Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the vast farmlands of the Midwestern United States, and its nickname is “The Hawkeye State.” It is well known for its fertile land and quiet rural scenery, and is also a region that has cherished learning and growth in people’s lives.

The reverse of the coin depicts a small schoolhouse, and a scene of a teacher and students planting a tree together. This image was created based on the work ‘Arbor Day’ by Grant Wood, a painter from Iowa. The coin is also engraved with the inscriptions “Foundation in Education” and “Grant Wood.”

This scene holds a warm meaning. Planting a tree is care not for the fruit of this very moment but for a future that will grow long afterward. Learning is the same: teaching children is like planting a society’s tomorrow. The image placing a school and tree-planting side by side shows Iowa’s belief that “education is precisely our firm foundation.”

Iowa became the 29th state of the United States on December 28, 1846. And so in the 50 States quarter series it was issued 29th, in 2004. In that a painting by an artist from its own region was placed on the coin, it is a design in which local pride is felt especially strongly.

When you engrave a school and children planting a tree on a single small quarter, you think again about how precious the value of quiet everyday life is, rather than a splendid event. A single image on the coin makes us reflect anew on the meaning of learning.