• Iowa means "beautiful land."
• 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.
• Crystal Lake is home to a statue of the world's largest bullhead fish.
• Elk Horn in the largest Danish settlement in the United States
• Kalona is the largest Amish community west of the Mississippi River.
• The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art houses the largest collection of Grant Wood artwork.
• Fenlon 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Jay Berwanger, the first winner of the Heisman Trophy, was born in Dubuque in 1914.
• 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.
• The National Balloon Museum in Indianola chronicles more than 200 years of ballooning history.

Labels: Fun Facts