StatesFacts
Menu

All 50 states

Flag of Iowa

The flag of Iowa has three vertical stripes of blue, white and red, with a spreading eagle on the white stripe holding blue streamers with the state motto, and the word IOWA in red below. Dixie Cornell Gebhardt of Knoxville designed it in 1917 for the Iowa Daughters of the American Revolution, and the legislature adopted it on March 29, 1921, when Iowa was almost 75 years old.

Verified October 23, 2026 against the state's law

Flag of Iowa
Flag of Iowa. Image: Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Soldiers without a banner

Iowa went three-quarters of a century without a state flag. The push for one came from the Iowa National Guard. During the border troubles with Mexico in the World War I era, Iowa Guardsmen stationed on the Mexican border noticed that regiments from other states carried their own state flags, and they suggested that Iowa should have one too. The Iowa Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution took up the idea, and in 1917 Dixie Cornell Gebhardt of Knoxville designed a banner.

A hesitant legislature

Adoption took four more years. Many Iowans still felt, a half century after the Civil War, that only the national flag was needed, and patriotic groups had to campaign to reassure them that a state flag was no sign of disloyalty. On March 29, 1921, when Iowa was almost 75 years old, the 39th General Assembly adopted the DAR banner as the state flag. Governor Harding called Gebhardt “Iowa’s Betsy Ross.”

What the flag shows

  • Three vertical stripes. Blue next to the staff, then white, then red. Gebhardt said the blue stands for loyalty, justice and truth, the white for purity and the red for courage. On her original design the white stripe was about as wide as the blue and red together.
  • The eagle. A spreading eagle on the white stripe holds in its beak blue streamers.
  • The motto. The streamers carry the state motto in white letters: “Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain.”
  • IOWA. The state’s name in red letters below the streamers.

The vertical tricolor is often said to recall the flag of France, from which the United States bought the Louisiana Territory, including Iowa, in 1803.

Flag laws

Iowa’s flag rules are in chapter 1B of the Iowa Code. The state flag must fly below the US flag when the two are displayed together, and the custodian of every public building must raise both flags on each secular day when the weather allows. A separate law asks the governor to proclaim March 29 each year as Iowa State Flag Day.

Gebhardt’s original design and her portrait are in the collection of the State Historical Museum of Iowa.

Questions about the Iowa state flag

Who designed the Iowa flag?
Dixie Cornell Gebhardt of Knoxville, for the Iowa Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, in 1917.
What do the colors of the Iowa flag mean?
Gebhardt said the blue stands for loyalty, justice and truth, the white for purity and the red for courage.
Why does the Iowa flag look like the French flag?
Its blue, white and red vertical stripes are often said to recall the French flag, because Iowa was part of the Louisiana Purchase, bought from France in 1803. The law itself does not explain the choice.
Is there an Iowa State Flag Day?
Yes. State law asks the governor to proclaim March 29, the date the flag was adopted in 1921, as Iowa State Flag Day each year.

Sources