Iowa

Iowa
Fourth Iowa Bahá'í Institute, 1959.
Location of Iowa
History: Firsts
-	Local Assembly	1943, Cedar Rapids

Iowa is a state of the United States of America. It is the 26th largest by geographical area and 30th largest by population of the 50 U.S. states.

The Bahá'í Faith was present in Iowa as early as 1913, however serious progress was not made until the 1930's, with the states first Local Spiritual Assembly not being established until 1943. The Association of Religion Data Archives estimated the Bahá'í population of Iowa to be 1,019 as of 2010.

History

There were Bahá’ís resident in Iowa as of 1913, and a financial contribution was made to the Bahá’í Temple construction fund by the Bahá’ís of the state that year. As of 1914 there was a Bahá’í community in Keokuk, Iowa, which sent a delegate to the 1914 Convention at which the Bahá’í Temple Unity was elected, however it was not large enough to form a Local Spiritual Assembly when the Administration of Bahá'í communities was formalized although it was organised as a Bahá’í group throughout the 1920's.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá mentioned Iowa in one of the Tablets of the Divine Plan which was revealed in March 1916 and addressed to the Bahá’ís of the central states of the USA. In the Tablet he noted that the Faith had not yet been firmly established in the state, and called on the Bahá’í's of the central states to undertake teaching work in Iowa. An early effort to travel teach in Iowa was made by Albert Vail in 1919 when he visited the state as part of a teaching tour.

As of 1935 Harry E. Walrath had been appointed as the Regional Teaching Representative for Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa and Kansas by the National Spiritual Assembly of the U.S. & Canada, and there was a Regional Teaching Committee for Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa and Kansas. In 1937 Gertrude Matteson and Mabel Ives taught the Faith in Council Bluffs and Des Moines in Iowa, and found a Bahá’í already resident in Des Moines.

In December 1938 and January 1939 Gayle Woolson spoke on the Faith to a number of organizations in Iowa, speaking at five towns near Cedar Rapids, and also in Des Moines, Mt. Vernon, Marion, Davenport and Iowa City. Ruth Moffett visited Iowa in 1939 and conducted daily meetings on the Faith in Independence, establishing a fifteen member study group before departing for Waterloo, Iowa, where she gave four lectures, spoke on the radio, and established a study group with ten members. Ruth also spoke at Iowa State College in Cedar Falls during her Iowa teaching trip. In November 1939 Gayle Woolson and Marvin Newport spent time teaching in Cedar Rapids, speaking at clubs and schools and establishing contacts. Gayle pioneered to Latin America, but Marvin remained in Cedar Rapids to consolidate. In Winter 1939 Gertrude Struven taught in Moline and also in Davenport where she was assisted by James Heggie, a student at Palmer College. There were six Bahá’ís in Independence Iowa by the close of 1939. In mid-1941 Ruth Moffett returned to Iowa to undertake an intensive teaching campaign, having been directed to teach the Faith in the state by Shoghi Effendi.

As of January 1942 Iowa was considered an unsettled State, as it did not yet have an established Local Spiritual Assembly. Annie Romer pioneered to Iowa for a few months in 1942, concentrating her efforts on teaching the Faith in Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, and Davenport. Mable Ives visited Cedar Rapids to teach in September 1942, and fourteen people declared while she was there. The Local Spiritual Assembly of Cedar Rapids was established in 1943, and was the first Local Assembly of Iowa. By 1944 another two Iowa communities had more than two Bahá’ís, one with six. By 1948 a Local Spiritual Assembly of Waterloo had been established.

At the opening of the Ten Year Crusade in 1953 the internal goal cities within Iowa for the United States Bahá’í community to establish the Faith in were Council Bluffs, Davenport, Des Moines, Dubuque, and Sioux City, all of which already had Bahá’í residents, but no Assembly. In 1954 the American National Teaching Committee added Iowa City as a goal city for the establishment of a Local Spiritual Assembly. By January 1955 regular Bahá'í activities were taking place in Davenport, Iowa City, Manchester, and Waterloo. The Local Spiritual Assembly of Des Moines was established in 1955, and in 1956 the Local Spiritual Assembly of Davenport was established. The first Iowa Teaching Institute was held at Scattergood Quaker Farm School near Iowa City in June 1956.

In 1964 the Local Spiritual Assembly of Cedar Falls was established. In March 1967 the Iowa state government granted Local Spiritual Assemblies the authority to have a representative perform legal marriage ceremonies in the state. In 1970 the Local Spiritual Assembly of Iowa City was established. By 1975 Iowa had nine Local Spiritual Assemblies in Ames, Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs, Davenport, Iowa City, Marshalltown, Waterloo, and Des Moines.

See also

• All articles about Iowa