. Headquartered near Chariton (pop. 4,573), the forest is home to a variety of wildlife, including white-tailed deer and wild turkey.

first appeared: 1/29/2006

Built in 1915, Slayton Farms Round Barn at Iowa Falls (pop. 5,193) is a surviving hollow clay tile dairy barn, a design that was distinctive to the region and coincided with the state’s leadership in clay tile manufacturing. The barn was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

first appeared: 1/15/2006

MISS IOWA 2006—Kay Pauszek speaks out about diabetes awareness. It’s a cause she knows well: Her grandfather died from complications of the disease. The University of Iowa graduate was selected as a delegate to represent Iowa with the American Diabetes Association in Washington, D.C., in 2004.

first appeared: 1/8/2006

"Arbor Day," a 1932 painting by native Grant Wood, was used to design the state quarter in the 50 State Quarters Program. The quarter shows a one-room schoolhouse with a teacher and students planting a tree and the words "Foundation in Education."

first appeared: 1/1/2006

Organized-labor leader John L. Lewis, born in 1880 to Welsh immigrants near Lucas (pop. 243), worked as a teenager in the local coalmines. He served as president of the United Mine Workers of America from 1920 to 1960, and died at his home in Alexandria, Va., in 1969.

first appeared: 12/18/2005

A custom motorcycle from the 1969 movie Easy Rider is parked at the National Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Fame in Anamosa (pop. 5,494) along with 170 other vintage motorcycles.

first appeared: 12/4/2005

Rembrandt, Piccasso and Matisse are among famous artists whose works compose the Mooney Art Collection on display at the Charles City (pop. 7,812) Public Library.

first appeared: 11/20/2005

Organized in 1915, the International Motor Contest Association (IMCA), headquartered in Vinton (pop. 5,102), is the oldest active automobile racing sanctioning body in the United States and has more than 6,500 licensed drivers at 130 racetracks in 24 states.

first appeared: 11/6/2005

The 400-acre Fossil & Prairie Park near Rockford (pop. 907) is believed to be one of only three public fossil-collecting sites in the nation. The park also includes more than 60 acres of virgin prairie.

first appeared: 10/23/2005

Dams, bridges, cabins and picnic shelters at Backbone State Park near Dundee (pop. 179) were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1933 and 1941. The park also is home to the Iowa Civilian Conservation Corps Museum.

first appeared: 10/9/2005

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