In a large sense of history of Iowa spans a long and indefinite period. For thousands of years Indian tribes flitted through the vast stretches of prairies and groves between the Mississippi and the Missouri. These tribes were primitive stone age people with but the rudiments of a material culture and the crude beginnings of a social organization. But continual warfare added zest to their life.

 Nearly three hundred years ago while men began to trickle in. A settler or two acquired rights to settle. A few traders came to buy furs, and travelers came to view the pristine beauty of a primeval wilderness. After the purchase of Louisiana in 1803, planned exploration could be undertaken. The Indian title --so far as there was an Indian title -- was extinguished. The white tide set in -- of farmers, or mechanics, of merchants, of town planners, some with bright visions of cities. Many were mere adventurers and soon drifted on westward.

Most of the early settlers came from the states east of the Mississippi, but a good many of them were migrants from the South and the North. Only a few of the settlers before the Civil War came directly from Europe.

 At the time of the Civil War there were both Union and Confederate sympathizers, but the majority of Iowans vigorously supported the Union and Iowa became a rock-ribbed Republican state. Between the Civil War and World War I only one of the Iowa governors was a Democrat.

 The building of railroads after Civil War proceeded at so rapid a pace that, within a couple of decades after the war, no place was more than a few miles from a railroad station. Many new towns sprang up along the gleaming rails, and numerous smaller factories turned out products for the home market and interstate trade. The farmers bought labor saving machinery. The creamery system proved a boon to Iowa farmers especially after the introduction of the cream separator. Retail and wholesale business took an upswing as did banking and the insurance business.

 The period between the Civil War and World War I may justly be called the Railroad Period, for much of the progress, and the ...

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...very making of Iowa, was due directly or indirectly to the building of the railroads.

It was also during this time that the make-up of the population changed. To the earliest Iowans, mostly of Colonial stock, were added numerous German and Scandinavian immigrants who became permanent residents in town and country and ardent upholders of the American way of life, without sacrificing what was valid in their own social heritage.

Came the horseless carriage just before World War I. Soon paved roads began to cross and criss-cross the State. The tractor ushered in the mechanization of farming. Advances in science and technology made bigger factories possible. Iowa, from being mainly an agricultural state, became a manufacturing and agricultural State.

Social advances kept pace with industrial advances. Today the people of Iowa worship in beautiful churches, many new. The sick and the unfortunate are cared for in public and private institutions. Modern Iowa has as good an educational system as any state in the union. The opportunities for recreation within the limits of the State have multiplied rapidly since the turn of the century.

Truly many it be said that, of much of the good in life, Iowa affords much of the best.

The following history is a revision of The Story of Iowa, a Children's History, published in 1928 and again in 1931. The title has been changed, partly because others have used the same title, which makes for confusion; but moreso because the revision has been so thorough that the result is really a new and different book.

Also, suggestions have been added after each chapter to help student and teacher in using the book. That The Hawkeye State, a History for Home and School, may, in a measure help promote the better study and appreciation of Iowa history is the ardent hope of the author.

T. P. Christensen July 2, 1956 Villa Home-Again 655 So. Governor St. Iowa City, Iowa