Flag of Iowa

What the flag looks like

Three vertical stripes of blue, white and red; on the wider white center, a bald eagle carries a blue streamer reading OUR LIBERTIES WE PRIZE AND OUR RIGHTS WE WILL MAINTAIN, above IOWA in red.

What it means

The colors echo the French tricolor, recalling that Iowa was part of the Louisiana Purchase from France.

How to remember it

Iowa is the French tricolor with a bald eagle and the word IOWA dropped onto the white stripe.

Fun facts

• It was designed by Dixie Cornell Gebhardt of the Daughters of the American Revolution during the First World War.
• Iowa troops had no state flag to carry in the war; the design was approved in 1917 and officially adopted in 1921.

Iowa at a glance

Nickname

The Hawkeye State

Statehood

1846

Capital

Des Moines

Region

West North Central

Population

3.2 million

Area

145,746 km²

Flag adopted

1921

Flags often confused with Iowa

• France: France and Iowa both have vertical blue, white and red stripes. France is plain; Iowa has a bald eagle, a streamer and the word IOWA on a wider white stripe.