By: Blake Schweers

A is for Ames Home of the Iowa state cyclones. Ames has a large selection of sports activities and even has a adult league.

The black squirrel is a sub group to the grey squirrel. Grey squirrel mating pairs may produce black offspring.

Crescent ski hills make their own snow and have skiing, snowboarding, and tubing. On their easiest hill it is 1,500 feet down the slope.

 The Dodge house was built in 1869 by Greenville Dodge.  The Dodge house is a 14 room mansion and cost 35,000 dollars.  The Dodge house is located in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

 The Eastern Goldfinch is the Iowa state bird.  The nickname of the Eastern Goldfinch is the wild canary.

 The first railroad came to Fort Atkinson in the year of 1869 and train shipments carried nearly 7,250,000 pounds.  In 1851 Winneshiek county was organized in honor of chief Winneshiek of the Winnebago tribe, the county Fort Atkinson is in.

 Grant wood lived from February 13, 1891 to February 12, 1942 he died the day before his birth day due to liver cancer.  Wood taught at the University of Iowa school of art from 1934 to1941 he mentored students, supervised mural paintings, etc.  His most famed picture was the American Gothic.

 Hebert Hoover is the only president from Iowa.  Herbert Hoover was born on August 10, 1874 in West Branch, Iowa.

 Iowa had several laws to keep blacks out of our state.  One law said no black could enter the state without a certificate of freedom.

 Kearny Est. cantonment Missouri but later renamed it Fort Atkinson.  Kearny was nicknamed “ The Father of the United States Calvary.”

 Each year limestone in e companies in Iowa produce 35 million tons of limestone each year.  Limestone is near the top of the surface of Iowa.  Limestone is used for wells to store water.

 The Missouri river borders Iowa to the west.  The Missouri river flows 2,341 miles and is the largest river in the United States.

New London was established in In the fall of 1833 Abraham Dover came from Illinois and built a cabin on what now is New London.

 The Oak tree became the Iowa state tree in  It is not common to find a woodland in Iowa without a oak tree.

 On July a tornado killed 71 and left most wounded.  Pomeroy is in Calhoun county Iowa when the railroad came through it really helped Pomeroy grow again.

 Quasqueton is the oldest town in its county Buchanan and was the first settled in  Quasquetons’ originally was Quasquetuk named by the Indians it means swift running water.

 RAGBRI is celebrating 40 years of doing RAGBRI  In 1981 RAGBRI had the worst weather in recorded RAGBRI history.

 Iowa's state fair made the first butter cow ever.  Iowa's state fair was started in 1854 is the largest event held in Iowa each year.

 Trapping is one of the methods of hunting and one of the early traps was made by a English man and the trap was the mouse trap.  In the early days of trapping the reason was for fur it still is today and some of the things they trapped were beaver, raccoon, wolverine, mink, ermine, marten, bobcat, lynx, and muskrat.

 People who helped African Americans escape were Josiah Grinnell, James Jordan, Anna and John Cook, and John Williams were just a few of the thousands who helped.  Most people who helped African Americans escape from slavery were driven by a religious belief that slavery was wrong.

 World Herald photographer Earl Bunker took a photo in Villisca of a military family reunion on July 15, 1943 which became one of the most enduring images from world war II.  The Villisca Amory was built in 1912 –13 And was in use until 2000 it was the oldest Amory building in continuous use since it was finished in 1913.

 The Iowa Legislature designated the Wild Rose as the Iowa state flower in  Te Wild Rose was chosen because it was one of the decorations used on the silver service which he State presented to the battleship US Iowa that same year.

 St. Pius X Seminary is located in Dubuque, Iowa.  St. Pius X Seminary was founded in 1839 by Bishop Mathias Loras and is at Loras College.

 Brigham Young, Affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, established a way station halfway into the trek across Iowa named Garden Grove.  There were many important “firsts” in Mormon history by Brigham Young that took place across Iowa, this first portion of the complete exodus is much less know than the second.

 Zearing was founded in 1881 and is located in Story county Iowa  Zearing is named after judge William Zearing of Chicago, IL.