The State of Iowa Turns 177-Years-Old This Week

The state over three million people call home just hit another big milestone. It's fitting that in the midst of those strange, listless, and odd days of the year (between Christmas and New Year's Eve), the Hawkeye State celebrates its birthday.

Iowa was officially granted statehood on December 28th, 1846, which also means that Iowa has just turned 177-years-old! The date is significant because it's when Iowa joined the Union and when President James K. Polk signed the bill that granted Iowa statehood.

Per Local 5 News, the State Historical Building in Des Moines, IA has been doing guided tours all week in hopes of getting people to better understand how Iowa fits into the fabric of American history.

The Iowa legislation website actually has a copy of the document that got Iowa its statehood. The document is called "Admission of Iowa Into the Union," and outlines how/why Iowa and Florida should be a part of the union.

Here is an excerpt of the preamble of the seven-page document:

WHEREAS, the people of the Territory of Iowa did, on the seventh day of October, eighteen hundred and forty-four, by a convention of delegates called and assembled for that purpose, form for themselves a constitution and State government; and whereas, the people of the Territory of Florida did, in like manner, by their delegates, on the eleventh day of January, eighteen hundred and thirty-nine, form for themselves a constitution and State government, both of which said constitutions are republican; and said conventions having asked the admission of their respective Territories into the Union as States, on equal footing with the original States;

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the States of Iowa and Florida be, and the same are hereby, declared to be States of the United States of America, and are hereby admitted into the Union on equal footing with the original States, in all respects whatsoever. - per Legis.Iowa.gov

Iowa was a part of the US following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, but control over what we now know as the Hawkeye State occurred only after the War of 1812. Following its statehood in 1846, almost the entire state was settled and farmed by Euro-Americans by 1860. Iowa also had a significant number of soldiers who fought in the American Civil War.

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You can read more about the history of Iowa on the respective Wikipedia page, and view the document that requested Iowa be granted statehood on Iowa.gov.