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The Story Behind Your State’s Quarter

The Story Behind Your State’s Quarter

The United States Mint, one of the nation’s oldest agencies, began a 10-year initiative starting in 1999 to honor each U.S. state by pressing a quarter that acknowledged a state’s singular identity. Twenty years after the Mint began this undertaking, 24/7 Tempo is taking a look at each state’s unique character depicted on the coin. We compiled our list from information and data supplied by the website of the United States Mint.

The coins were minted in the order in which they ratified the Constitution or were admitted to the Union. The inaugural class consisted of quarters from the first five states — Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut. Many of the nation’s oldest towns can be found in these states. Here is the oldest town in every state.

Quarters from five states were pressed over the next nine years ending in 2008. Each coin offers insight into how the state came to be. Here is how each state got its name.

Each state-themed quarter was produced for about 10 weeks and will not be pressed again. State designs are displayed on the reverse, or tails, side of the quarters. The obverse, or heads, side of the coin, shows the image of George Washington. To accommodate state designs on the reverse side of the quarter, the Mint moved the words “United States of America,” “Quarter Dollar,” “Liberty,” and “In God We Trust” to the obverse side of the coin.

Source: CaptureLight / Getty Images

Alabama
> Joined United States: Dec. 14, 1819 (22nd state to join)
> Capital: Montgomery
> Population: 4,887,871
> Year quarter produced: 2003

The state’s quarter highlights an image of Helen Keller, who was born in Alabama and was the first blind/deaf person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. Her name appears in both English and in Braille. Also included is an Alabama longleaf pine branch with magnolias on the side of the design. The phrase the “Spirit of Courage” underlines the image.

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Source: sassy1902 / Getty Images

Alaska
> Joined United States: Jan. 3, 1959 (49th state to join)
> Capital: Juneau
> Population: 737,438
> Year quarter produced: 2008

Alaska’s quarter features a grizzly bear emerging from a stream with a salmon in its jaw.

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Source: CaptureLight / Getty Images

Arizona
> Joined United States: Feb. 14, 1912 (48th state to join)
> Capital: Phoenix
> Population: 7,171,646
> Year quarter produced: 2008

The reverse side of Arizona’s quarter is an image of the Grand Canyon with a Saguaro cactus in the foreground. The state slogan, “Grand Canyon State,” divides the images.

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Source: CaptureLight / Getty Images

Arkansas
> Joined United States: June 15, 1836 (25th state to join)
> Capital: Little Rock
> Population: 3,013,825
> Year quarter produced: 2003

Arkansas’ quarter has an image of rice stalks, a diamond, and a mallard in flight.

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Source: Arsgera / Getty Images

California
> Joined United States: Sept. 9, 1850 (31st state to join)
> Capital: Sacramento
> Population: 39,557,045
> Year quarter produced: 2005

The image of naturalist and conservationist John Muir is shown in Yosemite Valley, which he helped make a national park. Also on the quarter is a soaring condor.

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Source: LPETTET / Getty Images

Colorado
> Joined United States: Aug. 1, 1876 (38th state to join)
> Capital: Denver
> Population: 5,695,564
> Year quarter produced: 2006

The Colorado quarter features the Rocky Mountains and evergreen trees as well as the phrase “Colorful Colorado.”

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Source: calvste / Getty Images

Connecticut
> Joined United States: Jan. 9, 1788 (5th state to join)
> Capital: Hartford
> Population: 3,572,665
> Year quarter produced: 1999

An image of the Charter Oak Tree is on the coin. The tree is important in Connecticut history because colonists in the 17th century hid the charter — it granted them autonomy — from England’s King James II and the royal governor, who had disapproved of it, in an oak tree.

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Source: Lanier / Getty Images

Delaware
> Joined United States: Dec. 7, 1787 (1st state to join)
> Capital: Dover
> Population: 967,171
> Year quarter produced: 1999

The quarter commemorates Caesar Rodney’s historic 80-mile horseback ride in 1776 to Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, where he cast the decisive vote for Delaware, which voted for independence from Great Britain.

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Source: Lanier / Getty Images

Florida
> Joined United States: March 3, 1845 (27th state to join)
> Capital: Tallahassee
> Population: 21,299,325
> Year quarter produced: 2004

The coin’s images include a 16th-century Spanish galleon, a space shuttle, and a stand of Sabal palm trees, all shown over the phrase “Gateway to Discovery.”

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Source: CaptureLight / Getty Images

Georgia
> Joined United States: Jan. 2, 1788 (4th state to join)
> Capital: Atlanta
> Population: 10,519,475
> Year quarter produced: 1999

The Georgia quarter features the peach — it is called the Peach State — a silhouette of the state, oak sprigs, and the state motto, “Wisdom, Justice, Moderation.”

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Source: CaptureLight / Getty Images

Hawaii
> Joined United States: Aug. 21, 1959 (50th state to join)
> Capital: Honolulu
> Population: 1,420,491
> Year quarter produced: 2008

Hawaiian monarch King Kamehameha I, founder and first ruler of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1810, is featured on the coin, and is shown extending his hand toward the eight Hawaiian Islands.

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Source: CaptureLight / Getty Images

Idaho
> Joined United States: July 3, 1890 (43rd state to join)
> Capital: Boise
> Population: 1,754,208
> Year quarter produced: 2007

An image of a Peregrine falcon graces the coin, as well as an outline of the state and its motto, “Esto Perpetua” (“May it be Forever).”

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Source: Lanier / Getty Images

Illinois
> Joined United States: Dec. 3, 1818 (21st state to join)
> Capital: Springfield
> Population: 12,741,080
> Year quarter produced: 2003

The reverse side of the coin highlights an image of a young Abraham Lincoln (Illinois’ slogan is “Land of Lincoln”) within an outline of the state, a farm scene, and the Chicago skyline.

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Source: dndavis / Getty Images

Indiana
> Joined United States: Dec. 11, 1816 (19th state to join)
> Capital: Indianapolis
> Population: 6,691,878
> Year quarter produced: 2002

On the reverse side of the coin is an image of a racecar superimposed on an outline of the state, a nod to the Indianapolis 500 race with the phrase “Crossroads of America.” Nineteen stars is a reference to the fact that Indiana was the 19th state admitted into the Union.

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Source: CaptureLight / Getty Images

Iowa
> Joined United States: Dec. 28, 1846 (29th state to join)
> Capital: Des Moines
> Population: 3,156,145
> Year quarter produced: 2004

Iowa’s design is based on “Arbor Day” a painting depicting a schoolhouse in Cedar Rapids as it might have looked in the 1890s by noted American artist Grant Wood (also famous for “American Gothic”), who was born near Anamosa, Iowa. Also included is the inscription “Foundation in Education.”

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Source: LPETTET / Getty Images

Kansas
> Joined United States: Jan. 29, 1861 (34th state to join)
> Capital: Topeka
> Population: 2,911,510
> Year quarter produced: 2005

The Kansas coin highlights an image of a buffalo and a sunflower, which is the state flower.

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Source: ScottNodine / Getty Images

Kentucky
> Joined United States: June 1, 1792 (15th state to join)
> Capital: Frankfort
> Population: 4,468,402
> Year quarter produced: 2001

On the reverse of the Kentucky quarter is an 19th-century mansion, Federal Hill, a thoroughbred racehorse — a reference to the state’s horse-racing legacy, and the phrase “My Old Kentucky Home.”

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Source: CaptureLight / Getty Images

Louisiana
> Joined United States: April 30, 1812 (18th state to join)
> Capital: Baton Rouge
> Population: 4,659,978
> Year quarter produced: 2002

The coin features an image of the state bird, the pelican, a trumpet with musical notes that recognizes the musical genre jazz; and the outline of the Louisiana Purchase territory, bought from France in 1803.

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Source: LPETTET / Getty Images

Maine
> Joined United States: March 15, 1820 (23rd state to join)
> Capital: Augusta
> Population: 1,338,404
> Year quarter produced: 2003

The coin incorporates an image of the Pemaquid Point Light — the present lighthouse was built in 1835 — above a granite coast and a seabound schooner.

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Source: Lanier / Getty Images

Maryland
> Joined United States: April 28, 1788 (7th state to join)
> Capital: Annapolis
> Population: 6,042,718
> Year quarter produced: 2000

The coin highlights the Maryland Statehouse, which is surrounded by white oak leaf clusters. The white oak is the state tree of Maryland. The quarter also includes the state nickname “The Old Line State.”

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Source: CaptureLight / Getty Images

Massachusetts
> Joined United States: Feb. 6, 1788 (6th state to join)
> Capital: Boston
> Population: 6,902,149
> Year quarter produced: 2000

The Massachusetts quarter features an outline of the state and the likeness of the Minuteman of the American Revolution, who fought the British in the first two battles of the American Revolutionary War. The Massachusetts nickname, “The Bay State,” is on the reverse side of the coin.

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Source: calvste / Getty Images

Michigan
> Joined United States: Jan. 26, 1837 (26th state to join)
> Capital: Lansing
> Population: 9,995,915
> Year quarter produced: 2004

The quarter shows an outline of Michigan and the Great Lakes and its nickname, “The Great Lakes State.”

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Source: CaptureLight / Getty Images

Minnesota
> Joined United States: May 11, 1858 (32nd state to join)
> Capital: St. Paul
> Population: 5,611,179
> Year quarter produced: 2005

Water is the theme on the Minnesota coin: a tree-lined lake with people fishing, a loon on the water, and the state nickname, “Land of 10,000 Lakes.”

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Source: LPETTET / Getty Images

Mississippi
> Joined United States: Dec. 10, 1817 (20th state to join)
> Capital: Jackson
> Population: 2,986,530
> Year quarter produced: 2002

The Mississippi quarter features the blossoms and leaves of the state flower, the magnolia. Mississippi is known as “The Magnolia State.”

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Source: LPETTET / Getty Images

Missouri
> Joined United States: Aug. 10, 1821 (24th state to join)
> Capital: Jefferson City
> Population: 6,126,452
> Year quarter produced: 2003

The Missouri quarter highlights the return of explorers Lewis and Clark to St. Louis, with the Gateway Arch in the background and the phrase “Corps of Discovery.”

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Source: Lanier / Getty Images

Montana
> Joined United States: Nov. 8, 1889 (41st state to join)
> Capital: Helena
> Population: 1,062,305
> Year quarter produced: 2007

The Montana “Big Sky Country” coin features the skull of the bison, an animal closely associated with the state.

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Source: CaptureLight / Getty Images

Nebraska
> Joined United States: March 1, 1867 (37th state to join)
> Capital: Lincoln
> Population: 1,929,268
> Year quarter produced: 2006

Nebraska’s frontier heritage is recognized on the quarter with a depiction of an ox-drawn covered wagon carrying pioneers and Chimney Rock, a landmark for travelers, in the background.

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Source: CaptureLight / Getty Images

Nevada
> Joined United States: Oct. 31, 1864 (36th state to join)
> Capital: Carson City
> Population: 3,034,392
> Year quarter produced: 2006

The coin depicts three wild stallions, the snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains, the sun, with the state nickname “The Silver State.”

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Source: Lanier / Getty Images

New Hampshire
> Joined United States: June 21, 1788 (9th state to join)
> Capital: Concord
> Population: 1,356,458
> Year quarter produced: 2000

The coin shows the singular rock formation most associated with New Hampshire, The Old Man of the Mountain (it collapsed in 2003), as well as the state motto, “Live Free or Die.”

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Source: CaptureLight / Getty Images

New Jersey
> Joined United States: Dec. 18, 1787 (3rd state to join)
> Capital: Trenton
> Population: 8,908,520
> Year quarter produced: 1999

The New Jersey quarter shows General George Washington crossing the Delaware River, en route to defeating the Hessians at the Battle of Trenton in 1776, an image from the famous painting by Emanuel Leutze, and the slogan “Crossroads of the Revolution.”

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Source: dndavis / Getty Images

New Mexico
> Joined United States: Jan. 6, 1912 (47th state to join)
> Capital: Santa Fe
> Population: 2,095,428
> Year quarter produced: 2008

The reverse of New Mexico’s quarter features a Zia sun symbol over a topographical outline of the state of New Mexico, whose nickname “Land of Enchantment” is on the coin. The flag of New Mexico consists of a red sun symbol of the Zia Pueblo people.

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Source: Lanier / Getty Images

New York
> Joined United States: July 26, 1788 (11th state to join)
> Capital: Albany
> Population: 19,542,209
> Year quarter produced: 2001

The Empire State’s quarter’s theme is “Gateway to Freedom” and holds an image of the Statue of Liberty, the state’s outline, and 11 stars that indicate New York was the 11th state admitted into the Union.

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Source: calvste / Getty Images

North Carolina
> Joined United States: Nov. 21, 1789 (12th state to join)
> Capital: Raleigh
> Population: 10,383,620
> Year quarter produced: 2001

The North Carolina quarter pays homage to the first human-controlled flight by the Wright Brothers that took place at Kill Devil Hills, N.C., in 1903.

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Source: Lanier / Getty Images

North Dakota
> Joined United States: Nov. 2, 1889 (39th state to join)
> Capital: Bismarck
> Population: 760,077
> Year quarter produced: 2006

The coin representing North Dakota shows grazing bison, rugged buttes and canyons from the Badlands area, and the sun.

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Source: CaptureLight / Getty Images

Ohio
> Joined United States: March 1, 1803 (17th state to join)
> Capital: Columbus
> Population: 11,689,442
> Year quarter produced: 2002

The Ohio coin’s theme is “Birthplace of Aviation Pioneers.” Small wonder since the state produced the Wright Brothers and first moon walker Neil Armstrong who are acknowledged on the state outline on the quarter.

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Source: sassy1902 / Getty Images

Oklahoma
> Joined United States: Nov. 16, 1907 (46th state to join)
> Capital: Oklahoma City
> Population: 3,943,079
> Year quarter produced: 2008

The reverse side of the Oklahoma quarter depicts an image of the Scissortail Flycatcher, the state bird, in flight over soaring over the state wildflower, the Indian Blanket, and wildflowers.

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Source: sassy1902 / Getty Images

Oregon
> Joined United States: Feb. 14, 1859 (33rd state to join)
> Capital: Salem
> Population: 4,190,713
> Year quarter produced: 2005

The natural beauty of Oregon is shown on its quarter, with an image of a section of Crater Lake, a dormant volcano considered one of Oregon’s seven wonders.

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Source: Lanier / Getty Images

Pennsylvania
> Joined United States: Dec. 12, 1787 (2nd state to join)
> Capital: Harrisburg
> Population: 12,807,060
> Year quarter produced: 1999

The Pennsylvania coin features the statue, Commonwealth, and also an outline of the state, its motto, “Virtue, Liberty, Independence,” and a keystone. Pennsylvania is known as “The Keystone State.”

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Source: calvste / Getty Images

Rhode Island
> Joined United States: May 29, 1790 (13th state to join)
> Capital: Providence
> Population: 1,057,315
> Year quarter produced: 2001

“The Ocean State’s” coin features an image of a sailboat gliding through Narragansett Bay, with a depiction of the Pell Bridge in the background.

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Source: CaptureLight / Getty Images

South Carolina
> Joined United States: May 23, 1788 (8th state to join)
> Capital: Columbia
> Population: 5,084,127
> Year quarter produced: 2000

Besides the state outline, three symbols are featured on the South Carolina quarter — the Palmetto tree, the Carolina wren, the Yellow Jessamine — as well as its nickname “The Palmetto State” and a star indicating the state capital, Columbia.

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Source: sherwoodimagery / Getty Images

South Dakota
> Joined United States: Nov. 2, 1889 (40th state to join)
> Capital: Pierre
> Population: 882,235
> Year quarter produced: 2006

The South Dakota quarter features the state bird, the Chinese ring-necked pheasant, flying over Mount Rushmore. Heads of wheat border the image.

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Source: Lanier / Getty Images

Tennessee
> Joined United States: June 1, 1796 (16th state to join)
> Capital: Nashville
> Population: 6,770,010
> Year quarter produced: 2002

With a nod to its country musical legacy, the Tennessee quarter shows the instruments the fiddle, the trumpet, and the guitar and a songbook over the phrase “Musical Heritage.”

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Source: CaptureLight / Getty Images

Texas
> Joined United States: Dec. 29, 1845 (28th state to join)
> Capital: Austin
> Population: 28,701,845
> Year quarter produced: 2004

The quarter of Texas includes the inscription “The Lone Star State,” with a star superimposed on the state outline and a lariat that recognizes the state’s cattle and cowboy history.

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Source: CaptureLight / Getty Images

Utah
> Joined United States: Jan. 4, 1896 (45th state to join)
> Capital: Salt Lake City
> Population: 3,161,105
> Year quarter produced: 2007

The reverse side of the Utah quarter, themed “Crossroads of the West,” salutes the meeting of the two locomotives of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads symbolically connecting the continental United States in 1869 with the golden spike.

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Source: Lanier / Getty Images

Vermont
> Joined United States: March 4, 1791 (14th state to join)
> Capital: Montpelier
> Population: 626,299
> Year quarter produced: 2001

The image on the Vermont quarter highlights Camel’s Hump Mountain and maple trees with sap buckets and includes the phrase “Freedom and Unity.”

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Source: jeffwqc / Getty Images

Virginia
> Joined United States: June 25, 1788 (10th state to join)
> Capital: Richmond
> Population: 8,517,685
> Year quarter produced: 2000

The three ships that brought the first European settlers to Virginia in 1607 — Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery — are depicted on the quarter.

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Source: Lanier / Getty Images

Washington
> Joined United States: Nov. 11, 1889 (42nd state to join)
> Capital: Olympia
> Population: 7,535,591
> Year quarter produced: 2007

A salmon surging out of the stream in front of Mount Rainier is featured on Washington’s quarter, which also includes the state nickname “The Evergreen State.”

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Source: CaptureLight / Getty Images

West Virginia
> Joined United States: June 20, 1863 (35th state to join)
> Capital: Charleston
> Population: 1,805,832
> Year quarter produced: 2005

West Virginia’s coin highlights the beauty of the New River and the New River Gorge Bridge.

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Source: LPETTET / Getty Images

Wisconsin
> Joined United States: May 29, 1848 (30th state to join)
> Capital: Madison
> Population: 5,813,568
> Year quarter produced: 2004

Wisconsin’s quarter, themed “Forward,” pays tribute to the state’s agricultural character with a cow’s head, a round of cheese, and an ear of corn.

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Source: Lanier / Getty Images

Wyoming
> Joined United States: July 10, 1890 (44th state to join)
> Capital: Cheyenne
> Population: 577,737
> Year quarter produced: 2007

Wyoming’s cowboy heritage is depicted on its quarter with an image of a bucking horse and rider as well as its nickname “The Equality State.” Wyoming was the first U.S. state to grant women the right to vote, in 1869.

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