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Nebraska's Homestead National Monument and Iowa's Effigy Mounds National Monument will be featured in a new series of commemorative quarters.
Starting in April, the U.S. Mint's America the Beautiful quarters program will produce coins with a tails side design showcasing a national park or other federally preserved area from each state, territory and the District of Columbia.
The Nebraska quarter is scheduled to be released in 2015 and the Iowa coin in 2017. The 56-quarter rollout will take 11 years.
“Every citizen in the nation will at one time have a quarter in their hand that says ‘Homestead National Monument of America,' and we're excited about the interest it will create in the monument and the story we tell here,'' Superintendent Mark Engler said Thursday. “We're honored to represent the state. It's a tribute to all Nebraskans.''
Homestead is near Beatrice in southeast Nebraska.
It tells the story of the Homestead Act of 1862, which transferred more than 270 million acres of federal land to private ownership. Settlers claimed 104,260 homesteads in Nebraska, covering 45 percent of the state.
Effigy Mounds preserves three prehistoric Indian sites in northeast Iowa.
The coins will be issued in the order in which the featured location was placed under the care of the federal government. The first quarters will feature Hot Springs, Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Grand Canyon National Parks.
The U.S. Mint will announce procedures for selecting a design for each coin later.
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