Unit 6: Industrial and Economic Growth in Iowa

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How To Use This Page

On this page, you will find a curated collection of videos, resources, guides, and opportunities for exploration that are tied specifically to industrial and economic growth in Iowa during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (1870 to 1920). Educators and lifelong learners can use the compelling and supporting questions to guide their learning and focus their exploration on the major topics. The lectures, videos, featured content, and readings can be completed at each learner's own pace and will provide necessary knowledge and background to craft and deliver Iowa History lessons in a K-12 classroom.

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Compelling and Supporting Questions

Compelling and supporting questions are designed for each unit and the materials below will provide content and context for teachers, students, and lifelong learners.

Compelling Question

How did Iowa’s economy and society change between the Civil War and World War I?

Supporting Questions

  1. Who migrated to Iowa and why did they come?
  2. How did geography influence Iowa’s development in the nineteenth century?
  3. How did changes in communication and transportation affect people’s lives?
  4. How did Iowa’s economy change between 1865 and 1920?
  5. How did urbanization change Iowa?
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Overview

Iowa was transformed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by immigration, urbanization, and industrialization. (These forces also greatly influenced the U.S.) Iowa’s population nearly tripled from 1865 to 1920. About 1.5 million people came to the state. The largest immigrant groups were German and Irish. Other migrants came from Norway, Sweden, Italy, Holland and elsewhere. About 100 Chinese lived in Iowa in 1900. Few people came to Iowa from southern states. Nearly ten thousand African Americans lived in Iowa by 1890 and they fled segregation and racial violence in the South. Many White Iowans did not want Black people to live in the state. Racism and segregation were the norm in Iowa but it was far better than southern states. 

Railroads were important for Iowa’s development, even if their transportation monopoly was oppressive. Railroads crossed the state by the late 1860s. By 1880 everyone in the state was within 25 miles of a railroad station. Railroads encouraged immigration, urbanization, and industrialization and tied formerly distant parts of the state to the rest of the country. They brought in goods and allowed the export of farm products. But they dominated transportation and exploited those who were dependent on them. Protest movements, from the Anti-Monopoly Party to the Populists, were popular in farm areas from the 1870s to 1890s.

Iowa’s economy changed during this period. It was still a farm state but coal mining and meatpacking became much more important. Coal mining was the second most important industry after agriculture, mostly occurring in central and southeast Iowa. More than a million tons were mined each year in the late 1800s. Buxton was an integrated coal mining town, where African Americans had the same opportunities as White Iowans. It was a unique place that declined after World War I. Meatpacking has been a major industry since the late 1800s.

Iowa’s cities grew quickly, with Des Moines expanding from 12,000 people in 1870 to 126,000 in 1920. Immigration and industry encouraged their growth. But rapid expansion led to many problems. Working conditions could be awful and child labor was widespread. Trash piled up, horses left behind substantial amounts of manure and urine, and epidemic disease was a constant threat. But the advent of electricity brightened cities, powering everything from streetcars to refrigerators. Telephones made communication much easier. 

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Think Like a Historian

In this video, historian Donna Doan Anderson discusses historical thinking skills like comparison, change over time, and communicating conclusions. 

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Major Topics of Study

When learning about industrial and economic growth in Iowa during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, some of the key areas to cover might include:

  • Homesteading, farming
  • Railroads
  • Immigration: Dutch, Germans, Hungarians, Irish, Norwegians, Czech, Italians, Chinese
    • Orphan trains
    • Religion
  • Automobiles → highways
  • Industry → manufacturing, lumber, mining, meatpacking, coal mining (Buxton), clamming → labor organization/working conditions
  • Urbanization → public health/sanitation
  • New technologies → telephone, electricity, radios
  • Boosterism and town building
  • Getting to Iowa → step migration
    • Need a sponsor
    • Dutch: cost to get to Iowa → immigrant societies
    • Quotas
  • Grasshopper plague
  • The beginning of the Iowa State Fair
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Notable Iowans

Exemplary and significant people in Iowa history from this time period could include many of the below figures. Wherever possible, links to Iowa's digital biography provide opportunities for further exploration.

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Historic Sites

Iowa is full of valuable historic sites. The below sites provide opportunities to explore the value of place-based learning and the importance of storytelling through historic sites.

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State Historical Society Objects, Documents, and Photos

Objects, documents, and photographs from the State Historical Society of Iowa are excellent catalysts for further inquiry in the classroom or for independent lifelong learners. 

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Video Resources

If you are looking for longer, more detailed discussions or lectures related to the themes discussed in this unit, the following resources provide further context and information.

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Further Reading

This curated collection of readings allow teachers, students, and lifelong learners to explored a curated collection of primary sources, articles, books, and essays that supplement and provide depth to the topics covered in this unit.

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