Iowa State Quarter

Year of issue: 2004

Released on August 30, 2004, this is the 29th coin released in the 50 State Quarters Program and the fourth released in 2004. Iowa, admitted into the Union on December 28 1846, themed the coin Foundation in Education. It highlights a one-room schoolhouse with a teacher and students planting a tree, and the inscriptions Foundation in Education and Grant Wood. Iowa's design is based on Arbor Day, a painting by Grant Wood, who was born near Anamosa, Iowa.

The obverse (heads) design shows the familiar portrait of George Washington used on the quarter since 1932. But the inscriptions previously used on the reverse – "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA", "QUARTER DOLLAR", "LIBERTY", and "IN GOD WE TRUST" – all appear on the obverse in order to accommodate the state designs.