Iowa Transportation Firsts
The following is just a sample of some of the "firsts" in Iowa transportation history. For more detailed information, view the online version of the booklet, "Discovering Historic Iowa Transportation Milestones".
| Date
|
Transportation First
|
| 1819
|
First steamboat to pass along an Iowa border (traveled on the Missouri River)
|
| 1823
|
The Virginia became the first steamboat to navigate the upper Mississippi River from St. Louis, Mo. to St. Paul, Minn. It did so twice that year. This was the first steamboat to pass along Iowa’s eastern border.
|
| 1838
|
First "official" road in Iowa territory (route from Keokuk to Iowa City).
|
| 1838
|
First regular stagecoach line (operated from Burlington, Iowa to St. Francisville.
|
| 1856
|
First "manned" balloon flight (Burlington).
|
| 1856
|
First railroad bridge over Mississippi River was completed near Rock Island, Ill.
|
| 1867
|
First railroad to traverse the state was completed (Union Pacific).
|
| 1888
|
First electric street car put into service (located in Des Moines, second electric railway in United States).
|
| 1899
|
First automobiles displayed in Iowa (at a fair in Linn County).
|
| 1904
|
First required the registration of motor vehicles.
|
| 1905
|
First person killed in an automobile accident.
|
| 1911
|
First regular passenger bus line (operated between Charles City and Waverly).
|
| 1917
|
First federal aid for highways received.
|
| 1917
|
First concrete pavement
|
| 1919
|
First official road map published.
|
| 1920
|
First commercial air freight flight to Iowa.
|
| 1920
|
First regular consignment of U.S. airmail reached Iowa.
|
| 1925
|
First state motor vehicle fuel tax.
|
| 1928
|
First scheduled airline in Iowa (Midwest Airways Corp.).
|
| 1928
|
First asphalt paved roadway.
|
| 1929
|
First Iowa woman to earn a pilot’s license (Ila Fox of Callender).
|
| 1930
|
Iowa woman becomes the first airline stewardess in the country (Cresco native Ellen Church).
|
| 1931
|
Locks and Dam 15 is located at Mississippi River mile 483 on the northwest tip of Arsenal Island in Rock Island, Ill. This is the first structure built as part of the 9-foot navigation channel. The locks were built first, with construction starting in April 1931 and ending in December 1932. Work on the dam began in March 1932 and was completed in May 1934.
|
| 1935
|
Lincoln Highway became first paved transcontinental highway.
|
| 1949
|
Iowa Road Use Tax Fund established.
|
| 1953
|
Salt first used experimentally on roadways for ice removal.
|
| 1958
|
First Iowa segment of interstate opened (I-35/80 on southwest edge of Des Moines).
|
| 1971
|
Iowa’s original AMTRAK system put into operation.
|
| 1986
|
Seatbelt law enacted.
|
| 2013
|
The Iowa Department of Transportation celebrates 100 years in transportation at its headquarters in Ames.
|