Nat'l Register Historic Places
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Planning Services Department
City Hall
50 West 13th Street
Dubuque, Iowa 52001-4864
(563) 589-4210 office
(563) 589-4221 fax
(563) 690-6678 TDD
P lanning@cityofdubuque.org
04 JUN -? ìD;II~,
- " ,¿.
May 26, 2004
The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
City of Dubuque
City Hall-50 W. 13th Street
Dubuque, IA 52001
RE:
To place the Multiple Property Document entitled "The Architectural and Historic
Resources of Dubuque, Iowa, 1833-1955 on the National Register
Dear Mayor and City Council Members:
The City of Dubuque Historic Preservation Commission has reviewed the above-cited
request. The application, staff report and related material are attached for your review.
Discussion
Historic Preservation Consultant Jim Jacobsen presented the nomination and spoke in favor
the request. There were no public comments.
Staff Member Wally Wernimont reviewed the nomination noting that the document helps
identify properties that are eligible to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
He noted that the document identifies historic contexts that relate to Dubuque's history and
architecture.
The Historic Preservation Commission discussed the request, noting that it meets criteria
for placement on the National Register of Historic Places.
Recommendation
Bya vote of 6 to 0, the Historic Preservation Commission recommends the nomination of
the Multiple Property Document entitled "The Architectural and Historic Resources of
Dubuque, Iowa, 1833-1955, "meets the National Register documentation standards and
sets forth requirements for the listing of related properties consistent with the National
Register criteria.
A simply majority vote is needed for the City Council to concur with the request.
Respectfully submitted,
~yæU2
Christopher Wand, Chairperson
Historic Preservation Commission
Attachments
Smice
People
Integrity
Resporu;ibility
Innovation
Teamwo<k
Property Name
CLG NATIONAL REGISTER REVIEW
Date of Public Meeting MAy (or z.oO~
I
The Architectural and Historic Resources of Dubuque. Iowa
1833-1955
CLG Name Dubuque
1. For Historic Preservation Commission:
M Recommendation of National Re9ister eligibility
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CJ.f.M¡¿MA1J
Date ~!tflo?
. .
Print Name
Title
Reason(s) for recommendation:
2. For Chief Elected Local Official:
D Recommendation of National Register eligibility
D Recommendation of National Register ineligibility
Signature
Date
Print Name
Title
Reason(s) for recommendation:
3. Professional Evaluation
Name
D Recommendation of National Register eligibility
D Recommendation of National Register ineligibility
Signature
Date
Print Name
Title
Reason(s) for recommendation:
RETURN TO: State Historical Society of Iowa, ATTN: National Register Coordinator, 600 E. Locust, Des Moines,
IA 50319
CITY OF DUBUQUE, IOWA
MEMORANDUM
May 11, 2004
FROM:
Historic Preservation Commission ~
Wally Wernimont, Assistant Planner
TO:
SUBJECT: National Register Nomination for the Multiple Property
Document entitled "The Architectural and Historic Resources
of Dubuque, Iowa, 1833-1955"
The State Nominations Review Committee plans to consider the Multiple
Property Document entitled, The Architectural and Historic Resources of
Dubuque, Iowa, 1833-1955 for nomination to the National Register during their
June 11, 2004 meeting. As a participant of the Certified Local Government
Program, the City of Dubuque is required to review and comment on the
proposed National Register nominations within Its jurisdiction. The State has
provided copies of the Multiple Property Document and review form for this
nomination.
The Commission should review this nomination at a public meeting, which is
slated for May 19, 2004. The State Historic Preservation Office is requesting the
Commission review the nomination, and then comment on whether the Multiple
Property Document entitled, The Architectural and Historic Resources of
Dubuque, Iowa, 1833-1955 should be listed on the National Register.
Please review the attached documents and be prepared to recommend whether
the Multiple Property Document entitled 'The Architectural and Historic
Resources of Dubuque, Iowa, 1833-1955" should be listed or not.
attachment
STATE
HISTORICAL
¡SOCIETY of
OW A
A Oívision of the iowa Department of Cuitural Affairs
Wally Wernimont
Dubuque HPC
Planning Service Department
City of Dubuque
City Hall
50 W 13th St
Dubuque IA 52001
RE:
The Architectural and Historic Resources of Dubuque, Iowa, 1833-1955
West Eleventh Street Historic District, Roughly bounded by Loras Blvd., Walnut Street,
Jefferson Street and Grove Terrace, Dubuqne, Dubuque County
Langworthy Historic District, Langworthy, West Third, Melrose Terrace, between hill and
West 5th, Alpine and Walnut between Solon and West Fifth, Dubuque, Dubuque County
Dear Mr. Wernimont:
The State Norninations Review Committee (SNRC) plans to consider the property referenced above for
nomination to the National Register of Historic Places during their June 11, 2004 meeting. As a
participant in the Certified Local Government Program, Dubuque is required to review and comment on
proposed National Register nominations of properties within its jurisdiction. The State is required to
provide you with a 60-day period for the your review, unless we mutually agree to expedite the process.
I am contacting you to ask that you initiate the review process for the Historic Preservation Commission.
Enclosed are copies of the nomination, photographs, and the review fonn. The review process will
require the following:
. The Historic Preservation Commission should schedule the review during one of their meetings.
Send a fonnal invitation to the Mayor and to the property owner/owners with a copy of the
nomination. If they are not familiar with the National Register, be sure to include an explanation.
Make sure that a copy of the nomination is available for public review prior to the meeting. For
example, leave a review copy at the courthouse or public library. Indicate in your meeting
announcement that a review copy of the nomination is available and where the review copy can be
found.
. The question to answer when reviewing the nomination is whether the nominated property meets the
National Register of Historic Places significance criteria. If the Commission feels that the
nomination makes the case for meeting significance criteria, the Commission should check the box
recommending that the property be listed. If the Commission feels that the property does not meet
the significance criteria, then check the box recommending that the property not be listed. The .
Mayor should use the same approach when reviewing the nomination.
. You might want to invite the individual who prepared the nomination to attend the public meeting
and present the nomination. Keep a record of the meeting (copy of notice, agenda, minutes, list of
600EASTLoCUSTSTREET,DESMOINES,IA 50319-0290 P:(515)281-5111
attendees). At the conclusion of the meeting, the Commission should make a motion regarding their
recommendation. The Chainnan ofthe Commission will complete Item #1, the Commission's
portion of the review form. Be sure to fill in the date of the public meeting, sign the signature line
and record any comments that were made. If the Mayor attended the public meeting, inquire if
he/she is prepared to complete Item #2 on the review form.
. In the event that the Mayor was rulable to attend the meeting. The Commission Chainnan should
forward the Review form to the Mayor for review and comment. Have the Mayor sign the form and
return them to the Historic Preservation Commission.
. Item #3 on the Review form asks for the review and comment of a preservation professional. If your
commission does not have a professionally qualified historian or architectural historian who can
complete this part of the form, you may leave Item #3 blank and I will arrange to have a State staff
member complete that part of the form.
. After you have completed Items #1 through #2 (through #3 if a preservation professional is
available), please make a copy of the completed review forms for your file and send the original
copies of the completed forms to me. The forms need to be returned at least two weeks before the
State Nominations Review Committee meeting so they may be processed and mailed to the State
Nominations Review Committee to be reviewed before their June 11,2004 meeting.
. The Commission should keep the nomination and photographs. File them together in your inventory,
as you will need the information for future reference. If a State preservation professional was
needed to complete Item #3 on the review form, I will return a copy to the commission for filing,
Ifthe Historic Preservation Commission and the Mayor disagree with one another on the property's
National Register eligibility, both views will be presented to SNRC for their consideration during review
of the nomination. Ifboth the Historic Preservation Commission (by Commission majority) and the
Mayor do not consider the property eligible for National Register listing, we must halt the nomination.
Be advised that when a nomination is halted, the property owner, the person who prepared the
nomination or any interested party may appeal the decision. In addition, the nomination will still go
forward to the National Park Service for an official "Determination of Eligibility."
Please contact Kerry McGrath at 515/281-6826 with any questions or concerns,
Sincerely,
~~ yu.tu J:W '
Elizabeth Foster Hill
Tax Incentive Programs Manager/
National Register Coordinator
NPS Form 10-900-b
(Oct. 1990)
OMB No. 10024-0018
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Multiple Property Documentation Form
This form is fa, use in documenting multiple pmperty groups ælating to one 0' sev"",1 historic contexts. See iustl:uctions in How to Complete the Mulüple Property
Documenta"on Form (National RegisteJ: Bulletin 16B). Complete each item by marking "x" in the appmpriate box 0; by entering the æquested informatiou. Fa,
additional space, use continuation sheets (Form 1O-900-a). Use a typewriteJ:, word pmcesso;, 0; computer, to complete all items.
---"-- New Submission - Amended Submission
A. Name of Multiple PropertY Listing
The Architectural And Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa, 1833-1955
B. Associated Historical Contexts
(Name each associated historic context, identifying theme, geographical area, and chronological period for each.)
Context #1, Frontier City on the Mississippi River, 1833-1858:
Context #2, The Key City, 1859-1893:
Context #3, Fitful Growth and Maturation, 1894-1910:
Context #4, An Era of Stability, 1911-1955:
Context $5, The Architecture and Builders of Dubuque, 1833-1955
C. Form Prepared By
Name/Title
Organization
Street & Number
City or Town
James E. Jacobseu
Historv Pavs!
44 II Ingersoll Avenue
Des Moines State ~
Date March 29.2004
Telephone (515) 274-3625
Zip Code 50312
D. Certification
As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, I hereby certify that this
docwnentation fonn meets the National Register docwnentation standards and sets forth requirements for the listing ofrelated
properties consistent with the National Register criteria. This submission meets the procedural and professional requirements
set forth in 36 CFR Part 60 and the Secretary of the Interior's Standards and Guidelines for Archaeology and Historic
Preservation L See continuation sheet for additional comments).
Signature and title of certifjring official
Date
State or Federal agency and bureau
I hereby certify that this nrultiple property documentation fonn has been approved by the National Register as a basis for
evaluating related properties for listing in the National Register.
Signature of the Keeper
Date of Action
The Architectural And Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa, 1833-1955
Name of Multiple Property Listing
Iowa
State
Table of Contents for Written Narrative
Provide the following information on continuation sheets. Cite the letter and the title before each section of the narrative. Assign page
numbers according to the instructions for continuation sheets in How to Complete the Multiple Property Documentation Form
(National Register Bulletin 16B). Fill in page numbers for each in the space below.
Page Numbers
E.
Statement of Historic Contexts
E-l
F.
Associated Property Types
F-262
G.
Geographical Data
G-303
H.
Summary of Identification and Evaluation Methods
H-305
I.
Major Bibliographical References
1-312
PapenvorkReduction Act Statement: This infonnation is being conected for applications to the National Register of Historic Places to nominate properties fo'
listing 0; detenniue eligibility for listing, to list properties, and to amend existing listings. Response to this request is required to obtain a benefit in acco,dance with
the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 D.S.C. 470 et seq.).
Estimated Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this fonu is estimated to ave...ge 18.1 hou" per response including time foneviewing instructions,
gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the fO1m. Direct counnents regarding this burden estimate 0' any aspect of this fonu to the Chief,
Administrative Services Division, National Park Service, P.O. Box 37127, Washington, DC 20013-7127; and the Office of Mauagement and Budget, Paperwork
Reductions Projects (1024-0018), Washington, DC 20503.
Table of Contents:
Descriptive and Historical Introduction: ..."""",."......".",..."""..."."""........."""""""..."",............"".."".,,"".......,]
Context #1, Frontier City on the Mississippi River, 1833-1858:"......"...""..."".".""....""""""".........""".7
Context #2, The Key City, 1859-1893:...".""""...""...""""""......."""........."""""."...,..."..."".""""........"......"".....34
Context #3, Dubuque's Golden Age, 1894-1910:..............."""..........................,.................................""............50
Context #4, An Era ofStability,1911-1955:........""................................".........."......"..."..................."...............50
Postscript, Dubuque's Recent History, 1956-2000:...............""".""....."."......................,...",..........."."".........50
Context #5, The Architecture And Builders of Dubuque, 1833-1955:......................................"".........50
Associated Property Types, Registration Requirements: .....".".".........",............."........."".......,...""............ 50
Geographical Area:................................""""......""".,.......................................................,.,..............",......"",......................50
Section H: Methodology: .........."............................"",...........,.."",.................................................................",.................50
Bibliography: .....,..........................................................................................................................,....................................""......50
,-,
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PS Fo<m 1Q.900'a
IRev.8.861
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMS Appmv" No. 1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number -L- Page--1
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa, 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
Descriptive and Historical Introduction:
To a Dubuquer the city means its buildings, old and new as well as the unique physical setting of the city. Edith
N. Lane spoke to this point when she wrote in 1904:
To us Dubuque means...the hills and river that we long for when we go away, for the sunset light in the
valley, the morning mists on the hills, the queer streets that go up among them, the glory of the crest,
with its wide view east and west, the lovely light on the river shining away to southward, blue Sinsinawa,
and the opal of the distant hills, the 'castled crags' and battlements of the bluffs---this is Dubuque ("The
Beauty of Dubuque," Enterprise, November 26, 1904).
By any standard Dubuque is and has always been a distinctively different place by Iowa standards. On one hand
the city served as the port of entry for Iowa settlement and was the state's first city. On the other hand Dubuque has
always been geographically separated ITom the state and has made her fortune ITom a tri-state market area. I£Iowa is
protestant, Republican, and less than friendly with organized labor, Dubuque has assumed the opposite extremes by being
predominately Catholic, Democrat and strongly pro-labor.
The city has been strongly self-reliant ITom the start, eschewing the out-of-state investors who dominated the
development of the other Iowa cities. During the Civil War the city dared to lead in the political opposition to the
national war policy and its attending repression of thought and action.
This conservative bastion has opened up in recent years. The invention of color photography brought fall tourism
to Northeast Iowa, the queen of fall leaf colors. Belated road improvements finally conquered the topographical
obstacles to integration. Mississippi River bridges, early and later, revived regional markets, and opened doors to the city
(or as some allege, allow passersby to pass on by). Today like most cities the future hopes for continued growth are as
rooted in suburban industrial parks and arterial road systems as they are in the historic city.
Dubuque, unlike most Iowa cities, never reached the vaunted lOO,OOO-population figure (it was predicted to
achieve that number by 1940), and large-scale growth sputtered out by World War I. The city never gained the acres and
acres of bungalows and Tudor cottages, large numbers of steel Lustron houses and the like. Its building inventory largely
pre-dates 1920 and consequently the architectural legacy of Dubuque is unmatched elsewhere in Iowa, both in quality and
scale.
Dubuque is a strikingly different place because of its many differing heritages. Predominant among these is an
Irish-German and strongly Catholic population which left its architectural mark in beautiful and massive churches and
vernacular 19th Century housing. Exploring the streets and alleyways of Dubuque's history teaches the visitor to
appreciate the wealth of architectural surprises which mirror the heritage o£Iowa's "Key City."
A Historv of Dubuque's Historv:
The striking thing about Dubuque is that its citizens know and relish the city's history and that this sense of
history is an important and functioning component of their daily lives. Families remain loyal to the homes where their
many generations have lived. Neighborhoods are loyally preserved by their residents. This connection with the past is a
rare and precious thing and any historic preservation or neighborhood-building efforts should attempt to build upon this
PS Fom 10.aoo.,
IRev.8.861
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMBApp,o..INo.1024.oo18
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number -É.- Page--6
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa, 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
resource. A strong sense of place prevails throughout the city and the large number of neighborhoods (Figure 1 presents
a list of these and Figure 2, page 3, maps them) attests to this.
DISTRICTS AND NEIGHBORHOODS, CITY OF DUBUQUE
MT. CARMEL DISTRICT RHOMBERG DISTRICT
BRYANT DISTRICT Lower Rhomberg Neighborhood
Mt. Loretta Neighborhood North Rhomberg Neighborhood
Cleveland Neighborhood Eagle Point Neighborhood
Grandview Neighborhood UNIVERSITY DISTRICT
Curtis Neighborhood Decorah Neighborhood
Country Club Area Sunnyview Neighborhood
Southern Avenue Area Green Street Neighborhood
WARTBURG DISTRICT Devon Neighborhood
Fremont Neighborhood Delhi Neighborhood
Sunset RidgelNeighborhood St, Joseph Neighborhood
Coates Street Neighborhood FWRA PARK DISTRICT
HILL DISTRICT "
W t E' hth St t N 'ghbo h d Hillcrest NeIghborhood
es Ig ree eI , r 00 Lenox Neighborhood
West Seven~ Street NeIghborhood Falk Nei hborhood
Fenelon NeIghborhood g
Langworthy neighborhood WESTERN SUBDIVISIONS
Mercy Hospital Neighborhood
West Eleventh Street Neighborhood WEST LOCUST DISTRICT
West Fifth Street Neighborhood Jackson School Neighborhood
Angellaand Cornell Neighborhoods CLARKE DRIVE DISTRICT
Loras Neighborhood Madison Park Neighborhood
Finley Hospital Neighborhood Clarke Drive Neighborhood
Henderson Neighborhood Montcrest Neighborhood
KAUFMANN AVENUE DISTRICT NORTH END DISTRICT
PARK HILL DISTRICT Twenty-Second Street Neighborhood
Fulton Street Neighborhood Broadway Neighborhood
Gay Street Neighborhood Comiskey Neighborhood
Muscatine Neighborhood Holy Ghost Neighborhood
KANE STREET DISTRICT Thirtieth Street Neighborhood
Oakcrest Neighborhood Sacred Heart Church Neighborhood
Shady Lane Neighborhood DOWNTOWN DISTRICT
Scenic View Neighborhood Jackson Park Neighborhood
LINWOOD DISTRICT St. Raphael Neighborhood
Windsor Neighborhood Washington Street Neighborhood
Burden Neighborhood INDUSTRIAL DISTRICT
Jefferson Neighborhood The FIats
Figure 1: Dubuque NeIghborhood lIst, 1962, VIctor Gruen Report (p. 28)
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PS Fo,m lo.900.a
IR". 8.86'
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMB ApP'oval No. 1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page---l.
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
PS 'oem 10.900.,
'R'". 8~861
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMS App"." No. 1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County ami State
Dubuque has rightfully intrigued Iowa historians since the beginning of a state historiography and suffice it to say
that the available secondary literature, which treats Dubuque, is extensive and fairly contextually exhaustive. The
availability of generations of talented and inquisitive scholars at Dubuque's many institutions of higher learning has
necessarily added to this historical legacy. Numerous religious histories, covering the range from parish to diocese,
supplement the reading list
It wasn't always this way. Historian James A. Edwards penned a promotional booklet for a planned book to be
entitled Dubuque and Dubuque County. Edwards complained in the 1930s that Dubuque".. .has never received that
attention from historical writers which is demanded from its own importance and by its influences upon the growth and
development not only of this part of the State, but throughout the Central West and Northwest" Obviously strenuous
efforts have largely remedied this claimed historical deficit (Edwards, unpaginated).
Geographv:
Much of the Mississippi River channel that borders Iowa is of very recent origin. The ancient river course
diverted from the present one below Clinton, Iowa, and followed what is termed the Princeton Channel, flowing southeast
beyond present day Hennepin, lllinois, and then generally following the lllinois River southwest. This course developed
as an ice margin drainage ofPre-lllinoian glaciers. Twice, lllinoian glaciers flowing southwest from the Lake Michigan
area pushed the Mississippi's course westward into southeast Iowa. The ice closed off the channel and backed up river
flow until an interim alternative course was created. Between 60,000 and 100,000 years ago, the present river course
eroded its bed by as much as 100 feet. Between 25,000 and 21,000 years ago glacial flows from the northeast
permanently closed off the Princeton Channel, and forced the Mississippi into its present Port Byron Gorge channel. The
Quad Cities are located along this most recent river course, at a point where the river makes a pronounced westward tum.
Up until 9,500 years ago the river channel was periodically flooded with catastrophic late Wisconsin glacial outwashes.
Fine-grained sediments formed the Savanna Terraces which line the lower ranges of the watershed. Dubuque is
positioned on one of these terraces. Since 9,500 channel changes have more gradual with reduced lateral channel
movement and the formation of deltas. The Couler Valley, in the northwest part of the original city is an earlier channel
for the Little Maquoketa River which now empties due east into the Mississippi (Bettis, pp. 12-15).
The Mississippi forms a reversed "S"-shaped channel at Dubuque. The eastern bank is firmly defined by 200-
foot high limestone bluffs. The river valley widens below Eagle Point Park and the west bank of the river was and
remains less well derIDed. There is a broad and extensive network of islands and sloughs. There are no rapids in this
stretch of the river and consequently no potential for hydropower. Note also that the lock and dam system construction
site is just above the city and not at or below it. This meant that the city site had as much river depth as could be obtained
although getting landed on firm shore was a challenge. The Savanna Terrace upon which the primary city developed lies
50-70 feet above the mean water level of the river (late 191h century city boosters would double this figure so as to quiet
fears of flooding and pestilence). The terrace measured a half-mile in width with a length of two miles. Sheer-faced
bluffs, rising some 200 feet, encircle the city site. It is said that like Rome, Dubuque had its seven hills and each hill
sported a steeple or a college. Galena and Trenton limestone comprise the bluffs with Niagara limestone being present in
the north end of the city. Several steep and narrow ravines radiated out from the terrace. On the north end, broader and
flatter reaches of the terrace radiated out to the northeast and northwest, offering a distinct advantage for growth in that
area (Horton, The Urbanization Process..., p. 2)
For a l5-mile radius beyond the bluffline lay rugged unglaciated country. The closest prairie lay several miles
west. Good timber supply was to be had from atop the bluffs or from the river islands but the city site itself was adorned
PS 'oem 10.900-,
,"". S,SSI
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMB App'o,"' No. 1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number -É.....- Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
with a scattering of willows and other softwoods. Any future tree canopy would have to be planned and planted (Horton,
p.2).
Building stone was readily available, as was clay for making bricks. A high-grade lead ore was also to be found
buried just at the bedrock surface. The terrace soil was gravelly and sandy and was easily drained a distinct health
advantage although one that was balanced out by the proximity of backwater sloughs along the river frontage. While
main river flooding was restricted, flash flooding down the several ravines was a real threat to life and property (Horton,
pp. 2-4).
It is the Galena Limestone that figures so prominently in the foundations of most of Dubuque's buildings. This
stone was used in preference to brick and continued in its popularity right through the pre-World War I years. The stone
is described as being almost pure dolomite with from three to eight percent silicon, and carbonate of lime and
magnesium. In its natural state it is a light gray in color but iron oxidation transfonns it into a light buff upon prolonged
exposure (The Industries of Dubuque, p. 15).
Historian Raymond Lyon dared to challenge the idea of the seven hills of Dubuque. He explained that in
actuality the bluff lines that sUITound the city are ridgelines or crest lines which have been eroded into a series of valleys
(Lyon, p. 173).
Whv Is Dubuque at Dubuque?
Iowa historian Loren Horton concluded that Dubuque was established because of its nearby lead deposits and for
no other reason. There were good reasons to avoid the future city site. It was a "cull de sac" in Horton's opinion, being
hemmed in physically to the west, isolated from what normally would be a supportive agricultural market and supply
source. It was equally isolated from points east by its initial lifeline, the Mississippi, given the long-tenn lack of a bridge
of any sort and the difficulties that the location presented to bridge building. It wasn't until 1887 that the fIrst wagon
bridge was opened and it provided at best an indirect route to illinois via Wisconsin. There was no waterpower source
and the advantages of river commerce were hindered by the difficulty of accessing deep-water navigation. There was no
federal interest in canal construction, arsenal establishment or national roads that might otherwise have spawned town-
building interests. It was fmally the ready wealth offered by the lead, a wealth that apparently was more democratic in its
distribution than were the later gold and silver stampedes, that explained why the city started and why it grew to achieve
the scale that it did (Horton, p. 4).
In short, this wasn't a propitious location for city building. The Times copied comments from a St. Louis visitor
to the new city in 1857:
My first impression, crossing from Dunleith, were unfavorable, it looked as though there was no room
for a city, shut in as it was by the steep bluffs. But a few days gave me an opportunity to survey and note
its advantages and judge of its future prospects. . .and I was really surprised to find from actually going
over it so much space on which to build a city...
...[Dubuque] ... is the only point on the Mississippi river, above St. Louis, that has such vast territory to
support her-from Davenport to St. Paul there is no place to compete with her-to the west for 200
miles, to the Missouri river, is a splendid country, nearly fIlled with a hardy population, bringing it
rapidly into cultivation; they have already a railroad-several miles completed, and cars running-
stretching across this fme territory west. How long before the immense products of this beautiful country
PS Foem to.900~,
IR,".8.861
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMS Appm,' No. 1024-0078
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number -É- Page----.&
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
must pour into the lap ofDubuque[?].. . (Times, September 4, 1857, copied from St. Louis Republican,
August 24, 1857). '
From its inception, Dubuque grew rapidly and substantially, as described by the Dubuque Visitor
in early 1836:
The town ofDu Buque is handsomely situated on the West bank of the Mississippi river in latitude 420
30', about 500 miles by water, above St. Louis. It is built on a level prairie, which rises about fifteen feet
above high-water mark; and it from a half-mile to a mile in width, from the river to the bl¡¡ff, and about
two miles in length. There are already surveyed, thirty-five blocks, which are sub-divided into two
hundred and eighty town lots, all of which are occupied by houses and gardens. The village contains
about two hundred and fifty buildings of different descriptions; among which are fifteen dry goods
stores, and one methodist meeting house. A large Catholic church is now building and preparation is
making for building a Presbyterian church.
Situated, as the town is, in the vicinity of the richest lead mines, and surrounded by good farming
country, with as fertile a soil as any in Wisconsin Territory, and located on the bank of the Mississippi,
the great highway of the Western country, where steamboats continually arrive and depart, we may safely
calculate that the place will continue to improve rapidly.. . (Dubuque Visitor, May 11, 1836).
If one surveys alternative city founding sites along the Iowa side of the Mississippi River in the vicinity of
Dubuque, a better location is not to be found. Invariably other nearby towns occupy similar raised, elongated and narrow
river terraces. Dubuque's alternative site might have been the mouth of Catfish Creek but the earliest settlers
instinctively knew where to mine and where to live. Mississippi River city sites commonly occupied the mouths of rivers
so as to take advantage of inland markets and power generation. Rock Island, lllinois, is another example of a city that
chose not to build at the mouth of the Rock River, preferring a main channel frontage that did provide both the power and
a readily bridged transportation corridor.
There were surely secondary explanations for Dubuque's establishment. As the story will indicate, Dubuque was
the initial front door to Iowa settlement, and it was that state's fITst city. It served as a "forwarding and commissioning"
support base for both points west and points northwest, up the Mississippi River. Early on the city was the base for
religious and ethnic settlement for the Catholic Church's Irish and Gennan adherents. The groundwork for future far-
flung dioceses was laid from Dubuque, forming one parish at a time. Less studied by historians is the collective role
played by the early Protestant churches (Methodist, Congregational, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Baptist) and the small
Jewish community in the city.
Dubuque's success was perhaps unwitting. Initially it was hoped that Dubuque would become a territorial
administrative center and the northern boundary for the Iowa Territory was by no means fIXed. As late as 1844 Edward
Langworthy, attending the state constitutional convention in Iowa City, attempted to set the boundary at the 45th Parallel,
deeply inside what became Minnesota. Dubuque would have been the "hub" of a larger state rather than a large city in
the distant comer of a smaller state. One superlative advantage gained by its location was primary access to the log rafts
which came in escalating numbers down river. Dubuque had first choice and the best shipping costs for these logs and
consequently the city's lumber trade survived that of cities down river (Lyon, p. 56).
From the start, Dubuquers believed so fervently in their collective future that even fundamental questions about
the legality of their land titles failed to dull their town building efforts. The very lead legacy which brought the first
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Section number....É....- Page---1
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
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County and State
miner/settlers to the area resulted in a land ownership squabble that took 21 years and the U.S. Supreme Court to finally
quiet. The same self-advocacy defeated Galena in its intention to become the western railroad hub along the Mississippi.
Instead Dubuque had the only railroad that ran inland west of the Mississippi River above St. Louis) during the Civil War
years. This was clearly a significant advantage for its industrial and retail growth and development during the lengthy
10-year hiatus in westward railroad expansion that followed the economic panic of 1857-58 (Horton, p. 6; Anderson, p.
26).
Clearly Dubuque paid a heavy price to imposingits growth upon its selected site. The July 1934 Housing Report
observed that the city had faced "unusual topographical difficulties" which presented a severe handicap in laying out a
street system. This reality exacted great initial costs and higher maintenance costs for streets, utilities and buildings as a
result (July 1934 Housing Report, pp. 28-29).
What is Dubuque's Real Birth Date?
The city celebrated its centennial in 1933, using the 1833 date that opened the area to white settlement. In
deference to tradition, that beginning date is used in this report as well. The Old Settlers Association, founded in 1865
used very stringent residency criteria for its membership. Initially one had to be both male and living in the county prior
to 1847. The actual city establishment came well after 1833, with successive incorporations taking place in 1837 and
1841. Dubuquers relished their early birthright and pushed it as early as they could to make a distinction amongst other
Iowa communities.
Context #1, Frontier City on the Mississippi River, 1833-1858:1
This context identifies the significant themes that emerged and shaped the city's history and development during
its earliest years. These sub-themes are lead mining, regional dominance, transportation (the river, roads and railroads),
banking and capital, industry and commerce, etlmicity and the Catholic Church. Property type discussions follow each of
these sub-theme presentations. General property types are described in Section F. Architectural significance is
developed in a separate context.
Dubuque's history is best organized using a series of chronological historic contexts. That was the fmding of
previous historians and it is therefore used in this study. There is a general historical consensus that Dubuque's fITst
historical era drew to a close with the national fmancial panic of 1857-58. That collapse brought dramatic closure to
truly explosive city growth from 1852 through 1857 that increased city population from 4,012 to 15,957. The same point
in time marks the emergence of an urban self-consciousness that replaced frontier make-do with architects, city
ordinances and more concerted planning and development. The Civil War years which followed produced more internal
strife than major building and wartime contracts served as the principal source of wealth for the next phase of city
building. The second contextual period therefore begins with the pre-war years that followed the financial panic.
I The William Newman log cottage, re-located to Eagle Point Park, is dated to 1833 and is the basis for the begimring date for this
MPD, it being the oldest extant documented historical resource.
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Figure 3: Dubuque, 1848, lithograph by John Caspar Wild (Wilkie, p. ISO, original State Historical Society ofIowa)
A lead smelter billows smoke atop the bluffs at far left, the new city is separated ftom the river by sloughs and islands.
Lead Mining Makes A City:
The lead industry was significant because it brought about Dubuque's site selection and establislnnent and it laid
the groundwork for the financial independence that Dubuque capitalists enjoyed in subsequent years. Funds ftom lead
mining built up the city and capitalized future industrial development. The industry determined that the initial local
population was almost exclusively male in its composition. The lead fIXation diverted attention ftom other endeavors
such as town foundation. Wilkie suggests that the initial mining fervor resulted ftom a false assumption that agriculture
wasn't feasible in so northerly a location. Mining as the predominant local livelihood faded as fanning succeeded and
supplanted it (Wilkie, pp. 143-144).
The Mississippi River was the super-highway equivalent in a time when extensive cross-country trekking and
shipping was difficult to impossible to accomplish. European penetration into and control of the Upper Mississippi
Valley necessarily was predicated on using the river as a transportation and communication corridor. The first regional
tourists, the Frenclnnen Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet, included the future site of Dubuque in their 1673
down river itinerary. Regional flags changed ftom France to Spain in 1763, and back to France in 1800. American cash
on the Napoleonic barrelhead in the form of the Louisiana Purchase switched theoretical flags to the United States in
1803 although only inftequent military parties could legally raise the colors there until 1833 (Sommer, pp. 4-5).
Beginning in 1783 Quebec-born Frenclnnan Julien Dubuque (1762-1810) negotiated with the Sauk and Fox
Indians to gain access to the Catfish Creek area ("Mines of Spain") lead deposits. He died in 1810 and his Indian
compatriots rubbed out every physical trace of his mining and smelting operations, and took up the mining themselves.
They made no land transfer to Dubuque but in 1796 Spain granted him an impressive 164,000 acres ofland that roughly
centered on the Dubuque location. In 1804 Dubuque paid offhis St. Louis supplier, Auguste Chouteau with a land
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transfer of 63,815 acres. Included in that deal was what became Dubuque. This issue of land ownership would later
hinder Dubuque's early growtb (Horton, pp. 4-6).
The Indian lead smelting operation was inefficient, with a high percentage of the ore being burned off in open
fire smelting. James L. Langworthy negotiated rights to survey the mining area and arranged to smelt the ore on the
lllinois side, with Indian miners supplying the raw ore. By June 183O Langworthy and brother Lucius H., were squatting
on the Iowa side of the river. Federal soldiers entered the area in response to a Sioux-Fox tribal conflict and evicted the
miners. Future president Co!. Zachary Taylor commanded this force and future Confederate president Lieutenant
Jefferson Davis sent federal soldiers ITom Fort Crawford. Recent archeological testing in the Union Park area produced
artifacts that were associated with this military operation. On June 17, 183O the miners at "Dubuque Mines" penned an
extra-legal codicil that provided for allocating mining rights to 200-yard square claims. The eviction postdated this
docmnent. The miners returned in mid-1832 and were quickly evicted. The Black Hawk Treaty of September 21, 1832
tenninated Indian land claims to the easternmost 50 miles ofIowa Tenitory and the miners, to the number of200 men,
again returned to the Iowa side. In January 1833 the military again evicted them. The new area was legally opened for
resettlement on June I, 1833 and the evicteés and others poured back across the river. The U.S. Congress even
legitimized the 1830 miner's articles and the mineral lots served as the first land survey (Horton, pp. 7-8).
Lead production peaked by 1840. Cupola (or reverberator) and Scotch hearth furnaces allowed for an 80%
recovery rate ITom the ore and slag ITom previous mining efforts was eagerly reprocessed along with new diggings. The
1834 construction of a Yorkshire Scotch Hearth furnace, using a process that involved the injection of air into the
furnace, directly facilitated lead production. These furnaces employed an overshot water wheel to pmnp the air. Catfish
Creek was the site of the second such furnace. The Iowa mining was a part of a tri-state operation and many Iowa miners
came ITom Wisconsin and illinois and were veteran lead miners. Total Iowa production figures are unavailable over the
course of the industry's development but by 1848, the other two states turned out 55,000,000 pounds oflead each year.
Lead pigs were a major component of river shipping downstream to St. Louis (Horton, pp. 25-27; interview Tacie
Campbell).
Historian William Wilkie observed that North Dubuque, particularly along the Bee Branch (now 32nd Street and
south along Couler Avenue), was the post-1833 focus of lead mining activities. Shaft mining replaced surface digs and
the improved furnaces increased output efficiencies (Wilkie, pp. 143-144).
More optimistic historical sources credit the lead industry with aiding Dubuque in weathering the Financial Panic
of 1837 and this point deserves further investigation. The following claim is offered by Dubuque Its Manufacturing And
Commercial Facilities:
The financial revulsion of 1837 did not materially affect Dubuque. Its main resources were lead,
produced steadily by the industry of hundreds of miners and the working of half a dozen smelting
furnaces. This product commanded a ready cash sale in the markets of St. Louis and New Orleans. In all
American mining districts paper money was received slowly and cautiously as a circulating medium, and
accordingly the depreciated bank note currency of the Eastern States was despised, and gold and silver
were the principal fonus of money, and continued so for twenty years afterward...
Local historian Biays Bowerman rightfully points out that there was little besides mining to be affected by this earliest
panic. Just four years had elapsed since the government had forcefully removed area miners and there are no accounts of
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County and State
the removing of any fanners. Rural lands weren't formally sold until 1846-47 (Dubuque Its Manufacturing And
Commercial Facilities, 1886, p. 13;Biays Bowerman).
The pre-eminent industrial monument to the lead mining history is the George W. Rogers Company Shot Tower
(1856). The combination stone and brick obelisk was built on the outer levee where its Egyptian form served as a
riverfront landmark for the developing city. A rare surviving example of its form and era, the tower produced lead shot
until 1862 when it was purchased by a competing St. Louis lead shot company. The tower represents the need to locally
process the otherwise raw lead that was exported from the city (James Jacobsen, George W Rogers Shot Tower National
Register of Historic Places nomination amendment, 2004).
Property Types Discussion:
The lead mining heritage is a principal feature of the Mines of Spain Historic District (NRHP) that is
located south of the city. Julien Dubuque's gravesite and monument are included. The majority oflead mining
related sites, both in and around the city, have not been investigated in any manner. Archeological interest would
center particularly upon smelter sites and the several mines that were converted for lead shot production after the
Shot Tower was put out of business in 1862. The Shot Tower (1856, NRHP) is the best industrial manifestation
of the lead mining heritage. Its National Register level of significance is cUITently being amended to the national
level. A number of residences were built by lead miners. A good frame cottage example is the Jesse P. and Mary
Farley residence at 636 West 11th (c.1848, West 11 th Street District). The firms of Laflin & Rand and George W.
Rogers & Company were dealers in guns, lead shot and powder and it is possible that commercial buildings
survive where these important firms were located. Numerous early residences located in the south end of
Dubuque, "Little Dublin," and which likely had mining associations, were demolished to make way for highway
improvements. One such cottage, located behind 480 Emmett (Cathedral District, NRHP) likely has mining
associations or at least is said to typifY a frame miner's cottage.
Regional Dominance, the Struggle With Galena, Illinois, and Self Image:
Very early on Dubuque claimed the sobriquet "Key City" as the Express & Herald explained in early 1858 "We
are the most important point on the upper Mississippi, a point.which has given our city the sobriquet 'Key City.' As the
key she commands the whole of northwestern Iowa and southern Minnesota. Dubuque was located at the halfway point
relative to the Mississippi River. It is midway between St. Louis and the Twin Cities and it was the midpoint of the
Black Hawk Purchase, a 350-mile long narrow sliver ofland that stretched from Green Bay, Wisconsin, to Keokuk. This
north-south midway mark would late be augmented by an east-west measure, relevant to the railroad era, that of being
halfway between Chicago and Sioux City. Dubuque expected selection as the Wisconsin territorial capital but lost out to
little Belmont, Wisconsin. There was even an 1834 effort to rename the city "Washington." When Iowa Territory was
separated off in 1838, it included all land between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and between Canada and Missouri
and Dubuque continued to aspire towards being the central hub of a much larger (that is to say reaching northward) area
than was finally assigned to the new territory and state. Dubuque from its inception had regional aspirations and these to
a great extent were focused to the northwest and northeast, rather than to what would become present day Iowa (Express
& Herald, January I, 1858; Oldt, p. 48).
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Figure 4: Dubuque as capital city under the proposed 1844 state constitution (Denny, p. 2).
Politically the city residents sought both direct representation and the status of being a center of government as
the various and fleeting territorial designations. The original boundaries of the proposed Iowa Territory (Figure 4)
awarded Dubuque a central position, at least with regard to the Mississippi River, but Dubuque's hopes for a capitol city
status were never realized. The Michigan, Wisconsin, and [mally Iowa territorial period came and went, all within a five-
year period (Wilkie, p. 146).
Dubuque's role as a forwarding and commissioning base for the settlement of the Upper Mississippi River valley
is less well appreciated. This role was certainly shared with all of the other larger emerging downstream river cities such
as Quincy and Galena, lllinois, and St. Louis. Banking and transportation interests made possible the delivery of heavy
equipment for new floÙf mills, construction material for developing new towns, and foodstuffs for the residents. The
earliest steamboats conducted infonnal mail delivery systems and these persisted into the l850s despite Postal
Department efforts to suppress them. Dubuque was the northernmost substantial river city for many years and its lead
revenues capitalized various local and regional ventures, one of which was the broad scale acquisition of upriver
timberlands. Dubuque also served a prominent "forwarding and commissioning" role for Catholic Church extension and
its selection as Iowa's original Catholic administrative hub would define the city's institutional architecture. This latter
role is discussed under the Catholic Church section of this context.
The natural market area for Dubuque lay across the Mississippi in northwestern lllinois and southwestern
Wisconsin. Market access would be long hampered by the lack of Mississippi River bridges but fann produce and stock
could better reach Dubuque from these adjoining areas than it could from closer in Iowa counties. Retail services,
newspaper circulation, and political-cultural dominance similarly cross state lines. Dubuque's principal rival in securing
the trade area east of the river was Galena and the battle was an intense one, but one that was won before the outbreak of
the Civil War. Galena attempted to deprive Dubuque of railroad access, seeking to serve as the Mississippi River's
railroad hub in lieu of its competitor. Galena steamboat owners similarly monopolized river traffic to the detriment of
Dubuque. Dubuque's regional ascendancy was best symbolized by its securing the federal land office in 1838, an early
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa. 1833-1955
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victory that went down hard in Galena. This office functioned until 1857 when it was consolidated with the Des Moines
land office. Another symbolic victory for Dubuque was the securing in 1852 of the federal distributing post office, which
"tended to excite the spirit of rivalry between the two places." In this instance, Dubuque prevailed because it enjoyed
river-shipping advantages at all stages of navigation (Wilkie, p, 157; Childs, p. 116).'
On the Iowa side 8th Street which ran through Lorimer Hollow emerged as early as 1841 as the route "over which
a considerable portion of the farm to market business of the town with the country was done." Eighth Street was
straightened and developed early on as a key commercial cross street to the west of Main Street. Further south, measures
were taken to divert flashfloods which "for the past two years has been ruining the property at the south end of Locust
Street." The latter point was where the old military road climbed Whisky Hill on the way to Rockdale and it too was an
important trade route (Iowa News, May 29,1841; Biays Bowerman).
Agricultural development around Dubuque would compete, along with gold and silver fever, with lead mining as
a means of making a living. One substantial milestone in the city's development came in 1846 when area farming [mally
developed beyond a subsistence production level and products became available for marketing. That same development
would eventually doom the lead mining industry as even farming was able to provide more certain support than seasonal
and dangerous rock mining It wasn't until August 1860 however, that sufficient area grain production allowed Dubuque
millers to form the Dubuque Grain Exchange and to call for the establishment of a grain-specific public market. That
same fall, the Dubuque and Sioux City Railroad built the first area grain elevator (Oldt, pp. 133, 136; J 880 County History,
p.525).
That same fall seasonal meatpacking also emerged as an important city industry in response to an increasing area
hog production. The Herald observed that meatpacking was a business "previously neglected and not capitalized." The
animals indeed had been shipped downstream live and processed meat was imported for local consumption. It would
take the coming of the Civil War before year-around meatpacking became a reality. By the winter of 1861-62 seven finns
consumed 8,300 hogs. Five thousand additional head of hogs were shipped out on the hoof (Oldt, p. 124, 141, Herald,
October 26, 1860).
If Dubuque was to prevail, or even survive, Galena the dominant regional downstream city had to be challenged.
As the 1880 county history recalled, "Galena, jealous of her rival, compelled Dubuque to struggle for existence and the
complete supremacy of the latter over the former to day can be traced almost directly to the efforts employed to preserve
its [Dubuque's] vitality." Galena transportation interests had a stranglehold on Dubuque exports until 1854. Up to that
point all passenger traffic down river had to use Galena as a river port and Dubuque was relegated to the status of a local
marketplace. Dubuque interests began to invest heavily in steamboats during the late 1840s and early 1850s. Galena too
placed her hopes on river traffic and her dominance of it. When the railroad reached Galena and was then extended
westward to the shore opposite Dubuque, Galena was unable to react to the transformation which the rails brought to the
region and Dubuque quickly superceded Galena. Dubuque had embraced the railroad and its potential from the
beginning. Galena interests actually prohibited the passage of the railroad through that city and the result was the
bypassing of Galena by the railroad! This redirection played into the hands of the Dubuque interests. Dubuque Senator
George W. Jones successfully convinced Senator Stephen Douglas to amend the 1850 railroad land grant bill to extend
the right-of-way 15 miles further west. Jones had much to gain from the extension personally given that he owned the
terminal site at what would become Dunleith and then East Dubuque. His in-laws also operated the ferry service at that
2 Galena also possessed a federal Marine Hospital. This federal program to aid the needs of inland and ocean-going mariners, existed
ÍÌom 1798 to 1870 and was funded through a tax on masters of coastal vessels, and was usually collected by customs officers.
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa. 1833-1955
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County and State
point. Iowa had failed up to that point to pass a similar land grant bill and it was therefore all the more critical that
Dubuque realized at least proximity to a railroad link. 1853-54 proclaimed victory over the Galena interests and from
that point on Dubuque enjoyed a diversified transportation network of river and rail (1880 County History, p. 523;
Johnson, An Army For Industrialization, pp. 58-65, cited hereinafter as Johnson; Oldt, p. 243).'
ProPerty Type Discussion:
This context speaks generally to the regional and developmental forces that combined to shape the city's early
history. Potential related sites include the federal Customs House (9th and Locust, non-extant) that represented an early
administrative coup for Dubuque. The George W. Rogers Company Shot Tower (1856) is an excellent riverfront
landmark symbol of the city's efforts to dominate river shipping. Mississippi River cities commonly employed the
obelisk form to symbolize their hopes for success and the tower's construction coincided with the popularity of the
Egyptian style and the construction of the county jail. Two public buildings, the Dubuque County Jail (36 East 8th,
NRHP) and the City Hall (50 West 13th NRHP), date to 1856-57 and represent the aspirations of emerging Dubuque.
Transportation: The Mississippi River, "The Nile of America," Dominates:
The river as noted was both a transportation artery and an obstacle to overland east/west traffic. Steamboating
actually developed first on the Upper Mississippi (above St. Louis) and a regional system developed and matured within
the river valley. The cities of Galena, Quincy, Dubuque, DavenportlRock Island, and others prospered in banking and
financing, manufacturing and shipping. Regionally this network provided the jumping off point for the extension of
settlement, agriculture and fmally city building into Northern Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
Galena dominated Dubuque in its ownership of steamboat interests. Its packet company (the Minnesota Packet
Company, later the Galena, Dunleith, and Minnesota Packet Company, note the absence of Dubuque in that title) also
controlled the Dubuque ferries and Dubuque shipping was greatly impeded even after the arrival of the railroad on the
lllinois shore. It wasn't until 1854 that the fIrst Dubuque-owned and operated steamboat was in service. Dubuque's river
shipping was hampered by the lack ofa good wharfi'harbor. Even so, as early as 1837, the Iowa News could boast
"Steamboats we don't pretend to count; they come and go (Iowa News, December 9, 1837). Steamboat landing counts at
Dubuque for 1851 was an impressive 351, a figure that rose to 1,000 landings by 1857 (Wilkie, p. 234).
This increasingly frenzied steamboat activity reflected city growth and federal river harbor improvements made
during this interim. The federal government appropriated $14,000 to dredge the Barney Cut, a steamboat channel to link
the inner and outer sloughs with the main river channel. The money was appropriated in 1843 and construction must
have immediately followed by the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers. The Corps also completed a harbor
survey in 1853-56, which Horton says led to improved docking facilities. He adds that the work later facilitated
construction of the first railroad bridge (Horton, pp. 28-29).
The "contemplated canal" which appears on the city plat was being "contemplated" as early as 1836. The
required length was but a third of a mile. If the river current could have been diverted into the inner slough the slack
water areas would have been drained and the health of the area much improved. By 1838, two canals were suggested to
move the river channel. Nothing was done. The Dubuque Harbor Company and the Dubuque Harbor hnprovement
3 One key impediment to the hopes of Galena's citizens was the silting in of the Fever River, its vulnerable link to the
Mississippi River (Biays Bowerman).
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Company incorporated in the middle 1850s with the purpose of filling in the wetlands eastward to extend the riverftont to
the river. Sixth and Third s1reet were slowly extended eastward and by early April 1858 a bridge and levee system inter-
linked the several islands (Horton, pp. 31-32).
There were two federal pre-Civil War river improvements made at Dubuque. In 1844 Joshua Barney did some
dredging to enable first class river steamers to serve the city and apparently built the first Mississippi dredge, titled the
Devasseur. The Mexican War halted any river work 1846-47 and dredging resumed only in 1853. The federal funding
included funds to improve the llIinois River was part of larger llIinois plans to build the IIIinois & Michigan Canal
(commonly known as the "I&M") between Chicago and LaSalle, located on the llIinois River. Dubuquers would benefit
by any navigable shortcut across llIinois, a reduction ofa 607-mile trip to just 188 miles. The 1853 dredging went
beyond simply opening a cut to the main cha'rrnel. In anticipation of a railroad-ferry link, the cut linked Dubuque and
Dunleith. The 1853 dredge boat was named in honor of Senator George W. Jones who was instrumental in funding the
work (Tweet, 1984, pp. 50-53, 149).
The advantage of river 1ransportation brought with it the disadvantage of having to cross the river to access the
resources and markets on the east side of the Mississippi. Regular river ferry services dated from 1838 between Dubuque
proper and Sinipee, Wisconsin. Everything that crossed the river effectively paid a 1ransshipment toll or tax in the form
of the ferry fee, save for the three months that the iced over river could bear foot and wheeled 1raffic. Even after the
arrival of the railroad in 1855 from Galena, ferries carried all goods, imported and exported, for Dubuque's
en1repreneurs. Road 1ravel never effectively substituted for river shipment and the city consequently continued to rely
upon the river and its north/south 1rade orientation (Wilkie, p. 234).
Newly elected mayor Jesse Farley made the key river access improvement in 1852. He decided to forsake efforts
to bring the river to Dubuque but rather to take the city to the river. Efforts to dredge and otherwise use the "old channel"
presumably Lake Peosta, were dropped and a series of s1reet extensions on raised causeways began the long-term process
of slough filling which produced the present clay riverfront (Johnson, p. 65).
ProPerty Type Discussion:
No buildings or sites survive from this early era, apart from the Shot Tower. The tower marks the earliest river
levee and nicely interprets the distance between river shipping and the original downtown.
Transportation: Early Roads:
Figure 5 locates a number of important regional factors. The various lead mine site are individually marked with
crosshatches and the key furnaces and mills located and named. Dubuque's first Iowa railroad, the Sioux City and
Dubuque departs the city from its south end and follows the Catfish Creek drainage, making thereby a substantial
diversion to the south and southeast in so doing.
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The Architectw:al and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
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County and State
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Figure 5: DeWerthern, R., Dubuque And Vicinity, Iowa, 1858.
The river interrupts rail cormmmication.
Note the southward diversion of the Iowa railroad and other roads to bypass the bluffs.
The earliest interior stagecoach routes were established as of November 1836 when the first weekly mail service
linked Dubuque and Fort Des Moines (the earlier location?). The various stage routes exiting Dubuque as of 1854
included routes to Council Bluffs, Fort Dodge, Keokuk, St. Paul, Decorah and Garnavillo. The Council Bluffs route
followed the "military road" to the southwest, located on the map above as bypassing Table Mound and Factoryville.
The Fort Dodge stage, running via Independence likely took the Delhi Road. The Keokuk stage route, via Davenport,
branched southeast off of the military road above Factoryville. The Decorah and St. Paul stages probably took the
Sageville Plank Road, branching to Durango, while the Garnavillo route took a more easterly branch ITom that same
point, towards Specht's Ferry on the Mississippi (Oldt, p. 50; Commercial Report... 1854-55, p. 10).4
4 The Delhi Road departed the city west from Julien Avenue (University Avenne today), following what is now Forest Laneto Delhi
Street, then along University Avenue via Parsonville, Center Grove, crossing Catfish Creek, and then along Crescent Ridge Road. It
continued west via Farley, Delhi, Monticello and reached Cedar Rapids (Biays Bowerman).
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
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County and State
Property Type Discussion:
No buildings or other properties survive from this period. It is probable that early buildings might survive that
were associated with these earliest roadways.
Transportation: The Railroad Arrives and Fosters Growth:
Iowa side Railroad fever dated from 1847 when the first organized railroad meeting in the city called for the
passage ofa state charter for railroads. The survey for the Illinois Central was completed 1850-51, with grading done the
next year. Cholera impeded progress during 1854. Appropriately, Galena residents used a pile driver to block the track
when the first train traversed the finished line on February 6, 1855. Dubuque formally celebrated anival ofthe iron horse
on July 17, 1855. There was no likelihood ofa Dubuque bridge for the railroad but the Dubuque and Pacific Railroad, a
Dubuque-owned railroad, was under construction by 1855, even before Iowa granted it land grant status in 1856. The
first locomotive was delivered via river ferry to the new line by September 1856 and regular operations began the
following May. By April 1858 the city had seven incorporated railroads on paper but just one with actual rails laid. By
April 1861 100 miles of track reached a terminus at Cedar Falls. This first inland railroad tapped into a just-developing
interior market area for Dubuque but its true economic significance would be realized after the war, by which time,
railroad networks finally challenged the transportation supremacy of the river steamboat (1880 County History, p. 626;
Wilkie, pp. 235-26; Johnson, p. 72).
The anival of the Illinois Central Railroad opposite Dubuque in 1855, elevated the city from a local marketplace,
which it was through 1854, to secondary entrepôrt status (skipping the intermediate category of central marketplace) after
1855, taking away that same role from Galena. It was clearly the railroads anival that made this possible and it was the
long-term Mississippi River terminus of the rails, 1855-68, that enabled the city to hold on to its newly gained regional
market role. Historian Timothy Mahoney states "Davenport, Dubuque, and, to a lesser extent, Quincy thrived for a
somewhat longer period, encouraging local merchants, who interpreted their new found prosperity as an indicator of
greater regional hegemony, to bypass Chicago and to establish direct contacts with New York, Philadelphia, and Boston."
Dubuque experienced greater stability in contrast to the other major river cities. Mahoney determined "Dubuque...
remained a local marketplace until the mid-I 850s and then briefly performed a secondary entrepôrt role between 1858
and 1860 in the development of the upper Mississippi River before settling into the role of a central marketplace."
Mahoney fails to explain the cause for his claim that the city lost trading status after 1860. He elsewhere dates the period
of serving as central marketplace to 1864-1868 (Mahoney, pp. 318-441).
The railroad challenged the river as the medium of transportation for immigrants and historian Helen Wulkow
determined that "with the coming of the railroad there was a great influx of immigration to settle the farms of the
Dubuque area." This hinterland development, particularly in agricultural products, would be most important to the city
(Wulkow, p. 21).
The 1880 county history echoed this claim, stating that even the mere approach of the railroad westward from
Galena:
Gave a new impetus to business and stimulated enterprise. Real estate once more ascended the plane of
value. Lots in the suburbs were sold at so much per front foot, and property in the business portion of the
city could scarcely be obtained at any price. The Germans began to come in and take upland for farms,
gardens, etc. Manufacturing interests were regarded as valuable. Couler avenue was built up by the
~--~~-~- II ~-- --~
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Section number...É..- Page--11
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
German element who toiled in the workshops and saved their profits to be invested and lost in the
financial crash impending. Farm products were in great demand, and, as one of their residents of
Dubuque said in a recent occasion to the writer, the country folks were intoxicated with joy when they
found the price of hog-meat had risen to $3.50 per hundred. These were the prosperous days of a golden
age for Dubuque. The best times of record, or within the memory of the proverbial oldest inhabitants,
occurred between 1853 and 1858 (1880 County History, p. 530).
The railroad extension beyond Galena to the Mississippi River east bank, opposite Dubuque, masterminded by
Senator George Washington Jones, was central to the demise of competitor Galena. For a time the city was the
northernmost river city with rail access, a double advantage although river towns like LaCrosse also had Milwaukee rail
links within a few years. The lllinois Central rail link was an indirect one to Chicago, the line ran east and then south to
middle illinois before shipments reached the junction with the company's Chicago line, and then ran the same distance
back north to Lake Michigan.
The arrival of the lllinois Central sparked railroad fever on the Iowa side and Dubuquers fmanced the Dubuque
and Sioux City Railroad, which would reach as far west as Cedar Rapids by the early years of the Civil War. That
company incorporated on May 19, 1853 and the line was complete to Dyersville by May 11, 1857. Jessup was reached in
1860 but fmancial woes plagued the company. It reorganized August 21, 1860. At the start of the Civil War the
company had 80 miles of track, four engines and 71 cars. Dubuque interests were greatly frustrated with the painfully
slow westward extension of the line (1880 County History, p. 632).
This Dubuque railroad initiative, the logical if intetTUpted westward continuation of the vital lllinois Central line,
was the truly significant portion of the larger initial railroad network. It tapped into and fostered the accelerated
development of Northern Iowa agriculture and it extended Dubuque's market control and dominance into the Iowa
hinterland. The line literally provided the city with things to ship further east, apart from goods that were produced in the
city itself. Historian David Anderson states that this line was the only railroad running west of the Mississippi north of
St. Lows as of the Civil War but this is not the case, half a dozen lines penetrated westward from Hannibal, Clinton,
Davenport, Burlington, and Winona. The Dubuque and Sioux City was the northernmost Iowa line and enjoyed a longer
line of operation as well as an impressive wartime extension to Cedar Falls. The regional impact of the line, particularly
during the war years is worthy of targeted historical investigation (Anderson, p. 26).
ProPerty Type Discussion:
Railroad related bwldings and structures are all located on the lllinois side of the river during this period.
Indirect associations include the Shot Tower. Rail shipments oflead shot increasingly competed with river shipment
once the railroad reached Dunleith, opposite Dubuque.
Banking and Capital In Dubnque:
Local wealth was from the start reflected in numerous banks. The Miner's Bank of Dubuque, chartered under
authority of the Territory of Wisconsin, was the fITs!. The early banks were private ones, established in what was
basically a hostile environment for state banks in Iowa. These banks performed a broad range of services including
currency exchange, real estate, the issuance of bank notes ("stumptail currency") and the provision of specie. These
banks made regional commercial trade possible. Banks purchased municipal bonds for developments and collectively
banks attempted to make some rhyme or reason of the value and exchange of an endless variety of municipal, financial,
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
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COlmty and State
and public cUITencies. Little is known about the impact of these financial institutions upon city growth and development.
It is notable that but a few of the banks in the following list survived after 1860. Their demise likely marks the passing of
the first generation of Dubuque's financial leaders. Almost from the start the city's banks clustered within a downtown
financial district along Main Street.
a e : ary u uque an s:
Bank Pedod ofServi'e Offi,ers Leoaev
The Min"" Bank of Dubuqu, 1837-42, IS44-45 Ezekiel Lo,kwood. Thomas Martin Crushed by the St. Louis "brok",-s" and lo,"ny
ODDOSed by Edw. Lan.worthy, lost chart",- IS45
Jesup & StimsonlJesup & 1849-1S57 T. S. or William Jesup, Edw. Stimson
Co.lDubuoue Sayin.s Bank
Finley, Burton & Co. IS49-IS56 John W. Finley, G. W. Burton, T. F. Hay
M. Mobley 1851-56 Reo;.anized and closed 185S
Cook, Sament & Co. IS51 E. Geo. Cook, S. S. SarGent, W. J. Barney Cook, Sar.ent, Barney & Co. IS53
J.L. Langworthy & Broth",-s IS51-61+
Markle. Darrow & Co. IS53-5S
Herron Brothers IS54-57
H. W. Marken 1855-63
F. D. Henning & Co. IS56
Tavlor, Richards & Burden IS56-5S
Rodman & Keirn I 857-5S Succeeds T. S. JesU;;-& Co. IS57
Redman. Loyen & Co. lS5S Succeeds Redman & K<:im
W. 1. BarneY & Co. 185S Starts as a land a.encv lS52
City of Dubuque Branch of the Roorganized as National State Bank Noyemb",- IS65,
State Bank oflowa meroin. with First National Bank
Gelpcke, Winslow&Co. 185S-61 Succeeded by Thea. Gelpcke & Co., fails May 6,
1861
T bl I E I D b
B
k
The Great Financial Panic of 1857-58:
The best study of the impact and cause of the 1857-58 panic upon Dubuque is found in Russell Lee Johnson's
Civil War study of Dubuque (An Army For Industrialization: The Civil War and The Formation of Urban-Industrial
Society in A Northern City, 1996). The national financial collapse is attributed to over-speculation particularly in railroad
construction and real estate and the particular trigger was the failure of the Ohio Life illsurance Trust Company in August
1857. Both held true in Dubuque but the city's real problem was that it was living beyond its means. hnports exceeded
exports by $7,000,000 by 1855 and the railroads aaival only skewed those numbers higher. The city's overall economy
rested "on inflated real estate values, imbalanced trade, and a mountain of public and personal debt." The damage was so
extensive that the city's economy was only just beginning to recover at the beginning ofthe Civil War (Johnson, pp. 72-
74)
Eastern interests demanded payment and finns with trade extended on credit, failed. ill Iowa crop failures in
1858 made things worse. Rural customers couldn't pay their bills to merchants. Four Dubuque retailers folded shop in
May 1857. That September local capital rushed to back up Mordecai Mobley's bank. Just a week later the HelTon
brothers bank unaided, collapsed. That December Mobley's bank went under despite substantial loans and support. This
fmally crimped local optimism. During 1857 the city suffered 37 business failures, 26 more in 1858,21 in 1859 and
seven in 1860. Johnson notes "For the years 1857-1859, Dubuque with less than one-tenth ofIowa's businesses and
about one-thirteenth of the state's population, accounted for anywhere from one-third to more than half ofIowa's
liabilities" (Johnson, pp. 79-84).
.~~~.,-
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
Land speculation' and "the weakness of a pre-dominantly commercial economy" were the root causes of the
crash in Dubuque. It was suggested that capitalists had hanned city growth by sinking money into unproductive property,
thereby making it unavailable for productive investment, and at the same time forcing emigrants to go elsewhere to settle
due to the resulting inflated land values in and around the city. Johnson suggests that the city assessor (Kniest)
deliberately deflated assessments, to the delight of working class GenTIans and the exasperation of Republicans who
challenged him in the 1862 election charging that he was holding back city development (Johnson, pp. 85-6).
The editors of the Dubuque Weekly Tribune looked back on the gloomy year just past, in early 1858 and candidly
described the city's situation vis-à-vis the panic:
In a business, as well as in a political point of view, the year 1857 has been a remarkable one. Many
circumstances apparently conspired to embaITass and retard the progress and trade of our city during the
entire year. In the fIrst place the months of January, February, March, and a portion of April, were a
season of unexampled cold. The severity of the weather during this period will long be remembered. So
terrible was it, that it retarded and almost totally destroyed the usual winter trade of the coun1ry north,
west and south of this city, which is tribute to Dubuque. Scarcely was this long and dreary winter fairly
over, and the busy season of seed time and harvest passed, when the money crash, which has convulsed
the whole nation came upon us. The effect of that calamity upon the trade of our city is yet too palpable
and too severely felt to require description. But is it no exaggeration to say that ITom the two causes
which we have mentioned alone, the trade and progress of Dubuque has been retarded at least 50 per
cent.
But we have to add to these other causes. The events of the last few years have turned the tide of
emigration, to a great extent, to other quarters of the Union...
From the remarks which we have just made it might be supposed that the statement of the trade and
progress of the city for the past year, was to be a gloomy and a discouraging one.. .But there could be no
greater delusion. Dubuque, even in the panic year, with all these discouraging and retarding obstacles on
and around her path, has made solid, substantial and most encouraging progress. For this she is almost
entirely indebted to the commanding advantages of her situation, and the fIrst ÍÌ11its of her incipient
Railroad system. Dubuque is emphatically the Key City. She occupies a position immeasurably superior
to that of any of her rivals, and, adding to her natural advantages the still more important auxiliaries of an
extensive and judicious Railroad system, she is destined, inevitably, to become the great city, not only of
the State, but of the vast region west of the Mississippi and north of the Missouri State line (Dubuque
Weekly Tribune, January 5, 1858).
On the commercial ITont, the city had put all of its eggs in its retail commercial basket, relying upon that sector
alone to Cally the city forward. The panic experience taught all that manufacturing and not commerce, would generate
true wealth. Local newspapers however also stressed mining and agriculture as offering the roads to wealth. The city
was exporting its raw products, lead, timber and wheat without adding value to them, and in turn it imported fInished
(expensive) goods. hnports included furniture, which was not produced locally in su[[¡cient quantity to meet demand
(Johnson, pp. 88-89, 94-95).
, Hill top lots which could be "reached after fatiguing marches" were going for $30 per ftontage foot while bottom lots went for $250-
500. Property was being "held at rates that ordinarily would have defied the ambition of any but capitalists" (1880 History, p. 531).
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
The long-term legacy of the panic was the delay in the completion of a number of building projects, particularly
churches and the departure of at least one major architect, John Rague. The real estate pyramid collapsed and the city's
total valuation followed, declining from $13,100,000 to below $9,000,000 by 1859. A great deal of city and county
property was sold for taxes between 1858 and 1860. Rents plummeted by halfforresidences and more for stores in 1859.
The city ceased its issuance of municipal script and turned to bonds to make ends meet. Immigration had ceased, one of
the first signs of trouble, in 1857 and was only resuming by 1859. Even with the city "a shadow of its former self'
however, foundations were being laid for the new Custom House and the Dubuque and Cedar Rapids Railroad was
formed (1880 County History, p. 531; Oldt, pp. 125-26, 144).
Between 1850 and 1860 the city made little progress towards industrialization. The size of shops increased as
did the total number of workers (1850, 43 shops, 173 hands; 186050 shops, 328 hands"). During the ten-year period
capitalization increased, particularly in wood products and skins/leather (Johnson, pp. 88-89, 94-95).
The confidence ofDubuquers was shaken by the sudden end to exponential growth, as was the social cohesion of
the city. Historian Johnson concluded:
As struggled with the consequence of commercial capitalist development, rapid population growth,
and then economic depression, many felt that certain basic values, such as honesty, thrift, and hard work,
were being abandoned for corruption, luxury, and idleness. This led, in turn, to a broader sense of social
crisis. . .Dubuquers interpreted the Panic of 1857 both as a punishment for abandoning republican values
and as a catharsis which could lead people back to the right way. At the same time, however, political
disagreements over the road back to prosperity intensified and increasingly divided the city along ethnic
and class lines (Johnson, p. 96).
Already by mid-I 858 there were hopeful signs of some recovery and there was even a little new construction in
the city as Der National Democrat observed:
Last week business was lively in our city. Streets were filled with farmers and a great quantity of
produce was changed for wares. We Dubuquers cannot complain too much at hard times when travelers
who have seen the cities along the river assure us that in comparison with Dubuque are dead. They say
Davenport is especially hard hit and business poor. If Dubuque did not walk with 7 league boots, its
good to know that it went forward and not backward. Proof of it are the many impressive buildings
erected in al parts of the city, among which are several to note with pleasure, built by our German fellow
citizens-as of Messrs. Duttle and Shunk, and of Strobel and Rath, buildings notable for size and solidity
(Der National Democrat, July 26,1858).
ProPerty Type Discussion:
No early bank buildings are known to survive. Banks simply occupied commercial storefronts during
this period and further research is recommended to determine whether any bank locations survive. At any rate
original storefronts associated with those banks do not survive. One closely associated range of properties are
those that were under construction when the panic stopped local building. Some of these buildings were left half-
6 Many small shops failed to qualify for inclusion in the census Johnson notes. The population schedules list 1, I 73 skilled workers
while the industrial schedule accounts for just 328 of these.
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Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page-B
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County aud State
built for as long as a year. One known example is 1101-13 Main, started as a double storefront by Dr: J. Sproul
of St. Louis in August 1857 and finished in 1859 (proposed Upper Main Historic District). The early residences
of those individuals who were directly involved in the early banks or local inves1ment would be significant.
Examples would be the Edward Langworthy Octagon house (1095 West 3"', NRHP) or the Solon Langworthy
residence (264 Alpine, 1847), both of which are located in the proposed Langworthy District.
An Emerging Industrial and Commercial Base:
Save for lead mining and processing, most early Dubuque industries served a predonrinantly local market. The
city developed a broad amty of mostly smaller-scale industries and some of these were harbingers of larger things to
come. Breweries, wagon and carriage manufacturing, saw and flour/grist mills, and seasonal meatpacking were examples
(Wilkie, p. 261).
The 1850 federal census listed 46 industrial finns in the city, only one of which employed more than ten persons.
The emnnerator noted that it was impossible to determine the products of each finn because of their frequent relocations
(Seventh Census...Products of Industry, MTI 156, #37, National Archives, 1972).
Substantial breweries were established early, all by Gennan immigrants. Mathias Tschirgi and Anton Heeb
started their [InnS in 1844-46. Anton Gehrig purchased the Tschirgi brewery and sold it to Heeb in 1847. Tschirgi
started a second brewery on Julien Avenue and he sold this facility to Kurtz & Welder. Tschirgi then established yet
another brewery with Jacob Schwind, called the Western Brewery. The City Brewery (later called Key City Brewery)
dated from 1852. Titus Schmid started a brewery for home consumption on Couler Avenue and it became the Iowa
Brewery. By 1869 there were nine breweries in Dubuque but this number dropped to four by 1877 (Lyon, pp. 48-49).
Dubuque enjoyed one trade advantage. The Daily Republican noted in August 1856 that "Dubuque is fast
becoming a commercial city from the fact of its close proximity to foreign countries, Dunleith for instance, where
importations can be made free of duties." Dunlieth, later titled East Dubuque, was opposite on the llIinois shore (Daily
Republican, August 9, 1856).
Property Type Discussion:
The Shot Tower (NRHP) is a landmark surviving industrial property from this period. The homes of
industrialists would be significant under this theme given this loss of early properties. Some surviving commercial
buildings might have housed lesser industrial operations. Two other industrial building examples are the Dubuque
Cracker Company, 1856,231 West 2nd (recommended for inclusion in the Old Main District, NRHP) and the Novelty
Iron Works, 1851, northwest comer Pine and East 9th streets (part of the Carr-Ryder-AdamslFarley-Loetscher Industrial
District, recommended as being NRHP-eligible).
Municipal Growth, 1833-1858:
Municipal Growth: Initial Town Building:
Loren Horton concluded that there was no interest in town building apart from lead mining from 1833 through
1837. The settlement continued under its 1830 title "DuBuque Mines." The stuff of town building was available. The
first down river log raft arrived in November 1833 and the first steamboat docking took place that same fall. Galena
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National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number -É..- Page--...ll
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
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County and State
Engineer George W. Harrison prepared a town survey that same time at the instigation of private citizens but this was
simply proposing a reality on paper only. On July 24, 1836, the U.S. Congress authorized funds to survey six Iowa
communities including Dubuque. The federal act reserved public squares and recognized preemption rights by
landholders. The initial 1837 platting effort failed and new commissioners hired surveyor Garret Vliet to finally survey
the town. This period was marked with public unrest and confusion about property rights. Finally preemptions were
correlated with the survey lots and outlots, the plat was certified by the commissioners on November 1, 1838 and
belatedly filed in the Dubuque Land Office on February 4, 1840. Public land sales began November 5, 1838.' The
Wisconsin Territorial Legislature accomplished Town incorporation in April 1837 but Horton suggests that the lengthy
delay in platting the land showed a lack of concern for formalizing a community (Horton, pp. 8-15).
The downtown of 1840 stretched along Main Street between 1" and 3'" streets. There was just one brick
building, that being Jesse Farley's building.
If the business houses, with their gable ends shadowing the pavement, were the reverse of ornamental
architecturally speaking, the private residences possessed little in that regard to add to the spice of variety
to the surroundings. They were confined as a rule to the limits of Bluff, Iowa and cross streets, in
number scarcely exceeding three hundred, built oflog or frame, and with a plentiful lack of the comforts
to be found in those which line these thoroughfares today.
But a few buildings stood north of 51b Street as of 1836. The town then comprised three churches, 50 stores and
shops, 55 dwellings, a single warehouse and four principal and seven cross streets (I" to 71b, Locust to Clay
streets). By the spring of 1838 there were two stone buildings, the only bank located west of the Mississippi
River, 30 stores, three hotels, a lyceum, two academies, a reading room, printing office, coffee house, several
billiard rooms, and "several elegant mansions." Three brick houses were erected 1837-38 and were "finished in
the most elaborate style of the times. Leroy Jackson's residence (extant 1880) at Iowa and 171b streets, was said
to be the first brick house in the county. James Langworthy's house (Iowa and l21b streets, non extant 1880) and
Edward Langworthy (White and l41b, extant 1880) were the other two. Samuel D. Dixon's two-story frame
house, built in 1839 was "regarded as an innovation upon the established custom (extant 1880) (1880 History, pp.
518-22; OJdt, pp. 51-52, 55, 59-60).
Figure 6 (page 24) depicts the original city plat. The original city boundary encompassed 164 acres. In 1847 the
city limits were extended to the northeast and in 1853,7,000 acres were annexed. Note that no building lots had been
platted north of lllb Street. The future Jackson Park is the city graveyard. Streets and lots on the south end of the plat are
simply superimposed over slough land. This map greatly misrepresents the location of the riverbank proper, which was
well to the east of the town site, separated from it by a mixture of sloughs, wetlands and islands. The plat was a curious
one if only because of its avoidance of contact with the river. Its northwest corner was a full half-mile distant. A narrow
triangular parcel barely touched its eastern point on the riverbank. No railroad reservation was provided nor was any
bridge anticipated. The off-compass alignment appears to have been forced by the Couler Valley streets. The entire
streetscape nicely aligns with that valley. Unlike many plats the Dubuque streets did not parallel the riverbank, likely
because there simply wasn't a discernable bank! The plat breaks only once from its overall pattern. South from First
Street the streets do appear to have followed the river. Dodge Street angles northwest prior to crossing Bluffbefore
heading in a straight line southwest. Seven streets do the same, obediently climbing up the western bluffs in a straight
, Prospective settlers might have found few attractive lots available. Just 60 of 220 lots were available once pre-emption claims were
med in September 1840 (Oldt, p. 69).
~"' "~_.~,,--~.,-'"' '~'-"'~"'--
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OM8 App'",,' No. 1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number L- Page-.n
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
line. Somehow, each today successfulIy reaches the blufftops (West 17"', West I I th, West 5th, West 3"', Dodge,
University and Loras). Fourteenth (Loras Avenue) and 17th streets and Dodge Street ran as planned. The others were
overly optimistic. GeneralIy the platters ignored topography and only Bluff Street made accommodations to its
namesake. Just one public area, later tenned Washington Park, was provided for. No river frontage was reserved
(Childs, pp. 109-10; Horton, pp. 15-16).
l'
.'" .
....,
Horton found that the spacing and dimensions for the standard block was actualIy based on a pre-existing pattern
of major buildings on Main Street between Second and Third streets. A row of buildings measured 64 feet in length and
buildings opposite them were 64 feet distant. The basic downtown lot was therefore set at this width and street were
made that wide. The resulting block, containing eight lots, four on each side, bisected by a southeast/northwest running
alIey, and measured 256 feet on their frontages. AlIeys varied in widths and each block was slightly off square given this
slightly narrower width. Odd lot lines and parcels possibly dealt with pre-existing buildings. Surely many buildings
were moved to adjust to this new reality and many doubtless fronted on street lines or into the streets as welI.
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Continuation Sheet
Section number -É-- Page--.M
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
The finite amount oflevelland left its legacy in Dubuque. The standard parcel width is just 25 feet, a
development scale that failed in most other connnunities. Houses are set cheek to jowl and the city's architecture was
forced to adapt to this reality. This lack ofland forced a more intensive usage of the area that was available. Double
houses were numerous although admittedly apartment houses were not connnonplace.
The editor of the Weekly Tribune offered his hopes for the newly popular Gothic style in the following account,
penned August II, 1852. It is interesting that the writer was conversant with prominent streets in other Midwestern
cities:
The fine residence now being erected for Mr. F. V. Goodrich, on Locust Street, is designed to vary in
some degree the sameness of style 80 prevalent in the dwellings of this city.. .We should like to see the
Gothic cottage architecture introduced here. No style of building admits of so great a range for fancy as
this. A building can be made cheap, and yet neat and tasteful, or it can be adorned in the most costly and
elaborate manner, and the style be preserved and the structure satisfY the most critical eye. A hundred
houses might be built in the Gothic style, and no two be alike, and yet all be admirable for proportion and
general effect. The handsomest towns in the Union owe their beauty in the main to the prevailing modes
of architecture. Take for example, Euclid street, in Cleveland, Ohio,--an avenue almost or quite
unrivalled in the United States. What gives it its great beauty and attractiveness? Two things, alone,-
tasteful and ever varying styles of building, and abundance of shade-trees and shrubbery. Take these two
elements away, and in their stead supply a plain and unifoffi1 style of houses, and denuded grounds, and
no traveler would linger there for an instant, or bear away a solitary remembrance that would cause him
to speak in praise of the scene he had left.. . .Dubuque already takes high rank amongst the cities of the
West for natural beauty; we hope soon to see her taking an equally elevated position in the scale of
architectural taste and adornment.
Connnercial architectural design was also much improved as of 1856. The Herald reported on this design
change:
Jmproving.- The buildings that are going up in the various parts of our city are of a superior character,
much surpassing those constructed in previous years; and should the balance of the great number already
under contract prove to be of the same description, they will greatly enhance the beauty of our city, and
will challenge a comparison with the architecture of any city of the West (Herald, June 22, 1856).
The Weekly Express and Herald (March 8, 1857) hinted at an incremental approach to building in the city. The
source noted that many of the new buildings raised up in 1857 "were erected as back buildings for front or main portions
to be added. .." Presumably the reference is made to all types of buildings. If this trend was at all connnonplace at least
in the earlier history of Dubuque, the back portions of buildings might actually be of earlier (and therefore more
interesting) periods than those in front. The first county courthouse was built in two stages, the rearmost section being
next to the jail, and the additiO1i being added to the south or front of the lot. A second reference to staged building
involved double brick houses. John Mullany started half of a double house in 1862 on Locust Street between 14th and
15th streets, [mishing it the next year. The second half was done during 1864. Each half was quite wide, measuring 44
feet in width and 51 feet in depth. This reference indicates that some of these buildings were built in stages, one half at a
time. Not every double house represented the efforts of a single owner/builder. In 1870 F. Mueler and John Lutz built a
two-story double brick on White Street near 9th Street (Herald, January 1, 1864; December 18, 1870).
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National Park Service
OM. Appo,",! No. 1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number -É..- Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque Couutv. Iowa
County and State
That same source made some stylistic references to new buildings. E. F. Bissle's mansion on lOth Street was
done in the "Elizabethian style" with four gables and a central observatory. Kesler's Hotel at White between 5th and 6th
was done "in the modem style of architecture." Lorimer's Hotel was done in a "very neat style of architecture." The
looked-for Gothic was making its appearance with six cited examples. These included the parsonage for the First
Congregational Church (Main and Locust streets), Mr. Green's house on Bluff Street south of 3'. Street, Mr. L. Kneist's
brick house on 16th Street and three houses on Nevada Street (Messrs. Able, Higginson and Gurnsey) were so described.
The elaborate houses on the bluffs, "almost wholly (built by those]. .. who attend to mercantile and other pursuits in the
lower portion of the city" were simply described as 'justly entitled palaces" and doubted that any other western or eastern
cities could match Dubuque's "many expensive and beautiful mansions."
Municipal Growth: Quieting The Land Ownership Problem Allowing For Serious Town Building:
Recall that it was possible that every Dubuque titleholder was at risk of being dispossessed by the Chouteau
heirs, who claimed the land upon which the city stood. Those interests finally forced a legal test case with plaintiff
Patrick Maloney, recipient ofa federal patent in 1847. The suit was filed in 1851. The Chouteau heirs lost in district
court but appealed to the Supreme Court in early 1852. That court finally ruled on February 25, 1854, that the Julien
Dubuque claim had no legal basis. Some 11,000 Iowa residents breathed a collective sigh of relief and went back to work
building towns and farms (Horton, pp. 18-19).
Dubuque's initial growth outpaced that of any other Iowa city and Dubuque was the state's largest city until
1875. Between 1850 and 1860 the population of Julien Township (principally Dubuque) increased 460 percent (Wilkie,
p. 185).
Perhaps one motivation for fonnalizing a town was the competition offered by an array of nearby small
settlements. These were Eagle Point, Mount Pleasant, Couler Village, East Dubuque (not to be confused with present-
day East Dubuque, lllinois, the fonner Dunleith which pre-dated Dubuque's establishment), Prospect Park, South Park
Hill, Julien, Langworthy Hollow and Park Hill. At least some of these were actually incorporated, but most were simply
concerted subdivision developments which had been pushed by Dubuque's leading developers. Dubuque reincorporated
under the authority of the Iowa Territorial legislature on January 17, 1840. The act set initial city boundaries which
absorbed all of the above named settlements. Caleb H. Booth was elected the city's first mayor, along with six aldennen,
in March 1841 (Horton, pp. 20-21; Dubuque Manufacturing and Commercial Facilities, p. 11).
Eagle Point was the location of a separate lead mining operation.' Eagle Point was also a Mississippi River felT)'
crossing to Sinapee, Wisconsin (Dunleith had the other felT)' operation). The fITst city additions headed towards that
place, running to the northeast. The flat broad Couler Valley to the northwest provided a second direction for city
extension. A third growth area was atop the bluffs between Fourteenth (Loras) and Dodge streets. Horton singles out a
small number of key developers; the four Langworthy brothers, Thomas McCraney, John King, Mathias Ham, Frederic S.
Jesup and Frederick E. Bissell, as providing the capital and leadership in these extensions (Horton, pp. 19-21,27).
The "town" population was about 1,000 persons as of 1836. This tripled to 3,108 persons by 1840 but growth
was static for the next 12 years. The 1850 population registered just 4,071 residents, and the 1852 estimate was actually
lower, with a count of 4,012 persons. No plats were filed until 1848 (Horton, pp. 22-25).
8 Eagle Point was laid out as a town in 1837, established by Mathias Ham, Thomas McCraney, F. K. O'Ferral, John Foley.
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Continuation Sheet
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa 1833-1955
Name ofProper1y
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
Several city architectural "habits" had surprisingly early beginnings. Stately houses on the bluff first appeared in
1846-47 when bluff top lots "began to attract notice" and commanded "fancy prices as compared with the havens of
household comfort under the hill." General George Jones was apparently the first actual builder, starting "a princely
resident" in the spring of 1847 near Julien Avenue. The Langworthy brothers followed suit, building on the 3'" Street
extension "at the terminus of the highway." The 1880 county history noted "and trom these beginnings the multitude of
private houses which crown the summits of the hills have since been gradually added." Residents on the highlands paid
for the privilege however. When wells went dry during a June 1863 drought water haulers charged 25-35 cents per barrel
delivered~atop the bluffs, while the going rate below the bluffs was 15-20 cents. The northward march of the recognized
business district began during the summer of 1846 when Lucius H. and Edward Langworthy raised up a brick block on
Main between 5th and 6th streets. "The location may have been regarded as distant trom the center of trade at the time, but
their judgment has been approved for many years" (1880 County History, p. 525; Oldt, p. 148).
Municipal Growth: The First and Only "Boom":9
Growth during 1849 was described as "flat, stale and unprofitable." Gold fever drained some 500 men away
trom the city:
"with them once more departed the prosperity which had for several years previous coquetted in
Dubuque.. .mining, while not entirely abandoned, was engaged in at intervals and but carelessly
prosecuted, and this interest did not revive to any appreciable extent until 1855. Emigration almost
entirely ceased. The area of cultivation was measurable reduced, some of the farmers abandoning their
fields, already in crops for the uncertain prospects held out in the gold diggings. Property in the city
became unsalable, and residents wore an aspect of gloom and disappointment, for the times were hard
and money scarce and little remained to encourage the hope for which had theretofore been indulged, that
the probationary period of the city's existence had passed (1880 County History, p. 527).
That year the downtown contained 22 stores, five blacksmith shops, three cooperages, three carriage/wagon makers, two
gunsmiths, two flour mills, and two liveries. There were seven master builders, two stonemasons, six plasterers and four
painters working in the city (Childs, pp. 88-89).
The boom began in 1852. Forty additions were platted in Dubuque between 1848 and 1857. Just three of these
pre-dated 1852. Thirty-seven plats were filed between 1852 and 1857. The city population increased by 50 percent
between 1852 and 1854 (6,634 residents) and it doubled between 1854 and 1856 (12,284 persons). The year 1857 pushed
the total to 15,957. The Panic of 1857-58 put an end to all this and the 1860 population total was down by 4,000 (13,000
total). The original city boundary of 1841 contained one square mile. The boundaries were extended in 1852 and again
in 1854 in apparent anticipation of what was to come (Horton, pp. 21-25; Dubuque Manufacturing and Commercial
Facilities..., p. 12).
9 No city worthy of the name wanted to have a "boom." After the Panic of1857-58 a "boom" meant uncontrolled and fleeting
damaging over expansion. City builders instead boasted of sustained and solid growth and chided competitors who were booming.
Most Dubuque historians are willing to term the 1850's veritable boom years and the resulting deflation prior to the war underscores
the use of the term.
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OMS Ap",...' No. 1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number -É.- Page----1J..
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
Counts for new buildings are sparse prior to 1849. In May 1840 it was reported that several new buildings were
going up spUITed on by abundant and cheap lumber. In 1849 over 80 brick buildings, "many of them large and costly"
were built. The next year there were 50 new buildings. A hundred new buildings were credited to 1852, and 333 new
ones for 1854. More complete headcounts are available beginning in 1855, when 471 new buildings, including 201 new
residences, contributed to a total of2,600 houses in Dubuque by year's end. New construction during 1856 totaled 502
buildings valued at $1,167,145. The next year construction was cut short by the national financial panic and just 378 new
buildings were built, worth $558,500. Many other new buildings were left unfinished (Oldt, p. 85; Childs, p. 92).10
Construction during 1853 surpassed that of the previous three years. The city gained two brick schools, a steam
sawmill, sash factory, two breweries, the Gennan Odd Fellows hall, and a brick warehouse, along with other
improvements (Childs, p. 92).
During 1854 the city gained the Key City House and GenTIan Bank Building, other additions, and "residences,
too, began to appear at points which but a short time previous had been vacant spaces on the city map" (1880 County
History, p. 530).
The year 1855 was "a year of unprecedented prosperity." The city had a population of 13,000 and it was claimed
that that figure would have been 2,000 greater "if dwellings could have been obtained the past season. The city
brickyards, three in number, produced 8,000,000 brick that year. The large amount of building inflated lumber prices and
seasoned lumber was scarce. There were 12 hotels (six first class, six second class) and 48 boarding houses. The hotels
served an estimated annual patronage of 85,045 persons (Commercial Report---1854 & 1855, pp. 7, 9,14).
The Weekly Express & Herald lauded the impressive amount of local building, warning those who were sensitive
to the noises associated with building, to steer clear of the city:
If any man does not like to hear the sounds consequent upon building, we advise him not to come
to Dubuque, for at every point of the compass and in every part of our city busy tradesmen are
actively engaged in erecting homes and places for merchandising. We have watched these
buildings springing up with a rapidity really astonishing, and although we expected much to be
done in this way during the present season, yet we never dreamed of such a commencement.
What shall be the footing when the season shall come to an end? If the same spirit continues, we
are sure to more than double that of the past, eighteen hundred and fifty six (Weekly Express &
Herald, April 22, 1857).
By 1856 new construction forced the relocation of many older buildings and their movements ftequently blocked
the streets. City growth was so rapid during the year that Dubuque was favorably compared with Chicago's growth rate
of 1854, a $2 million growth figure. Dubuque's growth outpaced Chicago when compared to population. New store
construction in 1856 was triple that of any previous year. The Daily Republican looked back at "the unusually rapid
increase in our population for the last two years" and called for the building to 200 low rent small dwellings to house
10 The topographical setting of even a nruch-smaller city made the task of enumerating building starts a daunting one and there was no
municipal overseer. The Weekly Express and Herald noted at the end of 1856 that it required "a labor of weeks" to amass the building
list. The same source continued "We do not pretend that we have obtained every building erected in the city...we think that
considering the peculiar topographical situation of our city, we have made a pretty clean sweep" (Weekly Express and Herald,
November 27, 1856).
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National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number -É..- Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
those who otherwise had to locate their homes and shops "to the suburbs ofthe city where trade is limited." The first
downtown paving project, Main Street, between 8"' and 14th streets, using crushed blue limestone, and was completed in
1856. An 1853 fire prompted the authorization of fire fighting companies on July 17, 1854. Three volunteer companies
formed between 1854 and 1857. A disastrous fire in June 1859 destroyed a four-storefront block, a theater, the Post
Office and the Odd Fellows Hall, but it wasn't until 1869 that a downtown fire district, mandating stone or brick
construction, was established (Horton, 35-36; Weekly Express and Herald, May 21, November 27,1856; Daily
Republican, September 18,1856).
Linwood Cemetery, consisting often bluff top acres located east of the Couler Valley, was purchased by the city
in 1851 and Jackson Park, the first municipal cemetery located in the north end of the downtown, was cleared of its
burials by 1856 (Horton, pp. 37-38).
The year 1857 was an important one for public improvements. The city started work on the new City Hall, three
market houses, and three schoolhouses and chartered a horse railroad. The first water company simply hauled river water
to private purchasers. The gas company, formed in 1853, was operating by 1856 (Horton, p. 40).
Construction materials shortages delayed the completion of a number oflarge 1856 building projects, these being
the jail, Congregation and First Presbyterian churches and 16 warehouses. These rose to their foundation watertable lines
and stopped. Delay was also the result of a late starting date that year. Brick was the critical factor and most of two
months construction time (June and July) was lost. Several new brickyards were organized in response and existing yards
expanded their machinery (Weekly Express and Herald, March 8, 1857).
The Dubuque Tribune commented on the dramatic change in commercial architecture that had appeared by 1857:
THE NEW STYLE OF BUILDING-IRON FRONTS-IRON HOUSES-RAILINGS, CAPS,
SILLS, COLUMNS, ETC- There is perhaps no department of practical art which has made so
much progress within the last few years as that of Architecture. We can all remember the days
when the principal feature of our houses, stores and warehouses, was their unmitigated ugliness.
They were simply great piles of brick and mortar.. . apparently designed [in] violation of all the
rules of symmetry, proportion, elegance and comfort.. .now we see long rows of edifices,
beautiful and harmonious in their proportions, and combining the greatest elegance with the
utmost durability and safety. Many of these edifices, erected for the most ordinary and hum-drum
purposes of commerce and trade, are as beautiful as a Grecian Temple, and as substantial as the
eternal hills...
The great progress which Architecture has made in America during the last few years is
attributable, in a very great degree, to the introduction of iron as a material for building. This
most useful of all metals has effected a complete revolution in all the previous modes of
Architecture. We spent some time yesterday in examining the office ofDiboll & Plack,
architects and builders, No. III Main street, up stairs, a number of plans for iron buildings,
which excited our approbation and astonishment. Designs of the most beautiful descriptions,
combining every elegance of fmish with the greatest strength and security, were among them. A
massive five story building, with a front entirely of cast iron, and ornamental with the most
elaborate and beautiful designs, sustained an appearance of the most perfect lightness and
harmony. The colunms which support it were perfect gems of beauty, and its entire appearance
was at once sublime and practical.
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National Park Service
OMB App,ml No. 1024.0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number....É.- Page-Æ
The Architectural and Historical Resources ofDubuaue. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuaue County Iowa
County and State
Messrs. Diboll & Plack are prepared to execute with promptness and economy all descriptions
of Iron Work for buildings, ITom a simple wire railing up to an entire five story building. They
have the most extensive arrangement with the manufactures in the East, and can erect iron
buildings as cheap and as well as any firm in the Union. They are also agents for al kinds of iron
railings, window caps and sills, etc., etc. Besides this, they have a number of agencies for
stained and enameled glass for churches, etc. and their specimens of these manufactures are
exceedingly handsome. Their plans for buildings are very attractive, and will be found to amply
repay an examination.
Besides, their business in the line we have indicated, this fInn has a very extensive business as
general builders, and have erected this season a number 0 very handsome houses. They have
contracts for several more, to be commenced early in the spring, and if the other builders of the
city are favored with equal amounts of orders, we shall have a very large amount of building
performed inthe next spring (Dubuque Tribune, December 18, 1857).
Figure 7: 1858 connnercial storeftonts (details ftom Gilbert)
Left to right, Root's Daguerrean Gallery, Couch & Gilbert, booksellers, Littleton & Smith
The city population remained dominated by unmarried males into the llÚd-1850s and males just barely
outnumbered females, a lingering reflection of its original settlement pattern. The city was compact and focused on the
original river terrace location and ninety percent of the city population lived south of 17th Street as of 1856 (Wilkie, p.
185).
Even as the city assumed true urban proportions, its location on the prairie juxtaposed city and prairie fires. The
Daily Times observed in early 1858 "We have noticed prairie fITes for four or five nights past, at the westward in our own
State, at the southeast in lllinois, and at the northeast in Wisconsin. On one or two evenings they were seen ITom our
bluffs simultaneously in three States (Daily Times, January 9, 1858).
The U.S. Congress made the city a Port-of-Entry in 1858 and this qualified Dubuque for its own customs house.
Marine hospitals also were established to meet the health needs of inland sailors and Dubuque appears to have gained one
of these as well (Horton, p. 40).
ProPerty Type Discussion:
This era is very well represented by a great many surviving buildings. Landmark public buildings include the
Dubuque County Jail, and the City Hall, previously discussed. Another public building is the Third Ward School, 1199
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United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMe Appm",' No. 1024.00>8
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page--2Q
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
Central (1857, John Rague, architect), the sole and rare survivor of three identical public schools. Early church and
institutional buildings include St. Raphael Cathedral (221 Bluff, 1857-59, Cathedral District, NRHP), the Female
Seminary (17 West 17"" 1854, Jackson Park District, NRHP). The only early and well-preserved double storefront
commercial block is 231 West 2nd (1857, proposed to be added to Main Street District, NRHP). Early residences include
421 Locust (c.1855), 103-05 B1uff(c.1855), 352-54 Bluff (c. 1850), 432 Bluff (1857),436 Bluff (1857),448 Bluff (1857),
450 Bluff (J. Kleine House, c.1855), 474 Bluff(c.1855), 462 West 3"' (James and Jane Mullen House, c.1856), 486 West
4'" (c.l856), 340 West 5'" (J. H. Thedinga House, 1855),426-28 West 5'" (1856-67), all of which are located within the
Cathedral District, NRHP. Jackson Park District (NRHP) examples include 1373-95 Iowa, a pre-1860 rowhouse, 1592
Iowa (1856), 1108-36 Locust (Michel O'Brien rowhouse, 1856), 1192 Locust (Frederick Weigle House, 1854-55), 1222-
40 Locust (c.l855), and 1455 Main (George Crane House, rear portion, c.1856). The West 11 '" Street District includes
1207 Grove Terrace (Benton M. Harger House, 1854), and 1133-35 Highland Place (John Hancock, George Burden
duplex, 1856),596 West 11 '" (1851). The Langworthy District contains the Solon Langworthy (264 Alpine, 1847) and
Edward Langworthy (octagon, 1095 West 3"',1857, NRHP) houses, and the General Warner Louis House, 325 Alpine
(1854). The brick duplex at 40 East 16'" dates to 1852. The oldest residence is the William Newman log cottage (1833)
which was relocated to Eagle Point Park. This list is by no means inclusive. A great many residences can be dated to
pre-1872 (the date of the first bird's eye view) and many of these will certainly date back to pre-Civil War years and
many others have yet to be surveyed and researched. Inclusion in this list is not necessarily indicate individual National
Register eligibility. These buildings are good candidates for additional historical research and many are architecturally
noteworthy (refer to Context #5). The great majority are already National Register listed or are in the process of being
listed.
Ethnicity and Settlement:
Dubuque's foreign-born population, principally Irish and German, comprised 42 percent of the city's population
as of 1860. Statewide, 28.3 percent ofIowans were foreign born as of that census year. The Irish were the largest ethnic
group in Dubuque until the late 1840s. As early as 1839, an unsuccessful effort was made to form a militia regiment
composed of Irish, German, French and Dutch émigrés (Wilkie, p. 185, Calkins, p. 43).
The original mining population was predominantly male and appears to have been of Northern origin although
Calkin states that two-thirds of the 51 miners at Dubuque as of 1830 were Irish. Agriculturists settled in the area
beginning in 1838 when the separate Iowa Territory was established. Cholera epidemics doubtless slowed settlement but
sources are contradictory about the time sequence of these epidemics. Horton states that 1848-1857 witnessed incessant
waves of the disease and specifies 1852 as the worst year. Another source says two successive epidemics struck in 1839
and 1840. Both Germans and Irish immigrated to America in record numbers beginning in the late 1840s and Dubuque's
growth boom nicely coincided with these movements. The Catholic Church is credited by some sources with actively
recruiting German and Irish Catholics to the state to build up the church. This important point deserves close consider-
ation because the rapid population growth is likely attributable to this role of the church (Horton, p. 38; Dubuque
Manufacturing and Commercial Facilities. .., p. 11; Calkins, p. 43).
Dubuque was both the destination point and conduit for emigrants. "Letterette" wrote a letter to the Chicago
Journal in 1857, and described how 8,000 emigrants had been ferried across the river to Dubuque aboard the ferry-
steamer Peosta during three months of 1867:
The Key City is a marvel. Its elegant and tasteful residences, its substantial stores, its spacious streets,
its air of something more than comfort and little less than luxury, indicate an eastern town on its
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Continuation Sheet
Section number -L- Page--ll
The Architectural and Historical ResollIces of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
hundredth birthday; while its improvements begun, its growing avenues, its nervous, restless action, its
spirit of dashing and fearless enterprise, betoken the far-west city...
Amid this unredeemed wilderness--what a word for such a place!-splendid homes, such as we see on
the banks of the Hudson and Potomac, are sprinkled everywhere niched in some natTow interval, perched
upon some bold brow, nestled in some islet grove amid this 'sea' ofland, or set upon the lookout summit
ofa bluff (Daily Times, December 24,1857, copied from Chicago Journal "several weeks ago")
The Irish-born comprised the city's largest ethnic group as early as 1835 and maintained that distinction until the
mid-I 850s. They accounted for roughly a quarter of the city's population in the 1850 and 1860 census counts. They
enjoyed fairly immediate political power and elected F. K. a-Ferrall mayor for successive three terms, 1844-46. Other
prominent Irishmen were Patrick Quigley, who served in the Wisconsin territorial legislature, and Judge Charles Corkery.
From the beginning the Irish gravitated to the south end of the city (termed "Dublin") and the Germans to the north end.
Lyon locates Dublin as south of 3'" Street. It is probable that the Germans were dominant in terms of their wealth,
business acumen, and politics although it wasn't until 1864 that a German resident was first elected mayor. Housing for
the two groups was as different as night and day if some sources can be believed. The Irish were content, it was said, to
reside in frame shacks in the former mining village areas, while German homes were of more substantial brick
construction. Separate Catholic churches and parishes were established early on. By 1856 there were three German-
language newspapers. Each group had its own shopping areas (Horton, pp. 41-42; Lyon, pp. 141,294; Auge).
The Irish congregations struggled with Bishop Loras and their church over the issue of church support for the
establishment of a separate parish, rather than a mere mission church and a clamoring for Irish priests, rather than French
or German ones. They refused to pay their pew rents and twice caused the Bishop to flee the city to fmd tranquility
elsewhere in the hopes that the locals could sort things out. The battle was no minor one and Loras at one time
threatened a severe interdiction of St. Patrick's parishioners. It was the Irish perception that Loras had used church
resources to build new German parish churches. Loras had no animosity for his Irish congregates as is evidenced by his
efforts to recruit Irish Catholics to the new diocese. Early Irish ethnic organizations included the Sharmock Society (pre-
1848), St. Raphael's Temperance Society (pre-I 848), and the Royal Order of Hibernians (peaked in popularity 1840s-
50s). As was the case with most groups, the Irish themselves distinguished sharply between "lace curtain" and "shanty"
Irish (Carey, pp. 32-33;Wilkie, p. 285; Lyon, p. 141).
The Germans, in historian John Hawgood's words, "followed the frontier at a distance." They preferred
developed land and were more clannish. The first large wave of German out-migration took place in 1854, the majority
of pre-Civil War German emigrants came from the southwestern German states (Hawgood, pp. 22-39).
The rapid growth of the German-born population of Dubuque is apparent in the 1850-1860 census counts.
Germans accounted for 17.8 percent of the city population in 1850 and 32.4 percent just ten years later. There of course
was no deEmed "German" nationality during these years and these figures represent Gennan-speaking peoples, including
Swiss, Luxembourgers and Alsatians. The Germans built three successive Germania Halls (none of which survive)
beginning in the 1850s, all of which were located in the northern end of the downtown proper (between 2nd and 3'. streets
on Main Street, the northeast comer of 12th and Clay streets, and the southeast comer ofIowa and 9th streets) Hawgood,
pp.22-39).
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Figure 8: Comparative real estate holdings (Table by Jim Jacobsen, data from Auge).
As Figure 8 indicates, both ethnic groups reduced their proportions of landless households during the ten years
1850-60. Germans in particular developed a large land-owning middle class.
Swiss and Luxembourger minorities as noted tended to get lost in the larger "German" population. The Swiss
Grüetli-Verein, with 51 charter members, was fonned in 1886. There was also the Amerikanischer Schweizer Club, a
pro-assimilation group (Wilkie, p. 300).
Scots were present early on in Dubuque and had their Bums Club in place by 1859. Their St. Andrews Society
offered assistance to the poor. Like the Irish, temperance was a dividing issue within their ranks, and the St. Andrews
group split over the matter in 1855 (Lyon, p. 36).
The largest population of Aftican Americans in what was to become Iowa, 72 in number, lived in Dubuque as of
1840. Much is made of the legal tolerance of slavery in the city at this time and the exact breakdown of free and slave is
undetermined. Dubuque had 15 Jewish families in residence by this same time. Their numbers increased only during the
1880s and 1890s. A predominately Jewish neighborhood ("Jerusalem") developed on the flats along 14th and 17th streets
although it is unclear when this occurred. Alex Levi, a French Jew, had the honor of being the first naturalized citizen in
Iowa. He immigrated to the area in 1837 (Lyon, p. 141; McGee, p. 51).
ProPerty Tvue Discussion:
The homes of early ethnic leaders would best represent this sub-theme. The J. H. Thedinga House, 340 West 5th
(1855, Cathedral District, NRHP) is a good example. Thedinga was the first German-American mayor of Dubuque and
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served in numerous elected positions in addition to being a leading merchant. The Irish cottage behind 480 Emmett
(Cathedral District, NRHP) is a rare survivor from "Little Dublin" although it has not yet been dated back to this
contextual period. Many of the pre-Civil War residences listed in the preceding section can likely be associated with
early ethnic leaders and that additional research is recommended.
The Role ofthe Catholic Church in Dubuque History:
Dubuque was regionally significant as an administrative hub supporting for religious-based settlement and
organization to points north and west. The Catholic Church played a critical role in the establishment of towns and
parishes. The Dubuque diocese actively recruited foreign-born immigrants and much of the settlement of Minnesota and
northeast Iowa was the direct result of the concerted effort by Dubuque priests and bishops to insure the provision of a
protective church network for its adherents on the frontier.
The Catholic Church was present at Dubuque's inception, the first mass being said in the summer of 1833. The
first church, St. Raphael's was begun in the summer of 1835. The Diocese of Dubuque was established on July 28, 1837
with just three churches. It covered a huge territory that included the settled areas of Eastern Iowa and Minnesota. Rev.
Pierre Jean Mathias Loras (1791-1858), the first bishop, arrived in Dubuque on April 21, 1839. He found a town
population of2,500 half of whom were of the Catholic faith. Loras and a small number of French priests would
transfonn the diocese within just a few years by means of their impressive efforts and commitments. They were off to a
rough start however because none of them spoke Gennan (and they weren't Gennan)! The situation was so bad that
some Catholics chose to attend Protestant services that were partially Gennan-spoken (interview, Mike Gibson; Oldt, pp.
871-72).
A measure of Loras' accomplishment was the jump in diocesan population, said to be 54,000 as of 1858. Loras
oversaw 48 priests, 60 churches, 40 church stations. The new parishioners were German and Irish and both groups had
experienced mass emigration from their homelands during the late 1840s. The population had settled the county, the city,
and more broadly beyond those points. St. Paul Diocese was fonned in 1850 (Oldt, p. 873).
Perhaps Loras and his minions redirected newly arrived immigrants to Dubuque but it is certain that he actively
recruited religious orders to Dubuque and Dubuque County and these made possible the remarkable and in some
instances nationally significant religious, educational and health institutions which would distinguish the Diocese. One
of the most notable, the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was transfonned from a small insignificant group
of Irish nuns to the nation's largest order. They came to Dubuque in 1843. The Trappist Monks, Brothers of the
Christian fustitute and the Sisters of Visitation were the earliest orders to respond to Bishop Loras' recruiting efforts.
The first parochial school was established in 1843 at St. Josephs Prairie, a point ten miles southwest of the city. Loras
was apparently attempting to establish a separate rural Catholic community at that point. It wasn't until 1858 that the
school was moved to Dubuque. The New Melleray Abbey (fonned 1849) was just two miles away. . This was later
known as St. Josephs College, and is now Loras College (Oldt, pp. 873-74).
Ambitious planning sometimes outdistanced financial realities. The new "uptown" cathedral languished for five
years (1847-52) but never rose above its foundations. A replacement cathedral was begun in 1857 and finished in 1863.
The Gennan Catholics started St. Mary's Church at 8th and White streets in 1851 and built the present-day replacement in
1864-67. The Sacred Heart and Holy Ghost congregations were fonned from St. Mary's in 1879 and 1895 respectively
(Oldt, p. 876, Wilkie, p. 178).
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From the beginning, Dubuque's churches were substantially built and reflected high style (Greek Revival and
Gothic) influences in their designs. In con1rast to residential and commercial construction, many of these buildings were
built in cut stone. Several of these smaller churches never finished planned steeples (Oldt, p. 876).
Property Type Discussion:
St. Raphael's Cathedral (1857-59, NRHP) is the preeminent historical building associated with early Catholic
history of Dubuque.
Context #2, The Key City, 1859-1893:
The Civil War Years: The War Divides the City:
The best and most comprehensive study of the impact of the Civil War on Dubuque is Russell Lee Johnson's
two-volume study of Dubuque (An Army For Industrialization: The Civil War and The Formation of Urban-Industrial
Society in A Northern City, 1996). A broad array of other excellent studies have focused uniformly on the theme of
domestic opposition to the war effort and particularly upon the leading role played by Herald editor Dennis Mahoney.l1
Johnson's study is the only comprehensive exploration of all of the wartime sub-themes and is therefore of great value
and is highly recommended. His study used Dubuque to support his basic thesis that the war 1ransformed Dubuque (and
other indus1rial cities) and produced a society that fit more naturally with the postwar industrial society that followed.
The war experience also served to underscore the sense of cultural separation between Dubuque and Iowa in general.
Dubuque was left with a taint of alleged disloyalty or at least the lack of a full-fledged support for the war. Symbolically,
the Soldiers and Sailors Civil War monument, erected in Des Moines in 1893, omitted Dubuque's Francis Herron in its
series of major generals depicted on its base.
The Civil War years set the stage for Dubuque's eventual indus1rial dominance. As of 1870 it was the 93«1
largest industrial city in the country measured in gross product. Within 20 years it had advanced to 70th place. The war
years witnessed the replacement of a pa1rician class leadership with an en1repreneurial class. This process of replacement
was largely completed during the course of the war as patricians died or retired. The latter tended to be Republican in its
political leanings. A fundamental distinction between the two groups was the preference for real property holdings on the
part of patricians, and for personal property by the en1repreneurs. Curiously of 30 Dubuquers possessing $100,000 in
assets as of 1870, not one had seen military service during the war! (Johnson, pp. 166,234-39).
Dubuque was singled out by the national press for its perceived opposition to the war. It had good company
regionally, particularly in Milwaukee and Chicago, but Dubuque somehow emerged as the national example. Within
Iowa war opposition was s1rongest in Keokuk, Burlington and the southeastern counties but alleged opposition was said
to be throughout southern Iowa (Johnson, p. 168).
Today is hard to appreciate the all-or-nothing loyalty mindset of the Civil War years. Jncreasingly there was no
middle political ground where one could fmd sanctuary. Farmer George Smith of Henderson, Kentucky, said it all when
he recorded in his diary in July 1862, "we seem to be between two fires as it is now getting dangerous to belong to either
It See for example Hubert H. Wubben, The Dubuque Herald In The Fight For The Northwest, M.A. Thesis, State University ofIowa,
Iowa City, 1958, Martin Edward McGrane, Dubuque, editorial battleground 1860-62, M.S. Thesis, Iowa State University, Ames,
1972, and Helen Wulkow, Dubuque In The Civil War Period, M.A. Thesis, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, 1941.
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party or even to remain neutral..." Throughout the country, but particularly where regular or irregular military operations
were underway, everyone was forced to affiliate with one extreme camp or the other. As a result the more complex
spectnnn of political and religious thinking was cruelly skewed into diametrically opposed opposition coalitions. In the
North one was either for the war or in league with traitors (Jacobsen, Caught In The Middle; The Civil War Years on the
Lower Ohio River, 1998).
Dubuque was dominated by a business elite as of 1860 and that class almost exclusively made up the ranks of the
two pre-war militia companies. The working class was predominantly immigrant in composition. The fish provided
most of the unskilled labor. The working class of Dubuque was also notable for its lack of accumulated property. The
fish resided in the southernmost First Ward, the Gennans in the northernmost Third and Fifth wards. Ethnic friction
divided the working class. hnmigration was a fundamental issue to the new Republican Party, given their Whig and
Know-Nothing anti-emigrant origins. The Democratic Party in contrast linked its interests with the immigrant masses
(Johnson, pp. 124-32).
Dubuque was politically Democratic from its earliest mining days and with few exceptions its mayors were
members of that party. Johnson credits the struggle with the federal government over mining rights, the presence of
prominent Southern-born leaders in the city, a general pro-slavery stance regardless of birthplace and the large immigrant
population as strengthening Iowa's "Gibraltar of Democracy." Even then Democrats squabbled internally, essentially
between miners' and immigrants' interests, and it took the loss of four successive mayor races through 1854 to bring
them together under the general leadership of Dennis Mahoney (Johnson, pp. 133-35).
Mahoney and compatriot Joseph Dorr, came out of the panic experience with a strong anti-banking, anti-moneyed
aristocracy and anti-eastern mindset. The latter in particular envisioned a Northeastern conspiracy to prevent the
inevitable ascendancy of the western states and the opposition in Dubuque naturally were collaborators in support of that
conspiracy. Railroad capitalization became the hot local issue, particularly when ownership of the Dubuque and Sioux
City line passed to mostly eastern hands in an 1860 reorganization. Echoing Jacksonian Democracy, Mahoney and Dorr
linked their interests with the working class and the people. This emphasis on what Johnson terms the "non-propertied"
effectively drove wealthier Democrats either into opposition to Mahoney or out of the party. The anti-immigration
"wedge" issue intensified with the brief presence of Observer in the city. The fish and Catholic Church control were
repeatedly alleged (Johnson, pp. 136-143).
Local Republicans elected their f1Ist candidate slate in 1857, then reappeared merged into a businessman-
dominated reform party after the financial deluge. The municipal bailout of the debt-ridden Central Island Improvement
Company set the stage for Democratic charges that if the people were to take the debt, why didn't they take the property
as well? As of 1860, Johnson determined that business class occupations accounted for 73 percent of the Republican
leadership and 57 of the Democrats. In terms of property ownership, the Republican leadership ranks were top-heavy and
bottom-light, with an average difference of$5,000 favoring the Republicans. Finally half of the Republican leaders were
eastern-born and just over a third were immigrants while half of Democratic leaders were fish or German born and just
38 percent were native-born. Southern-born leaders divided equally between the two parties in terms of percentage, but
favored the Democrats two to one (Johnson, pp. 144-58).
Author Johnson penned the following most thoughtful description of the fundamental motivations for each of the
two main political parties:
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. . .Republicans can be thought to have rallied the successful, aspiring, and hopeful entrepreneurs, as well
as those old settlers who adapted easily to the entrepreneurial view of economic competition.
Republicans also attracted the support of those people most inclined to want to enforce some standard of
behavior on the unruly mob of immigrants and workers. Democrats, on the other hand, drew their
support from artisans and workers-whose ideology was rooted in the republican concept of
independence-immigrants, old settlers uncomfortable with the entrepreneurial spirit, and men to whom
the free market had not been kind (Johnson, p. 159).
Mahoney himself personified the Democratic ranks, his losses to the paniè being self-reported at $40,000. In the
1859 election Mahoney's party successfully seized city government, only to see the RepublicanlReformers return
victorious in both 1860 and 1861. The national Republican ticket was also bolstered, with 46 percent of the tally for
Lincoln, contrasting with a 38 percent turnout for John Fremont in 1856. Johnson observed that it took the Civil War
experience to return the city to its historic Democratic allegiance (Johnson, pp. 160-161).
The coming of the war shattered the Democratic Party ranks and the more propertied (those actually owning
more property than either Republicans or the residual Democrats) "War Democrats" aligned with the Republicans in a
"Union Party" coalition. Despite these defections, no Republican would be elected in the city between 1861 and 1867
and in the 1865 vote, taken even as the South was being eviscerated, Republicans prevailed in just five of 55 ward-level
election contests (Johnson, pp. 178-191).
Republican pro-war thinking interpreted the issue as one the "restoration of the health of American society" in
Johnson's words. They saw the Southern struggle as one led by anti-democratic tyrants and autocrats. Indeed many War
Democrats early on favored the strongest possible war effort hoping to free the Southern people from their controlling
leadership and thereby quickly ending the war with the least cost to life and property. Republican and War Democrat
support for emancipation, slowly and reluctantly developed over the course of the war, was explained as being beneficial
to white free labor (slavery put the two races on equal footing, a free labor situation would quickly make evident the
superiority of white labor), rather than an issue of fundamental human rights or racial equality. Many equated the
Abolitionist with the Democrat, both being ranked as tyrants and anti-Unionists (Johnson, pp. 195-200).
This discussion is intended to set the stage for Dennis Mahoney's much discussed opposition to the war. Johnson
notes that Mahoney was hardly the best person to take up the editorial pen against the war. While somewhat careful with
his statements through 1862, he became increasingly strident and careless and he was less constructive and self-absorbed
after his release from federal prison. Mahoney's long-term legacy was his public support that was represented by his
1867 election as county sheriff (Johnson, pp. 163, 190).
Initially Mahoney opposed secession as well as the Republican management of the war effort. He early
supported a military draft thinking that it would either equalize the burden of the war (i. e., a rich man's war, poor man's
fight) or it would expose the reluctance of the elite to perform military duty for all to see. His war opposition was largely
rooted in his strict construction of the constitution and he saw the Republicans as using the war to federalize the country
at the expense of the states with a resulting military despotism (such a conspiracy theory was nicely anti-Western from
his perspective, Mahoney feared that the West would have to pay more than their share of the resulting war debt and that
postwar tariffs would remain high to pay for the war). His opposition to the war was founded on a belief that the South
could not be militarily subdued in a short war, nor could they quickly prevail over the North. Still he offered his services
the state to raise and lead an all-Irish regiment, an offer that was not accepted. Mahoney's war opposition resulted in his
arrest by u.S. Marshall Herbert Hoxie the morning of August 14, 1862. He was imprisoned in Old Capital Prison in
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Washington for nine weeks. Released without trial on November 11, he returned home to Dubuque but lost his paper to
War Democrat Patrick Robb. Mahoney was one of a number of citizens who suffered detainment by the government
during the war. This number included several congressmen (Johnson, pp. 189,202; 1880 County History, p. 533).
The 1860 election in Dubuque reflected the divisive nature of the national ticket. The Democratic Party split
with a northern candidate, Stephen Douglas ("the Giant Killer") and southern candidate John C. Breckinridge.
Constitutional Unionist party candidate John Bell further split the traditional Democratic vote. Abraham Lincoln headed
the Republican slate. Evening torch light processions were the favored political expression of the time and Dubuque was
replete with the competing shows of strength for each candidate. Douglas visited Dubuque on October 17, 1860, drawing
an estimated 15-20,000 listeners in the public square. His procession avoided passing beneath a Lincoln banner
suspended over Main Street. Five hundred torches promoted his coming visit, the vanguard being the "Young Giants"
boys club. Termed "the Secessionists in Dubuque" by the Herald, supporters ofBreckinridge, led by the city's
postmaster, f!Ted off five cannon for their man at a June 7, 1860 gathering. A post-election Lincoln Ball at Turners Hall
indicated, according to the Herald, that "the late antagonism of political parties has become merged with a pleasanter
feeling, the idea of Union seemed to be a prominent one-we'll bet on the Union, its all safe here in Dubuque" (Herald,
June 7, 11, October 2, 3, 17,November21, 1860).12
The Civil War and Dubuque's Economy:
Many in Dubuque were convinced that the allegations of disloyalty deprived the city of "favors" from either the
state or federal government. The most potentially substantial charge was that the transcontinental railroad was routed
southward, bypassing Dubuque. Other charges centered on the withdrawal of capital or the Eastern refusal to credit
orders from Dubuque merchants during the war years (Johnson, p. 201).
Real local financia1losses came with the closure of the lower Mississippi market and shipping route. Railroads
now had no competition and struggled to pick up the traffic once divided between rail and river and freight rates went up.
Frequently during the war a shortage of cars caused exports to pile up. The worst of these lasted three months during late
1863 and five to eight tons of freight accumulated. Another such car shortage occurred in January-February 1865 and it
was estimated that a million bushels of grain were stalled on the Dubuque and Sioux City line. Dubuque merchants
traveled to Chicago in 1864 to protest the shipping situation. The military monopoly on shipping also relegated non-
essential loads to the siding. The shipping backup shut down operations on the Dubuque and Sioux City but even then
revenue jumped $136,000 between 1863 and 1864. The legacy of the loss of the river was the replacement of north/south
grain shipping by east/west shipping, a "habit" that would not be changed until after World War II with the maturation of
trade on the nine-foot Mississippi River channel (Anfinson, pp. 29-32; Wulkow, pp. 12-14).
Dubuque paid a massive financial penalty for its lack of a Mississippi River railroad bridge. Everything bound
east on the rails had to be ferried over the river with the attending costs and delay inherent in unloading, barge loading
and unloading, and reloading onto the cars on the lllinois shore. This and the train delays were termed the "Great Freight
Blockade." The lllinois Central displaced those who made a living of delivering and crossing the goods by forming its
12 Douglas had carried the city (49 percent in the city, 58 percent on the full county vote) over Lincoln (46 percent city, 39 percent
county) with Bell and Breckinridge both relegated to 119 votes (two percent). Four years later, Lincoln was rebuffed (42 percent city,
34 percent county) and peace candidate Democrat George McClellan won by a landslide (57 percent city, 65 percent in the county)
(Wilke, p. 231).
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own transfer company. Oldt noted "the city had paid large sums as unjust ITeight and transfer charges" throughout the
war and this recognition of injury prompted postwar demands for a railroad bridge (Johnson, pp. 206-07; Oldt, p. 158).
Wartime construction in the North during the Civil War resumed at any scale only by 1863. Dubuque reports
record levee work in Augnst 1862, the construction of a floating planing mill, the Dubuque and Sioux City Railroad
passenger depot, and a railroad round house built in 1863. Hotels were busy and expanded and remodeled. By 1863
there were no vacant houses in the city. One loss, purportedly a punishment to a disloyal city, was the removal of the
mail distribution center in 1863 (Oldt, pp. 144-147).
lnf1ation anived with the war, particularly by 1862, driven by printing press currency issuances and private
competition with military expenditures for the same goods and labor. Banks stored the greenbacks and issued their own
script, further feeding the inflation ITenzy during 18623-64. As a result the 1860 dollar was equal to the 1864 value of
$1.89. Wages actually lost value in response to inflation. Food prices in Dubuque were slow to escalate but did so by
early 1863 and peaked in January 1865. Any energy or interest in relief for the poor during the war was exhausted by
efforts to provide relief to soldiers and their families. Inflation was a boon to local stock companies, adding capital value
to their operations. Specie (coin money) had nearly disappeared from circulation by early 1862, hoarded away due to its
greater value over greenbacks. Packages of postal stamps largely substituted for coin, along with merchants' tokens and
script (Johnson, pp. 208-214; Oldt, pp. 143-46).
Striking workers during the war were publicly supported and ice cutters and carpenters were successful in their
1863 strike actions. Tailors, shoemakers, cabinetmakers and wagon makers also successfully struck for higher wages.
The newspapers supported these successes but denied their support to their own employees the typesetters who failed in
their strike effort. These successful strike actions benefited ITom the labor shortage that came with the war (Johnson, pp.
215-17).
Several business sectors directly or indirectly benefited ITom the war. Shipping demands overwhelmed the
Dubuque & Sioux City. In general wartime railroads expended little in inITastructure or rolling stock and the massive
resulting profits made possible the resumption of westward construction. The grain trade emerged from the war as a key
sector in the city's economy and Dubuque was said to be only secondary to Milwaukee and Chicago as a grain shipping
point (Johnson, pp. 218-19).
Pork packing was one industry, later ofmajor importance to the city, that had its real start as a result of the war.
Previously the industry was strictly seasonal and largely local but some proportion of scale and permanent operations
were in place by 1861-62. By the winter of 1862-63 there were II local packing firms in business. This number was cut
by more than halfto six by the next winter but the total slaughter actually increased. The number estimated to have been
shipped live ITom the city was double the number killed, some 25,800 head. Still the city's packing industry lagged
behind the other state packing centers, located in southeastern Iowa. William Ryan, a mend of Ulysses Grant, relocated
ITom Galena to Dubuque in the early war years and is said to have received large government packing contracts as a
result of his high connections (OIdt, pp. 147, 151).
War contracts promoted the development of the city's industrial base. Oldt reported that cannon were cast in the
city in 1861 but offers no particulars as to the firm or contracting entity. Luflin Smith possessed a quantity of gunpowder
and might have been manufacturing it when Co!. William Allison was instructed in late August 1861 to seize it "in the
name of the State ofIowa-and detail a squad to hold the same." A month later, the powder, stored at Newton and
Dubuque, was released back to its owner. The Revenue Collector at Dubuque originallyimpounded the powder due to
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rumors that it was to be shipped south to disloyal hands. The owner protested that it was mostly blasting powder but
there was 100 barrels of gunpowder. Allison hired a secret service man to watch both warehouse and the feny prior to
being ordered to drop the matter. Julius Graves produced lead shot briefly (June 1862) in the shot tower and then in a
lead mine shaft although he had no direct army contracts. He also sold war bonds through his bank and supplied the
recruits at Camp Franklin. Tailor Mark W. Smith produced army uniforms and one of his contracts called for 660
employees. In 1864 George Beaubien had a contract for harness and Thomas Connolly had one to make wagons. New
lead lode discoveries and soaring prices produced a veritable boom in lead mining during the war. Buying and selling
horses was another profitable venture. All three of these businesses enjoyed postwar growth. Other firms located to the
city during the war and added to the developing industrial base. One example, a tobacco factory relocated to the city
!Tom Ohio but stayed just two years before removing to Chicago for better market and shipping advantages (Johnson, pp.
222-229,237; Wulkow, pp. 19-20; Allison to Baker, August 27, 1861, Baker to Allison, August 21, September 22, 1861,
Record Group 101, State Archives).
Johnson determined that between 1860 and 1870 Dubuque tripled its number of industrial workers, tripled the
amount of its industrial capitalization, increased its payroll wages five times, and the result was a fourfold increase in
gross product. Larger mechanized factories now accounted for 45 percent of the workforce. Non-mechanized artisans
shops grew in number but employed fewer workers than they had in 1860. Engineers increased !Tom 30 in 1860 to 81 in
1870 (Johnson, pp. 165,229-30).
Figure 9: Departure of the I" Iowa Infantry Regiment companies !Tom Dubuque's Lower Levee, April 22, 1861
(sketch by Alexander Simplot, Harpers Weekly, reproduced in "Our Early Years," p. 73).
Of 595 volunteers found in the 1860 census, Johnson determined that 65 received medical discharges for sickness
or injury, 4 I were wounded and left the service early, 62 died in service and in sum one of five soldiers came home with
a disability or had died. Working class soldiers were more likely to die in service. Comparing the 1860 and 1870
occupations in Dubuque, Johnson found that the shift !Tom commercial to industrial activity was reflected in the
downward mobility of "high non-manual" to "low non-manual" roles, while the working class experienced an upward
mobility, !Tom low manual to artisan level occupations. Johnson uses Steven Ross's more descriptive term
"particularists" meaning that these men were performing and repeating a single production process in 1870, while in 1860
the true artisan would have completely produced and had control over the production of an item such as a wagon.
Between 1860 and 1870 nearly every industry added more labor to its production process. Johnson also found that while
all workers in 1870 tended to own more property than did their 1860 counterparts (more likely personal than real
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The Architectural and Historical Resornces of Dubuque, Iowa, 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
property) veterans were better able to accumulate such property than were non-veterans. One theory was that enlistment
bounties and substitute fees provided a savings nest egg that workers could never have accumulated. At the same time he
found no upward movement on the part of veterans and their occupations. The veterans were more likely to stay in
Dubuque. Johnson concluded that the veteran was "better able to cope with life and work in [an] increasingly urban-
industrial Dubuque" after the war (Johnson, pp. 700-01, 717, 723-26, 733-35, 774).
The Civil War: The Dubuque Area Military Mobilization:
Dubuque provided a proportionate number of volunteers including an impressive number of complete military
companies. Sufficient recruits prevented the military draft from operating in the city throughout the war. Heeding
RUBsell Johnson's findings, it is probable that the pre-war rosters of the two prewar infantry companies suffered a certain
winnowing by the time they went off to the front. All had to be recruited up to full strength from their pre-war rosters of
30-odd men each, andjust four of six pre-war militia companies saw formal federal military service."
Companv Title
Governor's Greys
Jackson Guards
Washington Guards
City Guards
Original Captain
Regimental Designation
I" Iowa Infantry
I" Iowa Infantry
Company G, 3" Iowa Infantry
3" Independent Battery
F. Gottschaulk
R. G. HelTon
M. M. Hayden
Two 90-day service companies from Dubuque comprised part of the I" Infantry Regiment and were badly
bloodied at the battle of Wilson's Creek in August 1861. Company A, 3" Iowa Infantry was the first three-year unit from
the city. Hayden's battery, noted above, was partially raised in the city. Two companies of the 12th Infantry Regiment
and one of the 16th Infantry Regiment were wholly credited to Dubuque. Dubuquers comprised most of four companies
of the 21" Infantry Regiment, Company F of the 37th (Graybeards) Infantry Regiment, two companies of the 44th Infantry
Regiment, and Company A of the 46th Infantry Regiment (IOO-day service). Over 300 recruits went to the 12th U.S.
Infantry (regular army). A total of 2,600 men saw service from the city and county (1880 County History, pp. 414-15).
The federal defeat at First ManassasIBull Run, Virginia, on July 21,1861, signaled a long war and Iowa
feverishly turned to recruiting three-year volunteers. Dubuque was designated a rendezvous point for new Iowa infantry
regiments and a military camp was established along the riverbank south of Eagle Point. Governor's Aide Co!. Addison
H. Sanders of Davenport was ordered to the city on August 9 to select and establish the camp. He was given only until
August 15 to have it ready! Two rows often (60x20) frame barracks flanked a 40-foot wide street. Officer quarters were
nearby along a timberline near Lake Peosta. Most of the barracks were ready by late August 1861. The camp was
enlarged in September 1862 by the construction of additional or perhaps replacement barracks. Allison recommended in
early August 1862 that perhaps wood shingle roofs should be used this time (apparently in lieu of plank roofs) "as they
may be needed for other regiments [later on]." By the time the camp was dismantled in late 1863, and in January 1864, it
contained 50-60 shanties, a hospital, commissary building, and stables in addition to the original buildings (McFarlane,
Forbish, Herald, January 4, February 22, November 14, 1860; Adjutant General N. B. Baker to Sanders, August 9, 14,
13 Dubuque's accomplishment of meeting its quota is all the more impressive when viewed in a regional context. NortheastIowa
lagged behind the rest of the state in recruitment. Adjutant General Baker complained to Co!. Allison "I regret that Northern Iowa is
so slow in raising troops...Better late than never." (Baker to Allison, August 28,1861, Record Group 101, State Archives).
~~~~~---~,~ -.-...- .' ._._._~,~- .
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National Register of Historic Places
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Section number....É..- Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa 1833 1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
1861; same to Hon. Wm. Vandever, August 10, 1861, Allison to Baker, August 3, II, 1862, Record Group 101, State
Archives).!4
The camp was used as a rendezvous point for the assembling regiments. Individual completed companies
reported and the larger unit was fonned. Some training was canied on and sham battles were fought on the heights of
Eagle Point. The following units were organized at Camp UnionIFranklin during the war:
3n1 Independent Battery Light Artillery-September 24, I 861-Capt. Hayden (Dubuque's fifth company)
9th Regiment Infantry-September 24, 1861
12th Regiment Infantry-November 25, 1861, completely filled in just six days by October 26, depart by rail due
to iced-in steamers, November 28, 1861 (this was the last use as Camp Union)
21" Regiment Infantry-932 men by August 26, 1862,3,600 men in camp as of September 9, regiment departed
September IS, 1862
27th Regiment Infantry-October 3, 1862, fonned from excess men from 21"departs mid-October 1862
32m! Regiment Infantry-October 6, 1862, fonned from excess men from 2 I "departs November 16, 1862
38th Regiment Infantry-December 4, 1862, departs same month by rail for Cairo, illinois.
42nd Regiment Infantry-departed after Christmas, failed to fill its ranks and men were transferred to 43n1
Regiment Infantry (also never organized) and the 7th Iowa Cavalry.
Despite its reputation for hostility to the war effort, there is every indication that the camp was a popular point of
visitation. Special regional trains and omnibus lines accessed it regularly. On October 20, 1862, Governor Kirkwood
visited the city and reviewed the 12th Regiment. The public responded with calls for blankets during the fall of 1862.
The city hosted the state fair in September 1862 and the soldiers provided a full dress parade as part of that event. There
was mortality at the camp with at least eight deaths, several to typhoid fever, and measles was the base cause. One death
resulted from a soldiers' melee on October 14, 1862. Two companies of the 27th Regiment, from Waukon and
Guttenberg, rioted and one death and two others injured. Liquor was fmally banned in the camp and residents
complained of thievery around the camp. Governor Kirkwood removed the rendezvous point designation and the
buildings were auctioned off. The site of the camp was on the market square of Mathias Ham's Eagle Point plat,
bordered today by Roosevelt, Rhomberg, Emerson, and Garfield streets. The site is now occupied by a number of public
housing units. The sites' history of being filled enhances the likelihood that archeological investigation is warranted
(Baule, pp. 1-17).
Dubuque was the preferred beat for military recruiters and as of the fall of 1862 a dozen or more competed for
men. A year earlier, the same was the case and fonner county prosecuting attorney William M Crozier warned State
Adjutant General Nathaniel Baker that the state and the county were losing credit for recruits secured in Dubuque.
Crozier noted that a Fort Dodge company had passed through the city en route to joining a Pennsylvania regiment, a
Captain Schaeffer had raised two companies for Missouri service under Major General John C. Fremont, and a 64-man
sapper & miner (engineer) company had departed to that same department from the city. Iowa recruits from Dubuque
who joined non-Iowa or regular army units weren't credited against the~ state's quota. Attorney Crozier warned "all our
Northern river towns have or have had recruiting offices for the General Government and for Wisconsin and lllinois
regiments. If our men are thús permitted to leave in organized bodies for the service of other states, it will be no wonder
14 An unsuccessful search was made at both the State Archives in Des Moines and the National Archives in Washington to secure a
map and plan for the camp. The campsite might possess significant archeological potential if the specific site can be determined.
Preliminary indications are that the camp site has been completely destroyed in the process of filling the sloughs south of Eagle Point.
PS Po,m 10.900.,
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OMBAp",ov"No. 1024~OOIB
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Continuation Sheet
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The Architectural and HiBtorical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
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Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
if we have to resort to drafting (Crozier to Baker, September 20,1861, Record Group 101, Adjutant General, General
Correspondence, 1861, Box 2, State Archives)15
The Civil War: The Home Front, Soldiers Relief:
Local poverty was worsened by inflation during the war. Relief of the poor prior to the Civil War was limited at
best to "the worthy poor" those who were on hard times through no fault of their own. Public relief was generally limited
to the physically and mentally handicapped. Denial, particularly in Dubuque, worked as well. There simply weren't and
couldn't be any poor in the city given its opportunities. Seasonal p'overty, particularly during the winter, afflicted day
laborers. Female heads of households were prone to hard times given limited employment opportunities. The Panic of
1857-58 worsened the situation particularly for working class families. Private relief during these years came
predominantly from the business class. Public assistance was offered through the County Poor House and "House of
Refuge" (a refonn school for juvenile delinquents). Assistance vanished entirely in 1859-60 (Johnson, pp. 619-33).16
With the departure of so many men to military service the situation worsened. A local businessmen's' relief
organization ("Volunteer Fund Board") was fonned as early as late April 1861 to support the families of the city's two
90-day companies. The group pledged its support for the first three-year unit (Company A, 3"" Regiment Infantry) but it
folded in January 1862 after running out of funds and expending just one third of its $6,000 in pledges. The war had
outlasted the short-tenn enthusiasm ofthe members (Johnson, pp. 634-39).
Patriotic women of the city first fonned the Ladies Volunteer Labor Society and unifonned and completely
outfitted the first two companies. Like their male counterparts, membership came largely from business class ladies. In
late 1861 the group became the Dubuque Ladies Aid Society, committed to providing the needs of men in the service.
This group took on the role of the defunct men's' group when it folded. Some women entered the workforce as retail
clerks and the like in response to the labor shortage. The county Board of Supervisors on several occasions took no
action on providing relief apart from qualifying soldiers' families to be considered by the Superintendent of the Poor (243
families were aided in 1863, 116 of which were soldiers' families). The county's provision of$50 enlistment bounties
was also seen as a source for family support. Their reluctance to help was fuel to Republican charges of Democratic
disloyalty. Other Iowa urban centers had done considerably more it was pointed out. The board also turned down a
funding request for a Soldiers Home in the city in late 1863. The home would have been the equivalent of a "USO" of
later times. The proposal was deemed to be a private charity and could not be publicly funded. It was finally established
with the unanimous support ofa politically divided City Council. In January 1864 the Board acted to limit assistance to
the families of those soldiers who were actually credited against Dubuque County's enlistment quota (Johnson, pp. 640-
56,664).
Completely lost in all of this was any consideration of other families in poverty. By 1864 a new approach to
soldiers' relief was being adopted, championed by the United States Sanitary Commission, a pseudo-early version of the
Red Cross. This approach stressed directly aiding soldiers and not their families. Soldiers were thereby returned to their
familial role of breadwinners and families would indirectly be assisted through them. Johnson notes that while the
earliest volunteers were primarily younger, unattached males, volunteers by early 1864 were older and more commonly
15 Crozier signed as I" Lieutenant of the Dubuque Battery, apparently Hayden's 3"' Iowa Battery. Northern Iowa recruiters were
hindered by the refusal of Dubuque-Sioux City railroad to honor the state's travel passes north of Farley or the stage company to do the
same north of Cedar Falls (Crozier to Baker, December 10, 1861, Ibid., Box 4).
16 See also Russell Johnson's "A Debt Justly Due": The Relief of Civil War Soldiers and Their Families in Dubuque," Annals oflowa,
Vol. 55, No.3 (Summer 1996) pp. 207-38.
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa 1833-1955
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County aud State
with familial responsibilities. In March 1864 a state law levied a county tax for the relief of soldiers families. This
represented the first state attention to families rather than their soldiers. The Ladies Aid Society turned its attention to
soldiers' relief, affiliating with the national USSC. The hallmark event of this effort took the form of the "Northern Iowa
Sanitary Fair" which was held in the City Hall, Turners Hall and the surrounding area June 21-29,1864.17 All the
counties of northeast Iowa participated and a very impressive $84,000 was raised. The Ladies Aid Society did continue
some minimal family relief efforts throughout the war. A Christian Commission Auxiliary, dedicated to direct soldiers
assistance, formed in November 1864 (Johnson, pp. 665-77).
Property Type Discussion:
A number of landmark buildings had a significant war linkage. The Shot Tower had at least a symbolic role,
being reopened in response to the war and its usage was offered to the state. While no military contracts have been
documented, it was busy producing small caliber shot into mid-1862 and it was a sufficient threat to competing
downstream shot manufacturers that it was purchased and shut down in July 1862.
Mrs. Julia Langworthy, wife of Solon Langworthy was a prominent leader in the soldier's relief movement in
Dubuque and in northeast Iowa. Her home at 264 Alpine survives and was the favored site for army recruits to be
welcomed throughout the war. Mrs. Langworthy visited her officer-husband at the front and was a leader in organizing
the 1864 fair. Her house and the City Hall building, the site of that fair are significant for their direct associations with
these events. The City Jail (1857) is said to have held Confederate prisoners during the war. It is probable that "disloyal
elements" were briefly interned there prior to their removal to other points. Finally a residence on West Third Street was
alleged to have been used as a wartime hospital but no documentation for that claim has been secured. The wartime
home of editor Dennis Mahoney was only recently demolished. The site of Camp Union/Camp FrarJdin, on Eagle Point,
has been redeveloped as an apartment complex but might retain some archeological potential. For most of its history it
was a public square.
Industry Drives Municipal Growth Postwar:
Dubuque's principal economic sector evolved in dramatic fashion throughout its history. Chamber of Commerce
president William Smith nicely summarized those changes in a 1930 address:
[Dubuque] was originally a mining town, built upon the mineral wealth taken from its hills. Later it had
the river traffic which made it a shipping and distributing center for all sorts of products and
commodities. The lumber business, brought by the river facilities, for a long while waxed strong and
made the Dubuque the leading city of Iowa. Still later the brewing industry carried on, even after the
earlier ones had begun to wane.
The fITst part of this context explored the impact of the Civil War years on an emerging industrial sector in
Dubuque. This section describes and analyzes the postwar rise of industry in the city (William Smith (Dubuque
Business, February 1930, p. 4).
17 In the City Hall the lower floor featured booths with a 25'-wide central passageway, the second floor a library and floral
departments, packing and appraisal room, and the third floor childrens' amusements. The Turners Hall offered refteslunents on its two
floors. An adjoining building to the east of City Hall contained hardware and agricultural departments as well as household
implements (The Northern Iowa Sanitary Fair.. .1864).
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
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The Herald lamented in late 1870 "while a manufacturing metropolis we do not rank as high as our advantages of
position should place us, and while we make comparatively moderate showing of products considered in the light of
business promise which we now have with our new and competing railroad lines hastening to completion, still we have
no reason to feel seriously hurt to review our present manufacturing resources..." The 1870 federal census enumerated
an impressive 219 manufacturing fmns (those having annual products valued over $500) yet the Herald listing
enumerated just 121 finns, presumably only the larger ones. The Second and Third Wards were the most industrialized
with a combined total 68 fmns and 485 positions. Total industrial jobs numbered 790 positions. . Eleven finns employed
more than 20 hands (the largest four were A. A. Cooper, wagons, 62 hands; C. Herrncourt, furniture, 40 hands CaIT &
Austin and Co., sash and doors, 30 hands, and Rouse & Dean, machinists, 46 hands). Breweries, ale producers, and
distilleries numbered nine firms and employed a total of 91 workers. Wagon and vehicle makers numbered II firms and
employed 137 workers (1870 federal industrial census, Dubuque; Herald, December 23,1870).
As late as 1873, the Daily Times could still enumerate the city's principal industrial employers in a fairly short
listing. Thirty-one named fmns and unspecified cooperages accounted for 1,095 jobs. Just six finns employed over 50
men and just two exceeded 100 positions. Clearly the wagon makers (A. A. Cooper and Torn Connolly) and the lumber
yards (Iowa Lumber, Dubuque Lumber) were poised to expand exponentially as rail connections delivered a regional-
national market to the city. In just three years industrial employment had more than doubled and the job totals !Torn
1880-82 reflect a continued exponential increase in industrial job creation (Daily Times, January 1,1874).
By 1880 the city had 346 industrial establishments with a total capitalization of $3,446,866. Total employment
was 3,003 with 87 percent of these workers being males aged 16 or older. Total wages paid were $1,339,730. The
industrial clusters in order of size was as follows, in descending order:
Table 2: Dubuque Economic Sectors. 1880:
Sector No. Firms Capitalization Hands Materials Product
Value Value
Other 45 $959,080 391 $ 535,565 $ 813,396
Carriages, wagons 9 $532,900 283 $ 324,250 $ 627,000
Sawed lumber 4 $295,000 160 $ 212,200 $ 345,000
Liquors, Malt 6 $265,000 63 $ 110,132 $ 211,125
Men's Clothing 18 $241,150 260 $ 254,875 $ 403,000
Slaughtering, Meats 5 $183,000 133 $1,237,400 $1,370,000
Foundries, Machine Shops 4 $157,500 109 $ 86,960 $ 181,320
Sash, doors, blinds 3 $114,000 86 $ 191,000 $ 284,000
Printing, Publishing 8 $111,800 91 $ 38,300 $ 137,475
The miscellaneous category, ofundeterrnined composition claimed the most workers. It and men's clothing accounted
for 86 percent of the 292 female industrial jobs in the city. Product value didn't necessarily correlate with capitalization.
Slaughtered meats, with five finns, accounted for 22 percent of the total industrial value of product. It also had the
closest profit margin, with the cost of its materials equal to 90 percent of its product value (1880 Census, Report of Social
Statistics Of Cities, pp.732-33).
Total manufacturing output during 1881 was $9,071,000 and that of jobbing sales $13,385,900. Lead mine
production was a mere $36,000 with just three operating smelters. Dubuque was termed "the Banner City of the State in
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National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number -É-- Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of DubUQue, Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
Manufacturing, Jobbing and General Trade" by the Dubuque Trade Journal. The Journal compiled what it claimed was
a 90% accurate first time survey of the city's outputs. Total jobs in manufacturing were 3,729 hands and the total steam
horsepower of the power plants was 2,222 "horses." Jobbers and manufacturers had a total of200 salesmen in the field
(Dubuque Trade Journal, February 20, 1882).
Table 3: Dubuque Economic Sectors, 1882:
Value of Manufacturing Products. Six Largest Sectors. 1882 (Dubuque Trade Journal, February 20, 1882).
Sector 1881 Product Value
Pork Products $2,170,000
Machinery, boilers, etc. $1,472,000
Lumber, lath and shingles $ 550,000
Sundry Manufacturers (60 minor
Establishments)
Oat Meal, Flour, mill feet
Wagons
$ 457,000
$ 390,000
$ 325,000
Value of Jobbing Products. Six Largest Sectors. 1882(Dubuque Trade Journal, February 20, 1882).
Sector 1881 Product Value
Groceries $3,000,000
Hardware $2,000,000
Grain and commission produce $1,806,400
Dry Goods and notions $1,250,000
Lumber, lath and shingles $1,062,000
Boots and Shoes $ 800,000
No city was industrially self-sufficient of course and every hopeful metropolis was constantly on the watch for
new industrial niches that could be locally filled. An 1882 listing included a woolen mill, cotton mill, malleable iron
works, brass works, glucose factory, syrup factory, match factory, paper mill, tannery, white lead factory, pottery, fTuit
canning plant, nail factory, glass factory, locomotive works, distillery, agricultural implements maker, rolling mill, iron
pipe maker, hardwood stock works, rope and twine works, glue factory, stamped ware factory, and electric lights factory.
That same year there was local call for producing pressed brick. Indeed the same lack was true of the entire Northwest
and the "territories" as well. Consequently the more expensive pressed brick had to be imported at higher cost. The
Journal observed:
All that could be made in Dubuque would find a ready market in Iowa Minnesota, Nebraska, and Dakota.
The saving on ITeight alone ITom Philadelphia and St. Louis, the principal sources of the present supply,
would almost pay the first cost of manufacturing. As a shipping point there is no better place in the
northwest than Dubuque.
The Herald noted "Manufacture is making giant strides with Dubuque's borders" and that all of the new or expanded
firms were incorporations that did not "include any individual or partnership ventures. As a consequence of this large
capitalization of money, parts of the city have become intense hives of industry, and the population is more than 6,000
greater [than the 1880 census figure" (Dubuque Trade Journal, February 20, August 21,1882; Herald, December 31,
1882).
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Section number L- Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
Boat building at Dubuque dates from 1870 and Dubuque finns led the way in the evolution of river steamers from
wood to iron construction. The Clyde, built at Dubuque, was the first iron-hulled craft built on the Mississippi River.
Iowa Iron Works was established in 1851 but only turned to building boats at this time (in 1895 it relocated to the
southern side of the Ice Harbor). The Dubuque Marine Ways was built at Eagle Point in 1871 and was soon rated as the
best facility on the Mississippi River and the largest one north of St. Louis. A marine way consisted of a broad level
beach inclined towards the river. A series of parallel tracks supported wheeled dollies that could collectively lift a craft
out of the river for repairs ashore. Diamond Jo Reynolds also had a boatyard at Eagle Point and produced boats for 37
years. The Iowa Iron Works began producing small navy craft for the federal government in 1891. It was nearly
bankrupted by the failure of the engine on the Ericcson Torpedo Boat #2 (a failure in design, not construction) but
Senator William Allison forced the navy to pay the bills. Reorganized in 1904 as the Dubuque Boat and Boiler Works,
the company survived as the city's leading city boat builder. It built military vessels during both World Wars and built
pleasure craft postwar. When it closed in May 1972 it was the second oldest such finn in the country (Lyon, pp. 42-44).
Dubuque had several industrial advantages. It was long claimed that "laborers can live more cheaply in Dubuque
than elsewhere." The city was also "situated so as to receive the overflow of products from the great Northwest"
specifically timber. As of 1887 the largest lumber product was wood shingle production. Three flnnS collectively turned
out shingle products annually valued at $745,000 (Industries of Dubuque, 1887, pp. 17-18).
By the end of 1889 there were 205 manufacturing plants employing 6,992 hands and mustered an impressive
10,890 horsepower rating in its industrial power plants. The 96 jobbing houses employed 1,967. Traveling men from the
city numbered 313.The 1892 Iowa State Gazetteer and Business Directory enumerated over 200 manufacturing finns,
150 jobbing finns (300 salesmen, over 3,000 employees) and gave the following total (1891) figures for the several
sectors of the city's economy (Oldt, p. 192; 1892 Iowa State Gazetteer and Business Directory, p. 455):
Table 4: Dubuque Economic Sectors. 1891:
Manufacturing $19,036,200
Jobbing Trade $25,696,500
Retail Business $16,069,500
Lead & Zinc Ores $ 962,400
Miscellaneous $12,857,659
The Dubuque Cabinet Makers Association (]867-1924);lS
This furniture-making Gennan-American artisans cooperative was a significant industrial experiment in
Dubuque's history. Its story combined ethnicity, middle and working class status, and a novel approach to industrial
capitalism. The association was established in 1867 with $18,000 capitalization and 13 members. An 1870 Herald
account described the new venture:
[It] is a very successful attempt at co-operative labor. ..Its board of officers consists ofa president,
secretary, director, and foreman, and they are elected every year. By its articles of agreement no one can
become a member unless he can work-speculators not admitted. All questions coming before this
association are determined by the two-thirds majority. All its members must hold $500 in stock; no more
18 There were other collective economic workers associations, notably a butchers' association, but these do not appear to have enjoyed
either the longevity or success of the cabinetmaker's association. Further research is recommèI1ded under the theme of working class
cooperative associations.
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
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and no less. It is growing gradWilly stronger and is extending its sphere of usefulness; and is, as we
understand, a body entirely harmonious in action. It was first organized with 13 members. Its sales for
this last year will aggregate $60,000 (Herald, December 23, 1870).
The association had a three-story factory at Jackson and lOth streets and a storefront where its products were
marketed. The factory burned January 11, 1870 with a loss of$15,000. It was soon replaced in 1871 with a new three-
story brick factoryl9 on this same site and the association leased the new adjacent four-story Arthur McCann building
(non-extant), located due east, for use as a furniture warehouse. The company reorganized August 15, 1877. In 1894 it
purchased the fonner Universalist Church building at lOth and Main streets and built a new three-story block there the
next year (survives as 1000 Main) where it remained until it ceased operations in 1924 (Lyon, p. 108; Tribune, December
20, 1871; Herald, July 25, 1872).
The Herald described the humble yet most impressive beginnings of the Cabinet Makers Association in late
1876:
The Dubuque Cabinet Makers Association has put up, near the foot of 9th st[reet]., a four story frame
building 32x60, which they have filled with machinery of every kind necessary to the carrying on of their
trade. This work was commenced on the 15th of June, and is an illustration of remarksble enterprise. The
association is now composed of fourteen men, while twelve others work for them as employees of the
association. The cost of the buildings, machinery, etc. is estimated at about $15,000 (Herald, September
5, 1867).
By 1874 the association employed 75 hands and 12 caners in cottage industry. Their annual products totaled
$80,000 and wages were $32,260. In late 1881 they erected a new factory at White and lOth (or l6"'?) Street for $12,000.
The White Street factory is extant and currently houses Rhomberg Furriers (Herald, January 1, 1874, December 4, 1881).
Association Profì:ts1Losses 1868-91
Years
Figure 10: Dubuque Cabinet Makers Revenue:1868-9l (Jacobsen, data from 25th Anniversary brochure)
AnnWil company profits (Figure 10) indicate a loss of $9,823.86 during 1871 and 1885 yielded a profit of just
$46.041 Company officers were D. L. Wullweber, George Schüler, Heinrich Wunderlich, John Stuber, Chas. W.
Wullweber, H. Tischer, Richard Herrimann and directors included Gottlieb Schneider, C. Jacobi, John Foerst, Bernard
19 This builcling survives today as Rhomberg's Fine Furs. This f1IIll has occupied the builcling since 1907.
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa 1833-1955
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County and State
Baumhover, Richard Hemnann, and John Jehring. Factory foremen w""e Joachim Kurz (1867-71), Georg Schüler (1871-
1874), Christ Jacobi (1874-1891) and Gottlieb Schneider (1871-86). Henry Wunderlich (1836-?) is one of the most
significant individuals who were in the association. He managed the association fÌom 1876 until his departure in the mid-
1880s to start his own furniture company (Uebersicht ueber die Gruendung und den Verlauf des Geschäftes der Dubuque
Cabinetmakers Association 25 Jahrestag, 15 Juni...1867-1892, pp. 6-7; Oldt, p. 904).
Figure II: 1895 view of the Association plant, 1000 White visible at the left, view northeast
The Lumber Industry in Dubuque:
Dubuque had the advantages of location (literally the state's headwater location for receiving log rafts fÌom the
Upper Mississippi River system, it cost $6,000 to deliver a raft to St. Louis in the 1870s), financial backers (who, it is
said, actually purchased timber assets upstream,'O and funded mill and yard construction) and a labor source. The lumber
industry reached its most extensive level by 1861 when seven to eight firms were in operation and largely capitalized. By
1867 fifteen fmns were in place. They landed 25,000,000 board feet oflumber via the river, most of which was shipped
west on the railroad. Beginning in 1867 the Herald presented an annual end-of-year report on the growing lumber
industry paralleled the general progress reports. Its purpose "called the attention of all northern Iowa to the immense
business of Dubuque in lumber. ..the largest lumber market on the Mississippi river above St. Louis." The 1867 lumber
industry had total sales of 40,000,000 feet oflumber with sawn lumber, lath, shingles and pickets being the mainstay of
those sales in descending order of magnitude (Baffoe, Goerdt, p. 5; 1880 County History, p. 385; Oldt, pp. 139, 162-63;
Herald, December 29, 1869).
While much is said about the city's massive timber processing industry, it is worth noting that Dubuque was in
fact a relatively small player. By the early 1890s there were two-dozen milling centers along the Mississippi River
between Minneapolis and Hannibal, Mo. Three of these consumed over half of the timber produced in the region.
Minneapolis processed 491 million board feet oflumber, Winona 119.5 million feet, and Clinton, Iowa 101.7 million
feet. Dubuque and the other 20 centers, accounted collectively for the remaining 452.4 million feet. By 1897 mills in
Minnesota out-produced all mills down river fÌom them (Anfinson, pp. 101-14).
20 Ron Goerdtpresents this most interesting claim and cites the Herald-Jonmal of August 24,1930 as a source. Dubuque interests
owned extensive timberlands and operated their own large lumber camps. This is an important claim, one that would explain
Dubuque's role in the indnstry and it is worth historical investigation.
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United States Department of the Interior
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OM8 App'o",' No. lO24-DOl8
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number....L- Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources ofDubuaue Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuaue Couutv. Iowa
Couuty and State
Although dwarfed in overall scale of operation, Dubuque claimed in the 1880s that its Standard Lumber Mill was
a close rival to the W. J. Young Mill in Clinton as the world's largest single mill (Goerdt, p. 3 citing Time-Journal
September 18, 1921).
The timber to feed these mills was delivered in massive log rafts. As of 1860 these contained an average
300,000-500,000 feet of timber. Ten years later the average was two million feet and by 1890 that figure was up to 3.5
million. The record raft, shipped in 1895, contained 7.5 million feet. A raft of 1.5 million feet of timber could be
consumed in the construction of 125 houses, and this amount of timber covered three to four acres of river surface. Even
as raft sizes grew however, timber shipping declined as the white pine forests were decimated. The opening of additional
timber ranges north of the St. Croix River in the 1880s staved off the inevitable exhaustion of these resources. The
marked decline in timber shipping took place between 1890 and 1906, when the totals plummeted ITom 719,000,000
board feet in 1890, to 465,000,000 in 1900, andjust 193,000,000 in 1906. By late century timber shipping alone
dominated the river traffic and it is a curiosity that significant river channel improvements were belatedly being made by
the federal government even as this trade slipped away. At its peak in 1890 there were 100 raft boats and as many
sawmills in operation. By 1900 the mill count was down to 80, and by 1903 there were just 36 sawmills in operation
between St. Louis and Minneapolis The fmal raft ran in 1912. Some companies rafted sawn lumber to reduce shipping
costs (Anfinson, pp. 109-110; Goerdt, p. 5).
Ron Goerdt dates the emergence of Dubuque as a hub for lumber processing to 1865 although the flfst substantial
mill, Knapp, Stout & Company dated ITom 1852. It wasn't until 1867 that the Times declared Dubuque "finally a lumber
center." By this time a dozen fmns processed 30,000,000 feet oflumber ITom the river. Beginning in the late 1860s
newspapers carried annual progress profiles of the emerging industry (Times, August 15, 1867).
The industry comprised two subsets, the lumber mills and the planing mills. The latter produced doors, ITames,
sash and molding and continued to grow after 1890 even as the mills lost momentum. By 1889 value of product in the
planing mills reached $3,500,000 and it wasn't until 1923 that production value peaked at $23,000,000. The planing
mills survived into recent years in large-scale operations and several fmns continue in operation today, representative of a
lengthy and economically vital industry (Anfmson, pp. 179-188).
The following key lumber milling and planing firms were established the city's reputation in this industrial
sector. Nothing remains from the sawmill firms but numerous buildings represent the planing and milling firms:
Standard Lumber Company was founded in 1856 as Ingram, Kennedy & Day, 7th and Jackson, claimed to have
the largest mill on the Mississippi River, burned out in 1911 the last survivor of its trade in the city, the Shot
Tower survives as an artifact of the great fifes, the tower serving as a watchtower for fifes.
Peter J. Seippel Lumber Compauy, Dodge & Locust, established 1897, incorporated 1904, specialized in
hardwood floors, rafted cut and dried planks, planing mill only.
Spahu & Rose Lumber Company, jobbing only, had no sawmill but operated 16 branch yards at its higbpoint
Dubuque Woodenware & Lnmber Company, head of Railroad Avenue, Eagle Point, founded 1867, also
claimed to be largest mill on the river, burned out in 1869, 1902, turned to jobbing and retail only
Knapp & Stont Lumber Company, 8th and Washington, owned 100,000 acres of timberland in Wisconsin,
operated three large mills with 1,000 employees, as of 1869 claimed to be "probably one of the heaviest
manufacturers and dealers in lumber on the Mississippi River (Daily Times, January I, 1869).
ps F"m 10~90Q.o
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United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMS App"va! No. >O24~OO18
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number....É.- Page--2Q
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
Weston Bnrch & Company, founded 1869, Washington, between 10th & 11th, four large Wisconsin mills, 450
employees (Times, February 17, 1869).
Property Types Discussion:
The Carr-Ryder-AdarnslFarley-Loetscher Industrial District contains most ofthe surviving industrial buildings in
Dubuque. The district is recommended as being NRHP-eligible and is bounded roughly by White, Pine, 6th and 11th
streets. A number of the buildings in this district pre-date 1893. Two Carr-Ryder-Adarns Company buildings, on the
south east comer of East II th and Washington (five stories, 1884-1890) and the entire block defined by Eàst 9th and 10th,
Washington and Jackson streets, is infilled by a three-story factory plant (1884+). The Iowa Iron Works brick power
plant (pre-I 884) survives on the southeast comer of East 10th and Washington streets. The Dubuque Linseed Oil and
Paint Works (later the White House Biscuit Company) pre-I 884, is at 901 Jackson Street.
A four-story portion of the A. A. Cooper Wagon Works survives at 299 Main Street (Old Main District, NRHP)
and dates to c.1881-82. The early history of the Dubuque Cabinet Makers Association is represented by the three-story
brick building at 1000 White. The three-story brick block at 1000 Main (1895, Upper Main District, recommended
NRHP-eligible) represents the last phase of the Association's history (Lyon, p. 200).
Capital Investment and Banking:
The May 6, 1861 failure of the Gelpcke & Company bank echoed similar failures in 1857-58 and reflected the
uncertainties ofthe early war era. William Allison dispersed an angry crowd, fresh from gathering at Theo. Gelpcke's
residence (extant?) and fueled by rumors that the banker had fled town with the bank's specie. The final payout was just
20 cents on the dollar (Oldt, p. 138).
The importance of these banks to the city's growth is attested to by the 1873-74 city directory which awarded
them considerable credit:
One of the principal causes of the prosperity of our manufacturing is the accommodation that our
enterprising men are constantly receiving from our banking houses. Without banks no factories can
exist, and our banking houses command a high standing at home and abroad. They also aid in every
commercial interest (Dubuque City Directory for 1873-74, p. 10).
a e : u uque -
Bank Period of Officers Legacy
Service
Jas. 1. Langworthy & Brothers 1851-61+
Babbage & Co. 1861-64 92 Main Street 400s block todav, non-extant)
H. W. Markell & Co. 1855-68 ClosedJanuarv6,1868.
Thea Gelvcke & Co. 1858-61 Fails Mav 6,1861
City of Dubuque Branch of the 1858 F. N. Goodrich, 1. D. Randall Opposed by Mahoney and tbe Heratd,
State Bank oflowa Reorganized as National State Bank November
1865, mergÌngwith First National Bank 1866.
First National Bank 1864- Franklin Hinds, H. M. Kingman, Dubuque's first national bank, merged willi
present R. E. Graves, W. H. Clark after National State, 1865, and Peoples Savings 1875,
1866 consolidation nearlyc1osed August 16,1893, for 95 vears on
T bl 5 D b
Banks 1858 1893
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National Park Service
OM8App'D,,'No.1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number -É...- Page-21
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
northwest corner Main and 5" (1867 to 1962)
(non-extant)
German Savings [State] Bank 1864.. J. H. Thedinga, WID. Fuchs 323 Main Street, renamed "German Bank" 1873,
present builds new Main St. building ] 90 I, renamed
German Savings Bank 1904, opens Cou1er Ave.
branch 1905.21
Merchants' National Bank 1865-73 F. W. H. Sheffield, R. A. Babbage Fai]sSeptember26,1873.
(branch)
Peoples Savings Bank 1866-75 John Thomnson, J. K. Graves Merges with First Nationa]
DubuQue Savin"s Institution 1868-71 Charles Crocker, W. Woodward
Commercial National Bank 1871-c.1888 R. E. Graves, H. L. Stout 92 Main Street, closes March 20, 1888, insolvent
Dubuque County [State] Bank ] 875-c.1 891 W. G. Steward, A. Lumback, E. A.
Lull
Second National Bank 1876-c.I922 W. L. Brad1ev, W. P. LaNe 605 Main Street non-extant
Building & Loan Asso. c.lS77-1900 Liquidated November ]900.
Iowa Trust & Savings 1884-1932 Geo. L. Torbert, F. D. Stout, J. E. To 7" & Main ]895 (non-extant)
Allison
German Trust & Savings 1887-1932 John Bell, D. Rhomberg Northwest corner Clay/Central and 13' ,later
part of Union Trust & Savings Bank (NRHP
listed)
Dubuque Clearing House ]891-c.1927 P. J. Lee, E. W. Duncan Eight banks organize Apri16, 1889 (Old!, p.
Association 203),
A large number of banks served the city during the years 1858-1893, but just four of these still functioned into
the second half of the 1870s. There were six major banks during the late 1880s and early 1890s. A near loss was the
First National, which briefly closed in mid-August 1893 when withdrawals briefly overwhelmed its ability to make
payments (Oldt, pp. 195-96).
The Financial Panic of 1873:
The 1880 county history minimized the impact of this second major national fmancia1 panic, and indeed,
compared to 1857-58, still well-remembered, it was oflesser scale:
The panic of 1873, cannot, in the light of its effects, be properly so designated. It was rather a change of
time. The rapid rate in which the American people had lived and 1ransacted business, could not hold out.
Black Friday came as a warning of the punishment that followed quickly in its wake, and the tight times
which came with the close of 1873 were simply in the nature of an admonition that happier days were in
store (1880 County History, pp. 529-30).
Merchants' National Bank closed its doors on September 26, 1873 in response to a run that was 1riggered by
reported bank runs in Chicago. Chicago banks had stopped currency 1ransfers to outside banks. The First National Bank
immediately res1ricted the size of checks it would payout. Merchants collapsed when it was discovered that bank cashier
Richard A. Babbage had embezzled up to $350,000. Babbage thereby became one of the city's more notable scoundrels
when he fled the city at night in disguise (Lyons, p. 23; 1880 County History, p. 622-24).22
21 Two surviving buildings are associated with this bank. The 1901 bank, 342 Main, is an exceptional Beaux Art design (it is currently
threatened due to fire and undermining damage), and 1842 Central, is the branch bank location.
22 The Babbage Gothic Revival style mansion was long a landmark at Locust and West II th streets, it was replaced by the Stout
mansion on that same comer in 1890.
ps Foem 10.900'a
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United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMBApP'mINo, 1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number -É- Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
Despite these financial losses, the city emerged relatively unscathed fTom the national financial downturn. The
Herald observed "Considering the general financial depression that has prevailed all through the northwest the greater
portion ofthe year, the only wonder is that Dubuque could enlarge so much, and her doing so, is proof positive that she is
in a measure independent of outside capital and relies upon her own resources (Herald, November 22, 1874)."
A year later the same source proclaimed". . . we are moving on the goal of metropolitan greatness, i.e.
pre-dominance in wealth, enterprise and industry, in all the branches of trade and commerce, in all of the
relations of business, church and state, in short all that goes to makeup the greatness in its private and public
interests, and surely, in these particulars non can gainsay the fact that Dubuque has fairly earned her reputation as
the metropolitan city ofIowa (Herald, October 31, 1875)."
Similar claims were made again in 1878 when the Herald noted "owing to the general stagnation of business
throughout the country, the supposed scarcity of money and the consequent timidity of capitalists, the outlook at the
beginning of 1878 was anything but flattering for building or improvements during the year..." The newspaper boasted
that the year's substantial new buildings were "not built by fictitious or borrowed capital, but are all paid for, and that
with the money of their own owners" (Herald, January 3,1879).
Increasingly, after 1880, it was charged that Dubuque's growth was being hindered by the reluctance oflocals to
invest locally. The Herald reported signs that
"the great bulk of money invested this season in this manner has been by men of who have no practical
knowledge of the business they take an interest in, but put their money in it with a very commendable
view to help their city while they do good for themselves. Many of them have heretofore placed their
money in other ways which may have been profitable to them, but helped Dubuque very little, if any at
all. A change has taken place in this regard, and its good effects will soon be shown in the advancement
of the general welfare of our city (Herald, January 1,1881).
The Herald and Trade Journal both scolded local capitalists in 1882 for their failure to invest locally in other
Dubuque industries. "[Dubuque] as a [mandai center is reported stronger in proportion to size than any other point in the
union. It is an evidence of resources, and of the very profitable nature of the legitimate business which has been and is
falling to us as a heritage. While Dubuque capitalists are enterprising, wide awake, and working for tpe good of their
own city, they have not been liberal in investing elsewhere. Now that the opportunities for the use of the surplus capital
are becoming so numerous at home it is hoped that less will be sent abroad" (Herald, December 31, 1882).
Beginning in 1891, interest in outside capital increases and the Herald reported "thousands of dollars of Eastern
Capital seeking investment in the Key City" (Herald, June 27, 1891).
ProPerty Type Discussion:
Just one of these early bank buildings survive. Again, it wasn't until the 1870s-1880s that banks began to build
their own buildings, and even these, augmented with large basement vaults, were incorporated into larger commercial
blocks. The surviving banks built replacement buildings and even these have been lost. The exception is the German
Trust & Savings Bank, 1307-23 Central (NRHP). The homes of key bank leaders are significant given the loss of the
bank buildings themselves. That of Richard Babbage was razed in 1890. Known examples include the John Bell House
,-.-
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[Rev. 8.86'
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMB Appmv,¡ No. 1024.0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number....É..- Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County, Iowa
County and State
(2nd Empire style, 563 West 11'", 1875), the R. E. Graves House (2nd Empire style, 1392 Main, 1871), the Frank D. Stout
House (Romanesque, 1105 Locust, 1890), the J. H. Thedinga House, 340 West 5th (Cathedral District, NRHP) and several
houses linked with William Bradley (1222-40 and 1330 Locust).
Wholesaling and Commercial Development:
By 1865 the retail core along Main Street was solidly built up between 2nd and 9th streets. Over the next 30 years
the store buildings would be consolidated, re-tronted and enlarged. Frame buildings gave way to brick blocks and
prominent named business blocks increasingly occupied key corner locations. Iowa Avenue developed as a wholesaling
street on its south end beginning in the early 1870s.
Year-end summaries are available for a number of key years. The year 1869 was rated one of "unusual dullness
in trade and of general business apprehension. During the ten years last past there has not been a season more
unpromising to the merchant, mechanic and farmer..." Things improved substantially during the eáTly 1870s but the
recession (see above) brought several difficult years. High levels of commercial construction during the mid-and late
1870s indicate a resurgence of commerce (Herald, December 16, 1869).
The 1880 dry goods trade was double that of 1879 and this trend reflected the development of a regional
wholesaling trade. "Out jobbing merchants are reaching out along the arteries of our commerce. ..[and] every facility can
be offered to country merchants desiring to purchase goods at wholesale, as every branch of business is here represented"
(Herald, January 1, 1880).
Precise retail figures are available beginning in the early 1880s and offer useful breakdowns by trade categories.
Total retail sales during 1881 were $9,542,153 or 29 percent of the total industrial, jobbing, retailing and mining output
for that year. It is a later premise (c.1903) that the city's retail was principally a local market and one that failed to
expand and capture a broader regional market. . The composition of the following list appears to describe a very local
market based retailing trade, although this was still quite early in the city's development (Dubuque Trade Journal,
February 20, 1882).
Table 6: Dubuque Commercial Economic Sectors. 1882:
Value of Retail Trade. Largest Sectors
Sector 1881 Product Value
Groceries and provisions $1,381,123
Dry goods and notions $1,159,398
Miscellaneous $ 682,124
Retail liquors, beer, ale $ 449,761
Teamsters $ 449,125
Butchers meats $ 389,867
Clothing $ 378,975
Hotels, restaurants, bdg. Houses $ 372,432
Hucksters and marketeers $ 359,000
Wood and coal $ 348,720
By 1887 it was claimed that Dubuque's business comprised fully a twelfth of the state's total business. That
figure showed "the supremacy of Dubuque in commerce and manufacture, as far as Iowa is concerned, and her important
position in the northwest." The wholesale and jobbing business exceeded that of any other Iowa city. This feat was
PS 'oem 1<J.900'a
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OMB App'",! No. 1024-001B
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number --É-- Page-21
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
attributed to the growth of two new railroads as well as to the completion of the first wagon bridge across the river in
1887 (Herald, November 24,1887; Times, February 27,1887).
Dubuque claimed as of that same year to possess a wholesale and jobbing trade nearly twice that of any other
Iowa city. It was said:
In the Jobbing Trade Dubuque holds her own against all odds, and it is an acknowledged fact that even
the Chicago wholesale houses do not deign to send their representatives, except in few cases, to grounds
held by the jobbers of Dubuque, while she [Dubuque] has always held the fields in contention with
Chicago, St. Louis and St. Paul houses.
This was due to the jobbers' ability to purchase in quantities equal to their big city competitOl:s and because Dubuque was
closer to the consuming markets than was Chicago or the eastern cities. In dry goods alone the city had two wholesalers
and 20 retailers and "quite a number of our houses are direct importers." One unnamed dry goods wholesaler was said to
be "the most extensive in the whole Valley of the Mississippi" shipping its goods "all over the Northwest, besides
through the adjoining States east of the Mississippi." Total annual sales in dry goods alone were $3,000,000 (Industries
of Dubuque, 1887, pp. 16-17).
Property Type Discussion:
A great many commercial buildings survive from the years 1859-93. Five double storefront commercial
buildings, 299, 1042-46, 1086-98 Main, 1690 Central, 214 West 1 ", pre-date 1870. Nine others pre-date 1879; these are
74-84, 180-82, 195-97,356-64,823-25, 1064-76 Main, 1056, 1701 Central, and 245-49 West l"t Twenty-seven examples
pre-date 1890 (see Phase III survey report) and seven more appear to date from the early 1890s. Single-storefront
commercial buildings are also of very early building dates. Pre-1870 examples include 1496 Central (pre-l 866) and 1497
Jackson (pre-l 869). Pre-l 880 examples number 12 and are found at: 602-12, 678,1046-48,1060-64,1072,1564,1701
Central, 1397 Jackson, 129 Main, 1395-97 Washington, and 1198, 1200-02 White. There are several distinctive
commercial building subsets. A very large group is that of isolated corner neighborhood storefronts of which there are
several hundred scattered across the city. Their presence is indicative ofthe Dubuque tendency to scatter commercial
services throughout the neighborhoods. Another distinctive Dubuque type, discussed in the architectural context is the
two-story parapet front with a centered rounded or triangular through-cornice pediment. Several dozen of these survive.
Double storefront examples arel603 Central, 1882, J. P. Schroeder Block), 101-23 Main (pre-l 884, O'Neill Block, Old
Main District, NRHP), 1570-98 Central (1884, J. Simones Block), 1071-75 Main (1885, William Andrew Block), 1250-
52 Iowa (1885, William G. Watters Block), 1005-23 Main (1885-86, Bayless College), 576 Central (1886, G.
Schaffhauser Block), 1301-07 Central (1887, John Bell Block, NRHP), 1527-33 Central (1887), 1131-35 Main (1888, H.
Ziepprecht, NRHP), 1735-49 Central (1888, Edward Muntz Block), 1280-96 Central (1889, Eichorn Hall), 1451 Central,
1702-22 Central (1891), 470 Central (1892, John Bell Block), and 1000 Main (1894, Dubuque Cabinet Makers
Association). Single storefront examples are 955-57 Main (1886, Peterson Block), and 1365 Jackson (1891, Conrad
Hafner Block). Another commercial building type, one that largely encompasses the one that features a centered
pediment, is the named business block. These blocks were architecturally distinctive, commonly occupied corner
locations, had a long-tenn recognized name and commonly were inscribed with that name and the year of construction.
By definition these housed successful commercial finns and their names persisted over time. Many also housed public
halls. Surviving examples include the Town Clock Block (823-25 Main), the O'Neill Block (101-23 Main), the John Bell
Block (1301-07 Central), H. Ziepprecht Block (1347 Central), Edward Muntz Block (1735-49 Central) and so on. As
classes, the named block and the centered pediment blocks are recommended as being individually National Register
'-~-~~-'-~-~"" -
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OM8 Appm..! No. 7024-00'8
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
eligible. Yet another "type" is the first emergence of tall commercial buildings during this time period. The premier
surviving example is the five-story Bishop Block, 90 Main (1887, Old Main Dis1rict, NRHP). A number of the earliest
hotels achieved this height, but this is the sole pre-1893 surviving example.
The architectural significance of commercial buildings is treated in Context #5. The homes of significant
merchants could also be National Register eligible, particularly when no commercial building survives with association
with a particular merchant.
The Great City On The River:
The Herald pride fully recounted the advantages and gains to date of the Key City as things stood in early 1880:
We feel as the representative of the metropolis of the state a pride in our beautiful city, situated as it is in
one of the most lovely and picturesque spots in the universe. The position of the city of Dubuque has
been time and again presented in these colunms as well as its geographical advantages, occupying as it
does a prominent position in the valley of the Mississippi. Its arteries connect it with every nook and
corner of the globe. By water its commerce, via the Wisconsin rivers, can reach the marts upon the great
ocean, while its railway connections join it with all points where railroads reach. Our city has every
advantage of communication for purchase and supply, and, it is hoped, before another year rolls over
here she will have still greater commercial facilities than she now enjoys. . .Dubuque has passed its
infantile condition, and is now ready to aid others to crawl toward the goal of wealth and
prosperity.. .Dubuque possesses peculiar advantages over many cities in the state, especially those inland.
The Mississippi river is an unexcelled thoroughfares of trade "a commercial artery pushing forward from
the almost extreme northern boundary of our broad nation to the gulf outlet." Hence the clamor by
businessmen for the improvement of the river (The Herald, January 1, 1880).
The Herald predicted that "some city between St. Paul and St. Louis, on the Mississippi river, is destined to be a
large town." Each major city in the Midwest states was situated on a river "and hence their prosperity." The Herald
asked "Why not Dubuque for Iowa?" Dubuque had the river location and as of 1885 was "rapidly drawing to herself a
railroad system unsurpassed by few cities in the northwest..." The Dubuque and Northwestern, then under construction,
was fmanced by a special tax levy in 1883. The line was complete to Durango and being graded toward Farley.
Eventually it would link up with the Minnesota and Northwestern, 160 miles to the northwest. A similar initiative in
1870 had put in place the north/south Dubuque and Minnesota route (the "River Road") that was now the Chicago,
Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad (as of May 1880). The line linked Clinton and Lacrosse with branches to Cascade,
Waukon and Preston. The Milwaukee system linked Dubuque with St. Paul and many Iowa cities to the west and
southwest. The company's machine shops were built at Dubuque with "one of the largest round houses in the state." The
lllinois Central Railroad gave Dubuque alone an unbroken line access to New Orleans, a singular Iowa advantage. Two
trains left the city to that seaport each day. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy was building a new route along the east
bank of the Mississippi River from Oregon, lllinois to St. Paul. Dubuque was to become the main point on the line and
the company had purchased four riverfront acres for improvements. This link would connect Dubuque and St. Louis.
The Chicago and Northwestern had just reached Galena and was to come on to Dubuque. The Dubuque and Dakota,
"peculiarly a Dubuque enterprise" linked Bremer and Franklin counties and would serve as a key feeder line to the new
Dubuque and Northwestern.
PS Foem 1<J.900.,
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Continuation Sheet
Section number --É..- Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
The Herald gushed "Extensive as will be our railroad facilities they are only a part of the ample facilities offered
for heavy shipping. The Mississippi rolls by the city, and must forever be a highway, not only for transportation itself,
but also by its free tolls and low rates must always check all combinations among railroads to force high prices. In this
regard alone it is invaluable, for it forever acts as a check upon all transportation routes." Dr. Samuel Wood, writing in
the Chicago Journal of Commerce, was less sanguine, and portended the fading of the river's importance when he
observed "I must not forget her railroad interests, for they have become of more importance to our Western cities than
even our mighty rivers (Herald, December 20, 1885; Wood reprinted in the Daily Times, July 13, 1877).
River Traffic Declines in the face of Railroad Dominance and Growth:
The Mississippi River ~hipping trade slowly and inexorably waned in the face of railroad competition. As
railroad access points along the river developed, the river packets increasingly turned to providing service between
several of those points in lieu of making longer river runs. The Civil War with its long-term elimination of access to the
Lower Mississippi River, redefined the national shipping network. What was a north/south traffic reoriented to an
east/west rail route and this re-imprinted shipping "habit" survived as long as trains dominated shipping over trucks.
After the war, the developing regional agriculture out-produced available shipping resources, further strengthening rail-
shipping preferences. Railroads could simply carry more. Another factor was the early dominance of Chicago over St.
Louis as a grain-shipping center. The former led in adapting steam power to grain elevators and this advance enabled
Chicago elevators to both ship by the carload in bulk and to sort grain according to grade. As early as 1857, Chicago
possessed greater grain storage capacity than its southern rival. Chicago was a link in the developing Great Lakes
east/west-shipping route. The inadequacies of the river helped the railroads. Uncertain water levels coincided with the
harvest and shipping season (Anfinson, p. 17).
Timber rafting increasingly dominated what remained of river shipping as packets and other freighting declined.
The massive log rafts left their legacy in the form of the current navigational channel. Even today the ghosts of the great
lumber rafts define the broad sweeps of the curves in the nine-foot deep Mississippi River navigation channel and they
largely determined bridge placement and channel clearances between bridge piers. Passenger traffic waxed and waned.
The Diamond Jo Company, headquartered in Dubuque, attests to the resiliency of the river packet in the face of railroad
competition.
The "groundwork" for the river improvements of the next century was laid beginning in 1866. Those
preparations coincided with the worst river flood in memory when it was reported "the shot tower, pail factory, and
Rhomberg's distillery look as though they might belong to the lllinois, rather than the Iowa shore." The first river
channel maps were prepared by the Anny Corps of Engineers between 1866-69. The first dredging/snag boats were
authorized in 1867. By 1876 the thousands of dangerous snags (sunken trees) were eliminated and many sandbars
flattened. The first closing darn experiments were made in 1873, closing off redundant channels to focus the main
channel flow. The Corps completed a comprehensive Mississippi River basin survey in 1879 and then radically altered
the river channel over the next 25 years. Two very basic down river improvements eliminated historic obstacles to river
shipping. The 1877 completion ofa canal around the Des Moines Rapids and the blasting ofa river channel through the
Rock Island Rapids in 1886 set the stage for broader navigational improvements (Anfmson, pp. 37-51; Herald, May 1,
1866).
The elimination ofupstrearn forest cover and these initial tamperings with the natural river coincided with
several record flood years. The record flood level at Dubuque, 21.7 feet, was set on June 23,1880. The second highest
water level followed by eight years, 21.4 feet on May 12, 1888 (Dubuque Business, October 1929, p. 28).
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'Rev. B.86'
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMS Appo"",' No. 1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page-21
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
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Figure 12: Ice Harbor Plan, 1884
Note that steamboat traffic is served not ÍÌ'om harbor but ÍÌ'om wharf boats.
The Diamond Jo Wharfuoat is second ÍÌ'om the left (Report of the Chief Engineer, 1886).
Dubuque required assistance ÍÌ'om the U.S. Anny Corps of Engineers to solve a number of river transportation
problems. There was the problem of direct river access as well as the need for protection for vessels which over wintered
at Dubuque. There was also the problem of newly forming bars which threatened to completely isolate the city ÍÌ'om river
traffic. The New Barney Cut of 1858-59 had diverted water flow through Lake Peosta and had over time caused a bar
fonnation to block almost the entirety ofthe city's riverÍÌ'ont, forcing ferries and other craft to either back out or make a
difficult sharp turn to pass below the foot of the bar to reach the city. The Corps of Engineers sent C. W. Dunham to
study the situation in 1876 and $41,000 was appropriated between 1876 and 1881 to dredge out the bar and to dam up the
various previous cuts which had formed the bar. Most of the dredging work was completed in 1884 (Chief Engineer,
1876, pp. 695-98,1885, p. 262).
The other problems were solved by transforming the old Waples Cut into an "ice harbor." Originally plarmed in
1880, the harbor would measure 502,000 square feet with a low-water depth of six feet. A sluiceway through the Third
Street causeway would prevent the accumulation of stagnant water in the harbor. Congress appropriated $20,000 in
August 1882 to start the project and B. E. Linehan of Dubuque was awarded the dredging contract. The project turned
out to be more of a federal-local partnership when the City Council acted aggressively to buy up the land around the
harbor and to strictly control the use of the harbor. The dredging costs were lower than anticipated and with additional
funding the Corps produced a larger harbor with 164,000 additional square feet as well as a broad landing embankment
along the Third Street side ofthe harbor. The work was complete by 1886. During the first winter of 1883-84 the harbor
PS Fo,m 10.'OO.a
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National Park Service
OM8 Appco'" No. 10<4.0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa, 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
sheltered 1O steamboats, two wharf boats, two dredge boats, 33 barges and flats and 200,000 feet oflumber (Chief
Engineer, 1885, p. 1572; 1886, pp. 1691-93).
Arriving steamboats had to pay a $10 docking fee to use the city's wharf. In late April 1876 steamboats were
refusing to pay the fee and even the Diamond Jo boats refused. City Wharfinaster Warring threatened to seize the boats
but was met with a show of resistance and desisted. The city lost even more ground when the Harbor Improvement
Company offered its 3'd Street Wharf for free landings. That same year a new steam ferryboat, the Key City, was put into
service at Dubuque. Built by Johnson & Kahlke, it measured 100x25, was powered by two vertical steam engines and
double screw propellers and had a carrying capacity of 18 wagons. The ferry was briefly used that sunriner to run freight
to Galena when the lllinois Central line was washed out. Omnibuses filled the same function west of Dubuque (National
Democrat, January 20, April 27, July 13, 1876).
By 188O the city was exporting the region's grain surplus. The Herald noted "Nearly all of the grain purchased
in Dubuque seeks a market on the lower Mississippi, and a large quantity is shipped directly to Liverpool. . .Dubuque is
one of the most extensive depots on the river between St. Louis and St. Paul, for river freight, its shipments and receipts
being greatly in excess of any other point on the river between the points just named." Each winter the railroads
increased their shipping rates in the absence of river competition. The Herald cO111plained "much has been written upon
water commerce, displaying its advantages and disadvantages, and so long as an antagonism exists between rail and water
communication low prices will prevail on the river. All lines are well patronized by our businessmen" (Herald, January
1,1880).
Property Type Discussion:
The Ice Harbor (riverfront, NRHP) survives in its original configuration and remains an excellent structure to
interpret the need to seasonally protect river craft.
Dubuque as a Key Railroad Hub, Belated Mississippi River Railroad Bridge Construction:
The 188O county history noted that "The interests of Dubuque and Northern Iowa suffered for many years in
consequence of the lack of transportation facilities between Dunleith and Dubuque." Dubuquers called constantly for a
railroad bridge, but serious demands and any real hopes came after 1865. Some recognized that gaining the bridge would
actually hann the city's regional trade position as through-trains effectively bypassed the city. This was in accordance
with Dubuque's historic penchant for slowing down the traveler, so as to get them to stop in the city. Even today traffic
lights ornament the city's "interstate" approaches. It was suggested that major cities like Chicago, Pittsburgh, and
Baltimore all prevented trains from simply passing across the city. It was recommended that the new bridge and tracks
should be designed to only indirectly connect to lines stretching west. Nothing was done and the continued failure to
built the key railroad bridge resulted in the downgrading of the city from "secondary entrepôrt" to a "central
marketplace" in regional its economic role (Johnson, pp. 232-33; Mahoney, p. 327; 1880 County History, p. 637).23
An independent bridge company was fonned in 1867, headed by company president William B. Allison, to
finally link the railroads on either side of the Mississippi River. The local press advocated a combination rail/vehicular
bridge but couldn't prevail. Stock was sold in Dubuque, Boston and New York. The Keystone Bridge Company of
23 Oldt noted without further details that steam railroads were taking trade away from the city as early as February 1861 (Oldt, p. 137).
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National Park Service
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National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number --É-- Page-2l
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
Philadelphia was awarded the contract. The bridge was finished December 15, 1868, two weeks ahead of schedule (1880
County History, pp. 637-39).
It is unclear as to when other rail lines were able to lease access to this bridge. At first, the lllinois Central
enjoyed a clear advantage with the other lines making their crossing at Clinton or points above Dubuque.
Figure 13: Railroad bridge viewed towards lllinois, 1873 (Bennett, p. 26)
Note the low elevation of the Dubuque end of the crossing point.
Property Type Discussion:
One of the shorter end spans of the 1868 railroad bridge survives. It served as a county road bridge until
relatively recently and the span is now being stored and grant funds are being sought to restore and properly locate and
interpret this very rare surviving example of railroad bridge engineering.
Laving Rails Further West:
Midwestern trail terminal points were fIXed throughout the war and immediate postwar years. The Dubuque &
Sioux City line actually contracted bridging and grading of 44 additional miles of track from Cedar Falls to Iowa Falls
although rails didn't reach the latter point until after the war. The Iowa Falls & Sioux City Railroad was organized in
1867 to further extend the line but it was soon after leased by the lllinois Central Railroad and the line was completed to
Sioux City on July 7, 1869 with 326 miles of trackage. It wasn't long before the unified ICRR was charged with rate
discrimination against the city (1880 County History, p. 626).
The Chicago, Clinton, Dubuque & Minnesota, so constituted in 1873, replaced a munber of north-south rail lines
which sought to link Minnesota and Clinton, to the south. The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy with a more direct
east/west link to Chicago, approached Clinton from Prophetstown, lllinois. The CCD&M established its shops in north
Dubuque and provided 100 jobs (1880 County History, p. 626).
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OMB App""'¡ No. 1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number -É.- Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
Other lines sought to add other southerly routes. The Dubuque, Cedar Falls and Minnesota Railroad was a Cedar
Falls firm but was Dubuque-funded. It graded a line to Waverly in early 1858 but didn't resume construction until 1863-
64 when Waverly was [mally reached. It was subsequently leased to the Dubuque & Sioux City and then leased to the
ICRR. The Dubuque & Muscatine Railroad was a relative latecomer, being incorporated in early 1880 in Clinton (1880
County History, p. 626).
Collectively the city's railroads aided substantially to the local employment rolls and to the annual calculations of
city improvements. It was primarily the railroads, followed by industry, which filled the vast river frontage and
transformed slough and open water into level land for industrial and railroad use. While the city was later chastised for
giving up its riverfront to these uses, there would have been no riverfront absent the relentless dumping of barrow. The
process was incremental, raised trestle was first infilled and bermed and then the intervening areas built up.
Property Type Discussion:
The home of Senator William A. Allison, the leader in building the railroad bridge, is located at 1134-36 Locust
Street (Jackson Park District, NRHP). One of the shorter spans of this original 1868 railroad bridge still survives, having
served until recently as a county vehicular bridge. The span is of special interest with regard to engineering history and is
surely National Register eligible under Criterion C. The present railroad bridge is a later replacement (1909) but it does
retain the same raised right-of-way as did the original railroad. This raised and filled right-of-way also interprets the key
role played by the several railroads in filling in the city's riverfront. Early trestled lines were incrementally filled or
replaced with solid raised roadbeds. No railroad or shipping-related buildings survive from this period.
A Mississippi River VehicularlPedestrian Bridge, At Last!
"The river at this point is bridged by Architect J. Frost, who finished the job night before last. McShawof
Anamosa was first to try the strength of the new bridge, yesterday, and he was speedily followed by others." In this
manner, at great risk, locals seasonally could cross the river without paying ferry tolls. The modern-day reader will be
amazed to consider that Dubuque survived, indeed thrived without a vehicular bridge until 1886 (Herald, December 19,
1860).
River ice eliminated the obstacle normally presented by the river. The other eight months of the year only the
ferry service or the railroad transfer service were options for crossing man, beast or freight to or from lllinois. Rough ice
meant that even this natural bridge was not available. Such was the case late 1880 when wagon traffic couldn't make the
crossing. The National Democrat editor wondered why the railroad bridge couldn't be temporarily floored for
emergency use. He wished that the long-awaited pontoon bridge, "better than none," was in place and wondered why
Minneapolis could claim three bridges (National Democrat, November 25, 1880).
Dubuquers had hoped fruitlessly for a combined use bridge when the railroad bridge was designed and built.
They now considered adding side passageways on the bridge but the city refused to accept liability for any accidents.
Another alternative was the construction of special railway carriages which would have been used to cross wagons across
the bridge. Combination bridges were uncommon but Davenport had one courtesy of the federal government and Rock
Island Arsenal. Pontoon bridges were increasingly favored by Upper Mississippi River communities as of the middle
1870s. The Secretary of War had veto power over design and construction over navigable streams and these bridges
further required the passage of federal enabling legislation. The Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad led the way with the
construction of a double floating draw span railroad bridge at Prairie du Chien in late 1873. The necessary legislation
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Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page--.&!
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa, 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
curiously followed on June 6, 1874, authorizing another bridge to be built by the same company at Clinton. On March 2,
1875 Dubuque secured the passage oflegislative approval for a vehicular pontoon bridge. Dubuque's act specified that
government approval had to precede construction. This was the problem. The bridge had to be a mile above or below the
railroad bridge. This placed it above Eagle Point. Dubuquers wanted 3'" Street. Efforts to raise funds failed
(Laws.. . Construction of Bridges, pp. 104-05, 112-13; Lyon, pp. 355-56).
Figure 14: The minois "gateway" to Dubuque, twin bridges (undated photo, Dubuque County Historical Society)
The ice bridge story of 1880 indicates that no progress had been made by that time, and that pontoon hopes still
were being considered. The winter of 1885-86 pushed the issue to the fore when thin ice stopped ferries but blocked
crossing on the ice. Losses to the city were estimated at $75,000 and merchants demanded a permanent bridge. East
Dubuque was opposed to any bridge outside of its boundary and the government approved their proposal for a pennanent
bridge site 225 feet south of the railroad crossing. The bridge company board approved the concept ofa high wagon
bridge just below the existing bridge on August 9, 1886. Construction started in the spring of 1887, with four completed
spans by mid-July. The bridge opened with great fanfare on November 25,1887 (Lyon, pp. 355-56; OIdt, pp. 189, 191).
ProPerty Type Discussion:
Every vestige of the "high bridge" has been removed. On the lllinois side a raised concrete approach survives.
Fitful Streetcar Service:
The Dubuque Street Railway Company was organized in October 1867 and established a three-mile long line that
connected the Jones Street feny, Main Street, 13th to Clay, 18th to Couler and the fairgrounds. Service opened May 23,
1868 with five horse-drawn cars. The service was less than impressive and the company was purchased in 1872 by a new
consortium. The ten-cent fair was cut in half. In 1877 a separate company, the "Hill Street and West Dubuque Steam
Railway Company" was fonned to tackle the bluffs. Photographer Samuel Root documented first day of service north
!Tom 8th and Main streets on July 12, 1877. The route ran along Hill and 3'" streets to Alpine and Julien (now University)
streets, via Broad (now Mt. Pleasant) Street. Two years later the route was extended to the Western Brewery at Julien
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Section number -É..- Page---21
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
and Delhi streets, for a total distance of two miles. The company car barn was located at that same point. The company
shut down in 1884 and pulled up its tracks. A third transit company, the Key City Electric Street Railway Company,
sought to duplicate the hilltop service of the Hill Street company but it had an even shorter existence, less than one year
between 1888 and 1889. It instead competed unsuccessfully with the Dubuque Street Railway Company, offering a
duplicate north/south service (Lyon, pp. 202-03; WPA History, pp. 62-63; Wilkie, pp. 328, 330; 1880 County History, pp.
640,642; Oldt, p. 191).
The Hill Street route was a significant contribution to westward residential expansion. The original route was
later incorporated into the broader streetcar system and even today, busses trace the same route. The advocates of the
route were residents of the area located between what is noW University Avenue and Dodge Street. Two of the five
sponsorswere brothers Edward and Sol Langworthy, owners ofa considerable tract ofland at Hill and West 3'd Street.
They made sure that the route ran directly through their tract. Even before the first car run there was speculative
anticipation of its impact. The Herald reported in early May 1877 "S. Langworthy is opening up Alpine Street, extending
that thoroughfare to Dodge Street, thereby throwing a number of valuable building lots into market. The street railway
project has enlivened the interest among property owners on the bluffs, and makes the most eligible locations on the
bluffs easy of access." The line was a great success and operated until 1884 (Herald, May I, 1877).
The main purpose of the car line was providing north-south travel within the downtown, and to the distant
fairgrounds. No consideration was made of even providing access to the base of the bluffs, let alone to the blufftops.
There was considerable public demand for this in 1876. Car service during this era was generally poor but progress was
realized with the 1872 line purchase by J. K. Graves and J. Rhomberg. Historian Oldt notes "it became useful and
omamental to the city instead of being a nuisance and a disgrace as it formerly was." An Eagle Point line extension was
fmished in 1887. It is possible that the success of the 4th and II th Street private elevator companies, during the late 1880s,
reduced the need for car service to the highlands. The latter line functioned into the 1920s and serviced the bluff top area
between University Avenue and Loras Boulevard (Oldt, pp. 173, 178, 189).
By 1889 the company was called the Dubuque Electric Railway, Light and Power Company, but commonly was
termed the "Allen & Sweeney Line." In April 1890 cars fITst reached Stewart Park, later known as Union Park. As was
the case with all large urban carlines, considerable revenue was generated by providing streetcar service to Nutting Park,
the fairgrounds, the Schuetzen Park, and the many temporary or short-term halls (Oldt, pp. 192-93).
ProperlY Type Discussion:
The Fourth Street Elevator (Cathedral District, NRHP) continues in service and serves as a functioning example
of an hill railroad. The right-of-way of the II th Street Elevator also survives, with its associated massive stone retaining
walls and most important, the tunnel through which it passed. The base of the elevator is in the Jackson Park District,
NRHP while its upper portion is in the West II th Street District. A number of the commercial districts (Old Main, Upper
Main, Central Street) are located on key streetcar lines and these offer an indirect reflection of the presumed relationship
between development and carline proximity.
Municipal Growth, 1859-1893:
Construction in Dubuque began to substantially recover by 1863-64. Building improvements still outpaced new
building starts. The Herald noted "People have not been so anxious to launch out into new enterprises of building"
despite the fact that "every available house in town is taken.. . and the demand exceeds the supply." The city was
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OME Applo"" No. 1024-00>8
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque Couutv Iowa
Couuty and State
benefiting 1Ìom its wartime role, particularly in hotel accommodations with the rebuilding of the Peosta House heading
the city improvement list. Rail transportation improvements resulted in a new roundhouse. A soap and candle factory
was also gained (Herald, January I, 1864).
The W. H. Peabody's three-story business block (non-extant) was built in 1865, on the comer of Third and Main.
The Herald remarked upon its new look, noting "It is the best structure on that side of the street, or probably on either
side, and with its cut stone and substantial window covers [Gothic style] and substantial window cappings, makes a rich
and showy appearance." It would appear that this comment marks the introduction of elaborate carved stone lintels in the
city. Another then popular innovation was that of iron shutters and tin roofs, "proof against the devouring elements
[fire]" (Herald, July 12, August 31, December 10, 1865).
By 1866, there was a measurable aesthetic developed by the post-Civil War years. The Herald recommended a
trip to the city's bluffs in mid-1866:
ON THE BLUFFS.- The stranger visiting Dubuque should not fail to go to the bluffs just back of the
city, and feast his eyes on the beautiful panorama spread out before him. It is a sight well worth seeing;
worth the pencil of a Rembrandt or Alliston; worthy of a niche in the catalogue of American scenery;
worthy the most impassioned rhapsodies on the part of every true enthusiast. Below the spectator many
hundred feet, lies the business portion of Dubuque, with its rows of substantial brick buildings, clean
pavements, glittering spires, stately churches, quiet dwelling houses, and the might father of waters, like
a broad belt of silver, murmuring at their base. Directly opposite are the high bluffY shores oflllinois
and Wisconsin, now clothed in all the glory of nature's brightest green, while Dunleith with its spacious
elevator and depot buildings lies sleeping in the distance. The whole scene is one of sublimity, beauty
and grandeur, and when viewed in the sunlight with the flickering shadows 1Ìom waving trees and
passing clouds cannot fail of impressing the spectator with the most profound feelings of awe and
admiration...(Herald, June 12, 1866).
1877:
Dr. Samuel Wood, of Chicago wrote the following description of the city following a visit to Dubuque in
It would be pleasant to describe [in more detail] the picture that nature and art spread out before the eye
1Ìom several elevated points in Dubuque. The great river, spanned by a magnificent railroad bridge; the
bluffs on both sides, crowned with spring's richest verdue; the vast expanse of water seen above and
below the city at one glance of the eye; the hills crowned with beautiful villas; and all these forming a
grand 1Ìamework for the rapidly rising and expanding commercial and manufacturing city of
Dubuque...The hills, valleys, ravines and rolling glands in the more western part of the city furnish
admirable sites for residences, gardens and choice retreats, unsurpassed by any western city I have yet
visited.. . (Chicago Journal of Commerce reprinted in the Daily Times, July 13, 1877).
By the fall of 1867 new construction was underway throughout the city "and in every variety of style and
expense" and the newspaper writer found it "impossible to be systematic in our birds eye review of the matter." Most
notable were the new planing mills raised up by the Dubuque Lwnber Company and by Can and Austin. The Herald's
annual report was filled with hwnor noting that there were 60 families in the city with the names of Smith, Smyth or
Schmidt and 17 families bore the name Myers. Henry Kroll, town sexton "during the past healthy season, has rested 1Ìom
his labors digging graves for others, and dug a fine cellar or basement for himself, just beyond the fair grounds, where he
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Continuation Sheet
Section number -É..- Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa. 1833-1955
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County and State
has erected his own monument in the shape of a large brick dwelling." No area was improving faster than Seminary Hill.
There was some minimal growth in West Dubuque "with nothing being allowed to go to wreck." Older buildings were
giving away to new ones or to make-overs. The Surveyor General's office on Main went down and another property "of
some antiquity" was remodeled. Five substantial residences (J. A. Rhomberg, Jacob Christman, Henry Louray, W. J.
Knight and Sol Turck) were being built (Herald, September 5, 1867).
Stylistic references were abundant in the 1867 Herald progress review. The parsonage for St. Mary parish was
"a Gothic structure of brick, of an irregular shape." Sol Turck's new Third Street mansion was "a beautiful Italian villa,
of brick, which, when finished, will be one of the handsomest residences in the city." Henry Lauray's new house at 1394
Locust (Jackson Park District, NRHP) was also of brick and "will be covered by a French roof, sunnounted by an
observatory." Vemacular references were also numerous. Three stone houses, mostly story-and-a half plans with
basement, were being built. J. F. Steiner was building a frame house on Seminary Hill "bricked in between the siding and
the lath." Three small frame houses were being built on 5th Street to house "that most aristocratic class of our fellow
citizens, Irish laborers" (Herald, September 5, 1867).
The Herald in 1868 noted just one example of style, H. Sauer' s brick residence, designed "partially [in the]
gothic style." A year later L. Zust's two-story brick Seminary Hill house was also termed Gothic in design. The same
source in 1870 reported "a goodly number" of new buildings that "combine great strength of column and architectural
beauty. Edward Langworthy's house on Main near 6th streets was one of these (Herald, December 13, 1868; December
16,1869; December 18,1870).
The city was booming by 1868 and the Herald's enumerators struggled to document the growth. Over 60 miles
of streets were canvassed and many ownerlbuilders could not be tracked down to secure building details. Frequently only
the lady of the house was on hand and "though she would very probably have been able to tell the number of cows,
chickens and children, was rarely able to tell the dimensions ofthe house she lived in or its cost." The same source
proudly observed
Progress has been the watchword of Dubuque during the past season. Unexampled activity is public
improvements has been manifested. From the mouth of Catfish to Eagle Point, and from the Levee to
West Dubuque, the sound of the saw, the hammer and the plane has resounded from every block.
Standing on the bluff and overlooking the city, the roofs of new dwellings dot the scene like islands in an
archipelago. No section of the city is going into dilapidation, or is even at a standstill; everywhere are
indications of activity, thrift and enterprise.. . (Herald, December 13, 1868).24
The Daily Times was equally exuberant, estimating a population growth of more than two thousand residents within the
past year. The illinois Central alone would bring "some hundreds" of new jobs within a year. "More and better buildings
have been erected than has ever been in anyone year previous~some of them of a character that would do credit to more
pretentious cities (Daily Times, January 1,1869).
House construction was for once outpacing local stone cutting. The Herald reported "The large number of
dwelling houses under course of erection in town has made an unusual demand for cut stones, used in window sills,
doors, caps and water tables." This reference to stone production is important because it attests to the local use of cut
rather than cast stone at this time (Herald, June 19, 1868).
24 The writer had used exactly the same text a year earlier to describe city growth! (Herald, September 5, 1867)
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Section number Í- Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources ofDubuoue. Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuoue Couutv. Iowa
Couuty and State
The year 1869 was a poor one fmancially ("one of unusual dullness in trade, and of general apprehension"
observed the Herald, the least promising in ten years) but despite this slowdown "there have been improvements
surpassing those of any single previous year in our history." hnprovements that year included Ryan's new packing house,
the gas works, the Methodist and Second Presbyterian churches, the Oglesby Block and 30 buildings valued at more than
$5,000 each. The Daily Times echoed the lack of growth during 1869, when it contrasted the city's situation two years
later. It noted
They are surprised to see this [progress], and well they may be-But two years ago stores without
number stood on Main street with cards hanging in the windows on which were inscribed the fatal words
'to Let,' business of every description was raveled out at the heel, many of the most enterprising and
stiffing merchants and commission men had deserted a city which they predicted would soon have grass
growing in its most public thoroughfares, immigration closed, real estate went down, and building was
stopped. In short, Dubuque presented all the outward tokens of being a city from which the light of
improvement and enterprise had forever departed...
The Times credited the securing of a second railroad, the Chicago, Dubuque & Minnesota Railroad, with "giving renewed
vitality and vigor to the constitution of a city almost drugged to death by the spirit of reckless speculation and short-
sighted, un-remunerative investments." During I 870 the "fITe demon" ran riot but new construction replaced and
exceeded the losses. The construction of two new railroads boosted "an enterprising spirit among our citizens, not
excelled, if equaled, at any former period" (Herald, December 16, 1869; December 18, 1870; Daily Times, June IS, 1871;
OIdt, p. 165).
The Herald compared Chicago's population and total value of improvements with Dubuque and concluded
"Dubuque relatively is growing just as fast as Chicago." It added with pride that of the $600,000 in local improvements
that year "there has been no public building of any character erected, nor any building put up by any corporation, all has
been done by private enterprise (Herald, December 18, 1869)."
The Herald saluted architectural progress made during 187 I. The city had assumed
"more of a metropolitan air than on [sic] previous years. More of the elegance of architectural style has
been embodied in our building sameness. More of Attic25 has been infused in the notable structures of
the year. The dullness of the old styles has given place to somewhat oflife and warmth. Who does not
admITe the beauty of those marble fronts and those cornices on Main Street. They alone have made the
street a hundred percent handsomer, and not a stranger that visits the city that points them out first thing
The year 1871 witnessed the building of an "unusual number of fine residences.. .aImostpalatial in style." Yesterday's
style was undergoing a makeover and many "a house once ugly and unsightly, has been remodeled until it vies with any
of its neighbors in good looks." Mr. William L. Bradley finished his Locust Street 1872 residence (between 13th and 14th
streets, 1268 or 1330 Locust) in the "Grecian style" (Herald, December 17, 1871; November 24, 1872).
25 A reference to the base used in the Ionic order or a lower story in the upper part of a house rising above the main portion of the
building, or finally a window-lighted apartment in the roofleve!.
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County and State
Improvements in 1871 led the Herald to declare "not another city in the state can equal us" as construction values
exceeded $1.1 million. Improvements in 1872 fell just below those of the previous year, a hint of troubled times to corne.
Many building plans were cancelled in the face of brick shortages despite increased production plans on the part of the
city's eight brickyards (a total of 6,100,000 bricks burned). The railroads had tied up much of the early supply and
consequently "Guttenberg was made to pay tribute of many brick" to fill Dubuque's building needs. The building season
was cut short by "the tightening up of the money market during the later summer and fall months" (Herald, December 17,
1871; November 24,1872; Times, November 23,1872).
The same source made the first known "Italian style" reference (although that style had been around for some 15
yearsl) was made to John Mulligan's brick block at Main and 1" streets. The same source also first referenced the
"French style" embodied in William Ryan mansion at Main and 14th streets (1389 Locust, Jackson Park, NRHP) as well
as R. E. Grave's brick residence at 1392 Locust (Jackson Park District, NRHP) the same comer ("French style with
Mansard roof'). The Tribune cited the new Mullany block as having a "Mansard roof, crowned with a cupola" (Herald,
December 17, 1871; Tribune, December 21,1871).
The first stirrings of laborers' organizing were heard in 1872. The Herald published the following account ofa
new union, formed in rnid-1872:
Working Men's Association In Dubuque-A few evenings ago the journeymen-cabinet makers of
Dubuque armed themselves into a workingmen's association of thirty-five members; elected officers and
hold another meeting on Friday night next. Their object is to connect themselves with the workingmen's
association in the east for the general benefit of the craft in this city. Next we shall expect to hear the
eight-hour question discussed, and the pulling up of old and driving down new stakes in working hours
(Herald, June 26, 1872).
By the end of 1873 the Herald declared William Ryan's finished house to be "in the opinion of competent
judges" to be unequalled in the city for its "richness of design and finish." Two nearby Second Empire designs were also
lauded, these being William Andrew's mansion (1375 Locust, Jackson Park District, NRHP) and that of Alfred Tredway
(1182 Locust, Jackson Park District, NRHP). Three mansions were underway on upper Main Street. Two
owner/builders were named, these being D. B. Henderson (1433 Main, Jackson Park District, NRHP) and George Crane
(1455 Main, Jackson Park District, NRHP). No specific styles were cited but the paper observed:
[the three] make an elegant architectural display, unsurpassed on this main thoroughfare. They are built
of brick, with the best stone cappings, French plate glass windows and all the latest conveniences, and all
the latest touches of fine workmanship, at very reasonable cost, and are a valuable adornment to the street
and highly creditable to the taste of the architect [one?] and proprietors.
St. Josephs Academy on Iowa Street between 12th and 13tb streets (non-extant) also reflected the Second Empire style
with its Mansard roof form. Jacob Michel's three-story brick business block with its elaborate parapet and balustrade
was deemed the best commercial design and it was said that "no specimen of architecture made in Dubuque this year can
vie with it" (Herald, November 9, 1873).
One reason for this flurry oflabor organizing was due to the influx oflaborers to Dubuque. The city
directory of 1873-74 observed "the number of mechanics has very largely increased within two years" as a result
oflumber and manufacturing growth as well the gain of two railroad shops (Chicago, Dubuque & Minnesota and
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OMS App,"v,' No. 1024.0018
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Continuation Sheet
Section number -É.- Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
Chicago Clinton & Dubuque railroads, which more than mitigated the loss of the lllinois Central Railroad). New
construction in the previous two years included a water works and ten miles of mains (which reduced fire
insurance rates), the extension of the street railway to six total miles, new churches and schools and "the greatest
substantial evidence of the growth of Dubuque since 1865, is the erection, in 1872, of the great nwnber oflarge
buildings on Main and other streets for commercial and other purposes. These are about fifty in nwnber and
include the largest carriage and wagon manufactory the second largest in the United States (Dubuque City
Directory for 1873-74, pp. 10-11).
Figure 15: Central Market Place and City Hall, Central and 13
(courtesy Dubuque County Historical Society)
Laboring men and mechanics were building most of the city's new homes by 1873 and these were located in the
outskirts of Dubuque. The Herald offered its end-of-year tally under the heading "How Dubuque Stands on her Pins in
Hard Times." Reflective of those hard times or despite them, its progress report showed "a greater proportion of money
paid out by the poorer classes of the community to secure homes, and the nwnber of dwelling houses erected is large than
in any previous year." Total construction value was down once again from the previous year and from 1871 (Times,
January 1, 1874; Herald, November 9, 1873).
While the city faired better with the economic downturn of 1873-74, new construction did diminish. The Herald
admitted that mechanics and builders had turned to 'job and piece work, rather than the erection of new buildings." Still,
"a nwnber of costly houses have been put up. That will compare favorably with those built in previous years." Growth
continued northward, the same source noted "As usual the greatest activity in building circles has been manifested in the
vicinity ofCouler Avenue and Eagle point." The same source continued, noting "The majority of these are owned by
laboring men and mechanics, a favorable symptom, for this class are the real bone and sinew of the city, and when they
build themselves houses it shows that they have faith and intend to stay..." Beginning in 1873, filling operations in
conjunction with the railroads began to make substantial progress. In 1874200,000 yards offill were hauled from
barrow sites six miles above the city (Herald, November 22, 1874).
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Continuation Sheet
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
The year 1873 was the fITst wherein new construction was dominated by working class housing, "with a greater
proportion of money paid out by the poorer classes ofthe community to secure homes." The same pattern was observed
in 1883 with "the rapid increase of our population demanding the tenements, and in most instances the dwellings have
been built by those who occupy them.. . for the most part the tenements are of an ordinary but substantial character,
costing from $1,000 to $4,000." In 1886 overall construction was dominated by less expensive middle class dwellings
"chiefly of a middle class, two stories, comfortable houses, but nothing lavish, costing from $800 to $2,000" (Herald,
November 9, 1873; December 4, 1882; January I, 1887).
By the end of 1874 Locust Street was the place to live with "a large number of the richest and most aristocratic
mansions in Dubuque" crowding along it. The Herald enumerated the houses of William Andrew, D. S. Wilson, Alfred
Tredway, William Ryan, D. N. Cooley, John Thompson, and others valued from $17-22,000 in value. The
Congregational Church had completed its new "French Romanesque" steeple and the structure received "the first
morning kiss of Sol" each day (Herald, November 22, 1874).26
The architecture of new commercial blocks was stressed in 1875. The Eagle Building at Main and Ninth streets
(non-extant) combined "the elegant simplicity ofthe Renaissance with the more elaborate and imposing Corinthian
ornamentation.. ." The James Levi residence was designed in "the Renaissance order, which cannot be excelled in
combining simplicity with graceful beauty." The Booth and Waller double-mansion was designed in "the Venetian
style.. .with mansard roof." St. Louis pressed brick was combined with marble trim. Increasingly the tenn "cottage" was
used to describe smaller residences, built both in brick and frame. "One of the most beautiful little villas of which
Dubuque can boast, will be the French cottage now being built by Mr. Woods for Co!. G. F. West" in Grandview Park.
Dr. Porter was remodeling a Grandview Avenue house, "making it one of the most imposing French villas on the avenue"
(Herald, October 31, 1875).
26 "Old Sol" was a reference to the Sun.
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During 1875 it was the Fifth Ward where growth was particularly evident. "Throughout the length and breadth
of our principal thoroughfares extensive improvements have been made.. . and indications now point to greater results for
18761han have every been recorded in the annals of our city's history. The zenith of her glory has not yet been reached,
but she is steadily going forward to that high estate and will get there in the 'near-bye and bye' at the rate she is now
progressing" (Herald, October 31,1875).
Dubuque had rallied by 1876 in time to weather yet another national economic downturn. Record floods of that
year devastated many parts of the city. The Herald lauded "the Key City of the west" for its steady growth and the
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efforts of its citizens to "adorn and improve" the city. Once again the paper challenged no "city in Iowa or the west, of its
population, can show a better record, during 'these times that try men's souls' and their pockets" (Herald, December 2,
1876).
Der National Democrat, November 9, 1876 lauded the collective design work of two noted local
architects;
Messrs. Heer & Näscher whose activity as practical architects of a noteworthy and tasteful form of
building here in town the past several years have produced some splendid structures both among places
of merchandising and private residences, all highly visible, eloquent proofs of excellence, have now this
year unfolded an activity bearing witness to their spreading influence as architects and as contractors. ..
The Iowa Terra Cotta and Fire Clay Company of Hardin County advertised a "natural terra cotta" for use as
cornice covers and jambs at half the cost of cut stone. The material burned to a yellow red color when fired. It was
marketed in the city by a Mr. Gibson, the company president, who was a former Dubuque resident (National Demokrat,
August 17, 1876).
The 1876 building season opened in mid-January. The National Democrat reported "New buildings are to be
expected in great numbers this spring. .. the architects Heer & Näscher have their hands full of plans and drawings.
Building designs for Blumenauer, Couley [Cooley], Peaslee, Peabody and others we had occasion to see are real fine
structures.. .do the architects great honor." The year total of $500,000 was "a surprising and successful one considering
the bad times." Die Iowa was more pessimistic, reporting that costly new buildings were "the exception." The Building
and Loan Association was formed in early February 1876 and within 15 months had 450 stockholders and an operating
capital of $450,000. This had translated into 17 new house starts within a year's time. These houses were put up at less
cost than the builders had been paying for rent and would otherwise not been built. The work of the association merits
historical investigation. The Association was still going strong as ofmid-1881 at which time it was erecting a number of
new houses in the Sanborn Addition (Die Iowa, December 7, 1876; Der National Democrat, January 13,20, October 26,
November 9, December 7,1876; Times, "How We Build," May 4,1877; June 1, 1881).
The German newspaper Die Iowa chastised the Irish Catholics of St. Patrick parish for their selection of a French
Gothic style for their new church, suggesting that they could have found a Gothic version closer to home. The newspaper
added "we're afraid that St. Patrick's will be that sort of Gothic which consists in pointed windows and doors and a mix
of every thing possible and impossible. The same source was adamantly opposed to the remodeling of St. Raphael
Cathedral (stone veneer and tower), calling it "a serious deception" and "a thankless task, the old building is not worth
the new front (Die Iowa, February 3, April 20, May 18, 1876)."
The new building count was down during 1877 but the Herald assured its readers that "the buildings erected this
season, although not as numerous as in former years, are of a costly and permanent class, and add greatly to the beautiful
architectural reputation Dubuque has at home and abroad." Total improvements exceeded a million dollars, proof that
the city remained "determined to keep her place as the metropolis ofIowa." The city gained a new opera house, two
churches, three hotels and three factories. There was also the palatial Main Street residence of Alex Young (1491 Main,
Jackson Park District, NRHP) "intended to eclipse, in point of magnificence, any dwelling heretofore erected in the city"
(Herald, December 14,1877).
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
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Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
The next year the Times suggested that "many will no doubt be agreeably surprised at the excellent showing.. . for
these bad times that's pretty good." A "stringent" money market was the cause. The year wi1nessed "not many business
blocks" being built "the most of the money being expended on dwelling houses and improvements on houses built in
former years." The Herald acknowledged "hard times" for the year but otherwise painted the year's growth in a more
positive light with "hundreds of new cozy homes erected all over the city...[along with] new palatial dwellings and
stores, factories and warehouses." Business had been average and the bad times weathered because "in a word, Dubuque
owns itself and it is paid for too." Die Iowa reported mid-year "building that started so early this year and was going fine
has recently slackened off. Several experts are out of work already and others have little ahead of them. That's a bad
sign" (Times, December 11, 1878; Herald, January 3,1879; Die Iowa, May 30,1878; December 19,1878).
Lower labor and materials costs leveraged a "pretty great interest in building" in 1879 and by mid-year "a great
number of new buildings...mostly dwellings" were underway. That fall the same source reported "for a long time there
has not been so much building in town as we have this fall." The fITst reference to the use of yellow (Southern) rather
than white pine in construction ftaming was made at this time (Die Iowa, June 17, September 25, October 23, 1879).
During 1879 "a number of our most elegant residences have been more elaborately adorned and substantially
improved, displaying the taste and enterprise of their owners-notably among which is Mr. A. Levi, whose Main street
residence is one of the most beautiful in this city." It was also claimed the city possessed "more beautiful churches than
any other city in this state." Stylistic references in the newspapers declined as annual new building lists were simplified
but the Second Empire style continued in popularity with institutional building design. The new St. Josephs Mercy
Hospital sported a Mansard roof that year. Even later was E. Healey's two-story Bluff Street "Mansard dwelling" built in
1888 (701-03 Bluff, Cathedral District, NRHP) (Herald, January 1, 1880; December 23, 1888).
Growth continued through 1880 with notable improvements including St. Josephs Academy on Seminary Hill,
the Sisters ofSt. Francis orphan's asylum on James Street, and the Home for the Friendless. Local money was now being
invested in local firms and their expansions and virtually every manufacturing fIrm in the city "has felt the need of greater
facilities for the work and more room." Despite high construction total valuations, the actual counts for new buildings
was low with "improvements" outweighing new building. Der National Democrat observed "Building goes on here this
fall so well that all the master carpenters have their hands full. There are no masons to be had at all and carpenters are
scarce. Pay then is up substantially which is a good sign." Materials costs were also on the rise. Brick in Dubuque sold
for $3.90-4.00 per thousand count in 1879, but cost $7.00 a year later (Herald, January 1,1881; Der National Democrat,
October 21, 1880; AABN Summary, No. 220, March 13, 1880, p. 112).
Compiling the annual improvements was by 1880 a tremendous challenge and the Herald's editor wished for "an
ordinance compelling builders to apply for building permits" to save his efforts. The same source observed "The past
year has been one of extreme prosperity to Dubuque. But few failures have occurred, and those of so slight a character
that the commercial centers felt them as a flea bite." By this time it was claimed that the city "contains more beautiful
churches than any other city in the state." The record growth of 1880 continued into the next year and it was claimed that
the city's growth outpaced that of the entire state. The various newspapers varied widely in their total estimates for the
year, but it would appear that 1880 was a good construction season and one that set the stage for record building years
during the early and mid-l 880s. Railroad division point consolidation to the city brought new workers to Dubuque and
"augmented our population considerably" with north end residential growth around the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul
shops. During 1882 the unprecedented growth continued and Dubuque was "never in a more prosperous condition" with
the erection of a record number of new buildings. Quick rises in lumber costs in the spring failed to dint the building
boom and Die Iowa reported that the more expensive class of lumber "goes like hot cakes." The State prohibition
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amendment was more effective in stopping local building. The same sonrce reported that the amendment's adoption "has
at one blow put a halfto building. Everyone is waiting to see what happens." Even as the end-of-year report went to
press, the Herald noted "at least fifty residences are now in course of construction" which were not counted. The paper
copied the Dubuque Trade Journal's boast that "this city is reported stronger in proportion to size than any other point in
the union." The 1883 progress report noted "an increase of population and the existence of general prosperity" (Herald,
January 1,1880; December 4,1881; December 4,1881; December 19,1883; Die Iowa, March 20, July 20,1882).
The year 1882 witnessed a record-breaking number of new buildings. At least 50 new residences, then still under
construction, were left out of the annual count. Fully 17 local manufacturing finns expanded their facilities and the
Herald observed that "Manufacture is making giant strides within Dubuque's borders." The city population was said to
have grown by 6,000 in just two years (Herald, December 31, 1882).
An architectural innovation noted in 1882 was that of molded and polychrome brick. Die Iowa reported
"architects are starting to use colored brick here in town, also in special shapes. Why don't they try some of the Mettlach
mosaic types.. . available in New York...high priced but beautiful." Common building brick was being produced in
sufficient quantities but no pressed brick was of local manufacture. It was being shipped in principally from St. Louis or
Philadelphia. The Trade Journal urged that a local producer could take advantage of the regional rail system to export it
with equal advantage. The first building to reflect these trends was the three-story St. Cloud Block, Main near 9th (non-
extant) which featured Philadelphia pressed brick, of a rich brown red color and many pressed decorative brick shapes. It
offered "a very pleasing architecture...somewhat novel.. .and different from anything in the city." Architect Franklin D.
Hyde designed this building as well as the equally innovative four-story block (872 Main, non-extant) built for Dr. Asa
Horr in 1884. The latter design was the first complete substitution of decorative terra cotta for the locally traditional
stone and ironwork. It was termed "the most noticeable and striking erection on upper Main Street" (Die Iowa, August 3,
1882; Dubuque Trade Journal, August 21,1882; April 20, 1884).'7
In 1883 the Herald reported a housing shortage and the need for new tenements "Whether business is active or
slack, whether this is a boom year or not, one thing is assured: The demand for tenement houses is far in excess of the
supply. Every house or suite of rooms having a roof and four walls is filled. A family dissatisfied with their premises no
sooner moves out than another moves in (Herald, August 2, 1883)."
During 1884 the Herald claimed "most of [the new houses] constitute first-class architectural houses. Nothing
less than $500 in value has been raised." The new A. A. Cooper mansion, 5th and Bluff (non-extant) built in 1887, was
rated "one of the fmest residences in the state. ..[and] the most attractive in the city." James Howie's block (260-80 West
17th, Jackson Park District, NRHP) of six row houses, on 17th Street, with its three stories and a mansard roof, was a noted
1884 addition to the city. The design was tenned "a modified Gothic combined with features of the other orders the
whole rendering the building imposing, pleasing, and admirably adapted to its situation and locality" (Herald, December
12, 1884; November 24, 1887; Dubuque Trade Journal, October 10, 1884).
During 1884 60 brick houses were built with a total value of$81,060, for an average cost of$1,351. There were
66 new frame houses, valued at $56,890, an average cost of just $862. Thirty new business blocks were completed,
27 A rare local promotion for house plans appears in the Trade Journal, with a promotion for James Leffell and Company, New York
and Lefell's House Plans that provided plans ranging tÌom $500-$3,000 for "families having good taste and moderate means"
(Dubuque Trade Journal, October 10, 1884).
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
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County and State
worth $71,875 while other new construction was valued at $16,718. Repairs totaled $50,000 for an annual new
construction total of $1,276,543 (Institute of American Builders, Vol. V, No.1, February 1885, p. 13).
By 1886, Dubuque editors were first complaining that other Iowa cities were inflating their annual
construction figures. The Herald derided its two chief competitors noting that local counts avoided "the.
exaggeration employed by many cities on their building statistics, particularly Des Moines and Sioux City" which
had become "proverbial." An honest swnmary of a "rather dull" year was "not cooked up for effect." Again in
1889 that years report closed with the boast that "Dubuque has no need to grumble and although she does not toot
her own horn as much as Sioux City and Des Moines she is getting to the ITont all the same" (Herald, January 1,
1887; December 23, 1888; December 29, 1889).
This sustained growth during the early 1880s was in contrast to the known pattern in other cities. The 1884 new
construction levels continued the boom. Total improvements during 1885 (over $600,000) were "less than the previous
year, owing to the general business depression..." Construction costs in 1886 were one third cheaper and the result was
an explosion in cheaper middle class housing. A three-story double-brick was raised up for $3,000 when normally it
would cost up to $5,000. The Herald interpreted the phenomenon as "a splendid indication of...a steady increase of a
permanent population, a thriftiness of the people who thus build homes for themselves." Architects reported that it was a
great year to build and they "never knew building to be so cheap." That same source crowed in early May 1886
".. .Dubuque is fast obtaining a reputation for enterprise and industry unsurpassed by any city, at least in the state of
Iowa...The buildings that are being erected are of the most substantial nature. They are not mere skeletons in danger of
falling down at all times, like those that can be found in most other places." At the end of November the Herald claimed
"never before in the city's history have horses and labourers been as scarce as at present" (Dubuque: Its Manufacturing
and Commercial Facmties, 1886; Herald, May 9, November 12, 1886; January 1, 1887).
The same trend continued through 1887 and the Herald offered a linkage between home ownership and
democracy that typified the "Own Your Own Home" campaign of the early 20th century:
It will be noticed by the list that by far the larger portion of the building permits were issued for the
construction of dwellings of medium cost. This is one of the surest indicators of wealth. When the man
of limited means builds himself a little home, he then is in a position to accumulate wealth to be turned
into the highways of commerce. If every citizen owned his own home, the government would nul itself.
It is this continued improvement in this respect year after year that has given Dubuque such a name for
wealth abroad. It is one of the facts that Dubuque should take the most pride in, that her laboring men
and men of limited income are building homes for themselves and wherever possible, putting up double
houses and so insuring a steady income" (Herald, November 24, 1887).
By 1887 the city required the filing of building permits for new construction but the ordinance was so ignored
that the city engineer estimated 350 new buildings lacking the mandatory permits. The city was being "substantially built
up" but it wasn't a boom. "Dubuque has not claimed to itself one of the 'building booms' which is here to-day and gone
tomorrow. But it has ever claimed and maintained by indisputable proof that it has such a steady, prosperous growth as
places it in 'the ITont rank of substantial American cities" (Herald, November 24, 1887).
A real estate boom developed during the spring of 1887, said to have been the greatest since 1857. Speculative
downtown investing reflected the rapid growth of that area. The Herald observed "money has been ready and eyes have
been sharp in searching out bargains." The Commercial National Bank purchased the corner of Sixth and Main streets
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and as a result "liberated considerable capital which was holding in the hands of other parties for the purpose of buying
it, and the holders have not been adverse to placing it elsewhere." Transactions were not being made with the usual one-
third payment but were sold for cash (Herald, March 13, 1887).
One residential design that was lauded by the newspapers was a two-story brick home that Bernard L. Schulte
built for his son John Schulte, on White between 9th and lOth streets in 1888. Non-extant, the three-story plan measured
23x53, contained 13 rooms, had 13" thick walls, and running water on every level. It contained all the "modem
improvements" including cupboards and closets, and was rated to be "one of the neatest and best arranged dwelling
houses." The house cost just $3,000 to construct (Herald, December 8, 1888).
The non-boom was gone by 1888 that was described as "a rather dull one." This was interpreted as evidence that
the city "while not inflicted with an inflated boom fever, has progressed steadily and conservatively in the right
direction." The best thing that could be said about 1889 progress was that "Dubuque is not dead." The Herald added
$200,000 in new construction to the permit total filed with the city (Herald, December 23, 1888; December 29, 1889).
The 1890 construction figures exceeded those of the previous year by 275%. This gain was unmatched by any
Iowa city and was proof that the city "has entered upon an era of material prosperity that means for her a step far in
advance of any other city in the Hawkeye State." Building permits accounted for just 20% of all new work and the 123
house starts fell far short of the estimated 600 house starts. The 1891 total was thought to be double that of 1891although
the year total was determined by multiplying the house count by the average house cost indicated by the actual permits.
At any rate the Herald predicted "The boom has just started and it is not a wild prediction to state that the future has in
store for Dubuque ten fold greater prosperity than the past has produced." Real estate prices were reported as being very
firm and experiencing a sharp increase during the spring of 1890 (Herald, March 27, April 13, 1890; January 18, 1891).
The city had five directories printed during the 1880s and "so rapid.. . and extensive have been recent changes"
that a new directory was needed by 1890. During 1889 the city gained a new Hotel Julien (3" and Main, non-extant),
Grand Opera House (8th and Iowa, NRHP) and two new electric railway and light companies. The new growth was
expressed in the extension and widening of a number of streets, and the creation of new ones. Confusion resulted from
conflicting street names. Optimistically the new directory estimated the city population to be 41,631. This figure was
just 26% off the mark, given the 1890 federal census headcount of 30,311! The Herald berated the "Bad work of the
[1890] census" and estimated "this city will not be set down for more than two-thirds or three fourths of the population to
which it is entitled" (Hardie & Scharle's Dubuque Directory 1890-91, introduction; Herald, June 19, 1890).
The year 1890 was a big building year on all fronts. The Herald summarized the major gains and called once
again for a modem county courthouse that honored these other achievements:
Dubuque is booming.-Private enterprise is shown in the erection of a $75,000 opera house, a $300,000
system of electrical railway, factories and additions to same, and many elegant residences costing $5,000
to $75,000 each. Let public enterprise be shown by a unanimous vote for a $125,000 courthouse
(Herald, June 1, 1890)28
23 The new courthouse vote was barely in favor of the new and present building, the plurality being just 794 votes. Opposition carne
from the rural towns and districts of the county (Herald, June 5,1890).
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Name of Property
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County and State
Distinctive plat developments began to appear in city real estate advertisements beginning in the late 1890s.
Once municipal expansion overcame the western bluffs, large tracts became available for platting and development.
While single realtors such as Chris Voelker owned, platted and sold off the lots, the house-building industry was not yet
sufficiently developed to provide or control the large numbers of houses that would be built. Grand View Park Addition,
115 acres, was platted and marketed in early 1891 by William Bradley, John V. Rider, George Perry and J. S. Morgan.
This plat was noteworthy for the reservation of an associated ten-acre professionally designed landscaped park. The plat
was further distinguished by its offering for those who would build "fme residences." It was located along the city's
premier boulevard, had promised electric streetcar service and was located close to the Sisters of Charity Mother House,
then being built on the bluff front south of the city (Weekly Ledger, January 2, 1891).
Record new construction continued through 1892, thought to be in excess of$2,000,000. The numbers were
bolstered by the new Irving School, county courthouse and the Odd Fellows Hall. Most remarkable was the sudden
predominance of frame residences with 88 percent of identified construction materials being of frame construction. This
shift might have been linked to "an unfortunate trouble between the boss carpenters and boss bricklayers" during the
summer. The "troubles" had force the abandonment of plans to erect "some buildings." The new Dubuque Pressed Brick
works "tenninated the trouble." Another mark of progress was the laying of the first paving brick on Main Street during
the summer and fall of 1891 (Herald, December 25,1892).
The 1892 Iowa State Gazel/eer and Business Directory enumerated nine banks, three colleges, two opera houses,
two hospitals, "the fmest hotels to be found in Iowa," over 200 manufacturing f!TIlls, 150 jobbing firms (300 salesmen,
over 3,000 employees), 55 miles of paved roads, 29 miles of electric street railway. "Its improvements are of the most
metropolitan character" (1892 Iowa State Gazetteer and Business Directory, p. 455).
Table 7: Annual Construction 1863-1893:
Year Total Construction New Residential Constrnctinn
Total Value Total Nou- Number New S/F Total Resideutial New
Resideutial Huuses Valne Multi-
family
Houses Notes:
1863 5 8 I double 2,719 total dwellings in the city, new engine house,
roundhouse, brewery, factory, custom house
stonned, sealed, more renain; tban new buildin.
IS64 4 9 2 Incomplete, Peosta House rebuilt, brewery, Dub &
SC RR roundhouse, one store
IS67 54 S 121 newbuildin.'
IS68 $647,300 19 81 5 135 new buildings (Heralá), Times tallies 208 new
(Times, new buildings
buildings,
$52,300 streets)
lS69 $590,675 15 97 S Methodist, 200 Presbyterian churches, 176 new
buildings
lS70 II 66 2.5 A total 013,619 dwelliugs in city, Times reports 161
new buildings, Augustus and Farlev mansions
1S71 $969,362 24 95 2 Ryan mansion, National Demokrat building, Levi
Block, Times reports 159 buildings new or
remodeled, 15 new buildings on Main Street alone,
$16,IS4 streets, $535,000 by railroad, waterworks
and S miles ofmains
1872 $ S35,251 24 S4 7
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa, 1833-1955
Name of Property
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County and State
Year Total Construction New Residential Constrnction
Total Value Total Non- Number New S/F Total Residential New
Residential Houses Value Multi-
family
Houses Note"
IS73 $ 721,906 21 95 $508,725 (new 17 139 new buildings, $13,200 for sidewalks
construction,
$60,000 improve-
ments)
IS74 14 bldgs., lime 36 (15 brick) 6 60 total new buildings, driving pack opened, two
kiln, sawmill, 2 new schools, $23,000 in saeet wo,k, Engine House
schools, chu;ch 4. and Locust
IS75 $672,055 63 (28 brick) 6 181 new dwellings and other buildings excluding
28 new the 2S new business blocks, $13,000 fo"treets,
business blocks $14,000 for schools
1876 $ 529,913 23 7S-80, half of 7 "Mostly o;dinary houses...builÇ the exception was
brick consauction, the Bisse1 Mansion (Die Iowa, December 7, IS76)
"nota few of two
stories"
IS77 $1,000,917 56 (24 brick) 6 21 other new buildings, if not fo< St. Patrick and the
total, over Episcopal chu;ches "there would be nothing
$700,000 in sizeable (being built] anywhere" (Die Iowa, July 21,
new buildings, IS77).
r~airs
IS78 $48S,270 125 Times calculates total construction at $389,695 and
100 new buildings, "not many business blocks we,e
built, the most of the money being expended on
dwellinp houses..." (Times, Decembe; 11, IS78\.
1879 $943,100 (and 28 47 2 Democrat says $19,661 public improve-ments,
$19,661 $500,000 total
municinal)
IS80 $803,374 3S 6 77 new buildings worth $728,832, Democrat says
$624,000 private and $336,000 in improvements
overall, Die Iowa says over a million
1881 $1,065,295 39 71 2 Chic. Mil. & St. Paul depoUshops a..ger total
$1,246,S45 amount, Herald, November 24,1887)
IS82 $1,268,950 155 8 shops a..ger total amount, Herald, November 24,
$1,48S,700 IS87)
IS83 $ 304,900 24 155 6 Iowa Coffin Co. factory shops (I..ger total amount,
$1,04S,279 Herald, November 24, ISS7)
ISS4 $ 903,600 30 126 IS
ISS5 $ 821,155 dec,ease "due to business d=ression"
ISS6 $955,000 IS 103 3 Minn. & NW RR wundhouse, freight house,
$1,026,301 Academy of Visitation school, incomplete shops
(Iarper total amount, Herald, November 24, IS87)
ISS7 "hundreds of new 350 new buildings that lacked building pennits,
dwellings" Coop" mansion, Genuan Congregational Chu;ch,
Staples & Vibber Diamond Block, Bishops Block,
111. Central Station, II. St. Elevator
IS8S $1,678,700 23 S7 9 75 architect-designed buildings costing $1,500-
2,000 each, Wallis Block, lCRR Depot, $60,000
saeet wo,k, Sacæd Heart Chu;ch, II. Street
Elevato,
ISS9 $1,485,850 27 102 15 Summit Congo Chmch, Key City Elec., Julian
House, GTand Open¡, Mm,ay, Mangold, Salot and
Powers blocks, U.S. Electric, W. Locust and Cooper
schools
IS90 $4,076,700 1231600 $2,S84,200 pennits total, $1,192,500 estimated
unr~orted new ,esidences, other
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
Year Total Construction New Residential Construction
Total Valne Total Non- Nnmber New SIF Total Residential New
Residential Honses Valne Mnlti-
family
. Honses Notes:
IS91 $2,07S,700 '1t has been years, if ever, since so many houses
were built in Dubuque during a single seasou,"
Ryan packing house, IS92 City Directory total
figure for improvements (Herald, June 27,1891).
IS92 $1,5S6,5S1 174 (at least 12S 9 Total expenditures estimated in excess of
total private, fume) $2,000,000 due to an estimated $150,000 not
$298,61S reported.
public
IS93 No data found.
Propertv Type Discussion:
Commercial buildings that date to this period were addressed in the commercial section ofthis context.
Architecturally significant buildings are addressed in Context #5. Significant buildings under this sub-theme must have
served as architectural benchmarks in the city's development. Individual examples include the following Jackson Park
District properties: H. Laury House, 1394 Locust; R. E. Graves House, 1392 Locust; William Ryan House, 1389 Locust;
Alfred Tredway House, 1182 Locust; D. B. Henderson House, 1433 Main; George Crane House, 1455 Main; St. Patrick
Church, 110 West 15th; First Congregational Church, 255 West lOth; the Alex Young House, 1491 Main; the Edward
Healey Duplex, 701-03 Bluff; and the James Howie Block, 260-80 West 17th. A downtown example is the Grand Opera
House (135 West 8th, NRHP). A number of residential districts were platted and infilled during this time period. Rapid
and successful building up resulted in a cohesive and unified residential architecture. The Fenelon Place, Langworthy
and West II th Street districts were successful largely because hill railways made them accessible begjnning in the 1870s-
80s. The Grandview Park Addition, while unsurveyed, was an important landscaped plat that was located along the city's
premier boulevard. The Broadway neighborhood in the Couler Valley was another distinctive residential district that was
developed during this period. Catholic Church architecture is treated below, but a number of churches are significant for
their monumental architecture. This list includes St. John's Episcopal Church (1875, 1410 Main Street, Jackson Park
District, NRHP).
The Catholic Church In Dnbuque:
Bishop Loras died February 19, 1858 after 20 years of relentless work in Dubuque and he was succeeded by Rev.
Clement Smyth (1810-1865), of Irish birth. The 1860 Dubuque religious headcount was reported as 1,400 Protestants
and 6,200 Catholics, figures apparently based upon actual church attenrumce. Smyth's diocese contained 50 churches, 53
priests, and 50,000 parishioners. The diocese still contained Davenport, Iowa and some points west, and Smyth was able
to produce considerable church growth in the face of both the post-1857-58 [mancial setback and the Civil War. By 1863
he oversaw over 80 churches, 85 priests and nearly 100,000 parishioners. Smyth served as bishop for just seven years
and was replaced in 1866 by Rev. John Hennessey, another Irish-born priest (Oldt, pp. 880-88, Herald, February 7,
1860).
The late 1870s wi1nessed a period of institutional growth. A boys' training school had been opened in 1865 at
Bluff and 3ni streets. St. Raphael's Cathedral had gained a tower and spire in 1876 and a new St. Patrick Church was
started in 1877 and finished the next year. St. Josephs Mercy Hospital opened in 1879 as did St. Mary's Orphans Home
and St. Francis Convent (Oldt, pp. 890-91).
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Another surge of institutional growth occurred in the 1880s. The Cathedral was remodeled and dedicated in
1886. The city boasted a dozen Catholic educational institutions. Each parish and the Cathedral had their own schools.
The list included St. Josephs ColIege (now Loras ColIege), Mount St. Josephs Academy (for lady boarders, now Clarke
ColIege), Academy of the Visitation (for day scholars), St. Vincent's Presentation Convent, St. Mary's Academy, St.
Francis Convent School and St. Malachi's School (OIdt, pp. 891-92).
The 1891 diocesan inventory talIied 319 churches, 203 priests, 107 schools, and 615 sisters. This growth was in
spite of the division of the diocese in 1881, with the creation ofthe DavenportDiocese. Bishop Hennessy is credited
with being "probably the foremost advocate of parochial schools in the country." Six additional orders of nuns were
brought to Dubuque and eight institutions were established under his tenure. He served as bishop for 34 years, advancing
to Archbishop when the Diocese was established in December 1892. The Archdiocese encompassed Iowa, Nebraska and
Wyoming (OIdt, pp. 892-93).
Archbishop Hennessy died in 1900 and was succeeded by Archbishop John J. Keane. Hennessy's historical
legacy, while generalIy accepted, has been directly chalIenged by at least one most unlikely Dubuque historian, Sister
Mary Jane Coogan. She starts with Hennessy's death, at which time his personal (underscore the word personal),
exceeded a milIion dolIars. The Archbishop was in a position to acquire wealth without any church supervision. The
church and the public were astounded to learn both of the wealth and of Hennesy's assumption that the estate was not
church property. Hennessey (and Archbishop Ryan) bumed his personal papers prior to his death. The Archbishop is
honored in history as a promoter of parochial education and a fhend of the several Irish religious orders which he brought
to Dubuque. Sister Coogan chalIenges both claims, noting that Hennesy battled with the various orders of sisters,
dispossessed them of assignments and properties as his will. His educational legacy was founded in his claims of adding
schools during his tenure as archbishop, but Coogan chalIenges his diocesan count of churches, schools and orders at the
time of his assignment as bishop. There were 79 churches, 51 ftee schools, 18 sister-run schools. Hennessy claimed \hat
the Blessed Virgin Mary order was "dying" at the time of his amval, but Coogan offers a roster of 102 sisters and nine
novitiates as of the late 1860s. Hennessy claimed 15,000 Catholics in his diocese at the time of his amval but period
sources document 110,000 adherents in the diocese. Archbishop John Hennessy's legacy is a mixed one and it calIs for
further historical investigation. Just one building, a haIl at Loras ColIege, honors his name. For Dubuque, his importance
resides in part in his many developments in the downtown area. The Bishops Block, with a name that honors the rank of
its owner-builder, is said to have been destined as a new cathedral site in Hennessy's vision. Numerous other commercial
and multi-family residential properties were developed by Hennessy. The archbishop was also significant for his support
of the Irish element of his church, reflective of Hennessy's Irish birth (OIdt, pp. 897-98; Coogan, pp. 1-43).
Catholic benevolent societies played an important role in assisting members through difficult times. These
included the Dubuque Catholic Benevolent Society (founded January I, 1872), the St. AlIophones Society, the Pius
Benevolent Association (formed February 5, 1855, merged in the 1890s with the AIphonses Society to form the Pius
Society) and the Mercy Hospital Aid Society (founded 1879 to support the orphan asylum and to complete Mercy
Hospital) (Lyon, p. 36).
Property Types Discussion:
This contextual period witnessed an explosion of Catholic parish and institutional growth. A complete and
comparative survey has yet to be done for this range of properties. Significant buildings include the remodeled St.
Raphael's Cathedral, and its associated rectory, St. Mary (1864-67, and its associated rectory, school and convent, White
F
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
and 15th streets) and St. Patrick (1874, 110 West 15th) Catholìc churches, Sacred Heart Church, St. Mary's Girls School
(469 Emmett, 1883), the Mary of the Angels Home (the original J. P. Farley residence dates to this period, 605 Bluff).
The Cathedral Historic District is centered upon St. Raphael Cathedral and indeed, no other church was established
within its boundaries.
Ethnicity and Dubuque:
The Iowa 1885 census indicates that 39 percent of the city, or 7,433 persons, were foreign-born. Perhaps more
important, of the 18,897 native-born residents, 6,448 reported a foreign-born father, and 7,921 had a foreign-born mother.
The foreign-born represented the following home countries, in decreasing order by count (Census of Iowa, 1885, pp. 107,
211):
Table 8: Dubuque Foreilm Born. 1885 Iowa Census:
Country Number Percentage Percentage
Foreign-born City Population
German 4,143 55.7 15.7
Ireland 1,696 22.8 5.3
England 519 6.9 1.9
Scotland 117 1.5 N/A
France 87 1.1 N/A
Bohemia 86 1.1 N/A
Scandinavia 42 0.56 N/A
Other 516 6.9 N/A
The Irish immigration peaked in Iowa c.1880, ten years before the peak of German an1vals. Irish migration
across the United States was slower and more complex, while Germans tended to pre-select and travel to a location where
other relatives were already residing. As of 1870 Irish-born Iowans predominated in 21 counties. The Germans were the
state's largest foreign-born ethnic group. They continued to reach places lìke Dubuque although the majority were
farmers and not urban dwellers. Waves of German emigration occurred in 1873, 1882, and between 1907-14. Historian
John Hawgood divides German-American history into three eras; the transplantation of German culture, 1819-1855; the
hyphenated period, 1855-1919; and the separate German American, post 1919 (Calkin, pp. 153, 169; Hawgood, p. 39).
Historical investigations of Dubuque's two predominant ethnic groups, the Irish and the Germans, have focused
primarily upon initial settlement or institutional studies. Plentiful German sources, particularly newspapers, remain
obscure because of the difficulty of translation. One area particularly deserving of attention is the differentiation of the
German Catholic and Protestant subgroups in Dubuque. By 1880 Dubuque Germans were distributed amongst two
Catholic, a Lutheran, a German Presbyterian and three or four smaller Protestant congregations. Another claim, related
to this religious distinction as well as to the Irish-German relationship, is that it was German Catholics who established
the parochial education system in Dubuque (Faust, p. 461; Peters, p. 87).
The German community was served by a large number of local and regional newspapers. The Iowa Staats
Zeitung (1856-?) and the Northwest Demokrat (c. I 857-73) and the Voiles Tribune (1857-61) were the first, the former
evolved into a pro-Republican paper. The National Demokrat (1856-1880s) was establìshed to challenge it, given the
reality that most Dubuque Germans were pro-Democrat. The last-named was the only local German paper and the oldest
German language organ in northeast Iowa. Its editor, Fred A. Gniftke, oversaw its operation for over 23 years. There
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The Arcbitectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa. 1833-1955
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COlillty and State
were also Catholic (Luxembourger Gazelle) and Presbyterian (Der Iowa Presbyterian) Gennan newspapers. The last-
named relocated to Dubuque in 1870 (1880 County History, pp. 599-601).
Gennan language and culture was supported by the early archbishops in the belief that language was a key tool in
retaining church allegiance and membership. Mass was unifonnlyoffered in Gennan and German was taught in the
parish schools. Numerous German social and cultural organizations date to this time period. The Gennan Mechanics
Benevolent Association was fonned in 1866. The Socialer Tur1lerverein, combining cultural and athletic values,
organized in 1863 and located at their Gennania hall at 9th and Iowa streets (the building later housed the Ames
Company). The Tu1l1verein experienced an infusion of younger members during the mid-1880s and by 1890 was able to
built a new hall. The Svengebund fonned in 1879. Catholic organizations included the St. Alphonses Society (1867), a
young men's group. The Schuetzen Gesellschaft, fonned in 1855 and incorporated in 1865, was a particularly successful
organization, serving as a German male country club. Their first shooting range was at 30th and Jackson streets. The
railroad took over the range in 1887 and a 23-acre park was purchased on the Sageville Road. The group reincorporated
in 1890 as the Dubuque Shooting Society. Still operating, the city council acted in 1978 to reroute a new highway around
the historic club grounds (Willging, pp. 10-22; Lyon, pp. 36, 125-27).
Gennan musical groups flourished. The Dubuque Saengerbund (incorporated 1873) was fonned in 1878, and
involved the merging of the Reiretia Saengerbund and the Dubuque Saengerbund. It briefly carried on the work of the
pre-Civil War Dubuque Saengerbund. Two particularly noteworthy events mark the success of this organization. In 1874
the Northwestern Saengerbund of America held its annual meeting in Dubuque and in 1896 that same regional
organization once again met in the city. The latter hosting, while successful to the participating groups, left the local
organization saddled with a huge debt principally in the fonn of a temporary hall, erected at Couler and Kauffman.
Another Gennan band was the Katzenjammers, fonned in 1890 (Catholic Daily Tribune, July 1,1936; Lyon, p. 235).
The German Theological Presbyterian Seminary, founded c.1855, purchased the fonner Episcopal Seminary at
the head of Iowa Street in 1872. The emergence of a number ofGennan banks is recounted in the banking section of this
and other contexts, as is the history of the notable Dubuque Cabinet Makers Association, a successful collective business
venture (1880 County History, pp. 579-89).
On the Irish side of Dubuque the Fenian movement (the Irish Republican Brotherhood, 1857-68) was strongly
supported. Ostensibly an anti-Anglo, pro-Irish independence effort, in North America it took the fonn of a number of
unsuccessful efforts to liberate Canada !Torn British rule. In Dubuque the Scousfield Circle of Fenians led by
Commander John O'Neill hosted four annual balls between 1867 and 1870. The Fenian Brotherhood fonned only in
1868, just as the movement peaked (Calkin, p. 65).
The city's First Ward, called "Dublin," in the south end of the city. As of 1860 the Irish-born comprised 13.9
percent or 1,800 of the city's total population of 13,045. There were 535 Irish families. Occupations included day
laborers (305), building trades (63), mining (56), merchants (13), manufacturing (8), female servants (196), and justices
(2). Property owners included 151 persons or 10.8 percent. Personal property was owned by 199 individuals or 7.4
percent (Calkins, p. 63).
Ethnic organizations began to flourish as of the late 1880s. One example was the Dubuque Gruetli Verein, a
Swiss association fonned in 1886. With 36 members as of 1888, and B. Robi and Andrew Flitsch as leaders, its
appearance attested to a growing Swiss ethnic presence in the city (Herald, July 8, 1888).
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Continuation Sheet
Section number L- Page--Æ.
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
Gennan-Irish ethnic friction continued unabated into the post-war years. Two fatal inter-ethnic altercations
marred the city's early history. Irishmen interrupted a German party at the Western Brewery Hall on December 31, 1857
and in the ensuing melee, the Irish suffered two dead and as many injured. An 1862 fatal incident at the Civil War
rendezvous camp was also due to etlmic rivalry. In one venue at least, that of baseball, the Irish triumphed resoundingly
in 1887, beating the best the Gennans could put forth with a score of 22-6. German-Irish tensions were lessened
somewhat as a result of the Archbishop's temperance campaigns (Undated Telegraph-Herald article "Dubuque Baseball
Began in 1855," post-I 954; Lyon, pp. 175-76).
African-Americansln Dubuque, 1840-1880
0
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
200
150
100
50
Figure 17: African-Americans In Dubuque, 1840-80 (Jacobsen, based upon census data)
The city's African American population, as measured in Figure 17, was always marginal in size. The pre-Civil
War population virtually disappeared between 1852 and 1854, but was re-established within two years. Oldt notes that
St. Louis drove out several hundred free Blacks in and these reached the city on April 20, 1861. Some at least
disembarked and settled in the city. The local population increased substantially during the final two years of the war
and maintained a static population level for the next 15 years. Strangely, the 1885 state census found just eight African-
Americans in Dubuque. The seventh anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation was celebrated at Globe Hall on
January 3, 1870. There was some degree of broader community support and interest given that "quite a large number of
our white citizens were present and contributed to the success of the entertainment." Whatever long-term population was
in the city, it was devastated by 1885, at which time just six male and two female Blacks were enumerated in the state
census (Oldt, pp. 148,263; Times, January 4,1870; Census of Iowa, 1885, p. 26).1'
Property Type Discussion:
The Irish presence in Dubuque is best represented by St. Raphael Cathedral and St. Patrick Church. Many
residences represent the working lives of significant Irish-American residents but no intensive search has been made.
The Cathedral Historic District (NRHP) is closely associated with the Irish presence in Dubuque. The German presence
is embodied in St. Mary Catholic Church, the Gennan Seminary, and the several commercial/industrial buildings
associated with the Dubuque Cabinet Makers Association (see the industrial section). The German neighborhoods
29 Little is found concerning the Italian faction in the city. The Herald described a "row over ice cream" on the part of that population
in mid-I886 (Herald, July 24,1886).
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa. 1833-1955
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Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
encompass the Couler Valley and their commercial concentration is associated with the proposed Central Avenue
Commercial District (15th to 20th streets) and the Old Town residential district (also proposed as NRHP eligible). An
excellent example of the home of a GenTIan community leader is 459 Loras, home of National Demokrat editor Fred A.
Gnifke (West II th Street District). None of the Turner Halls are extant.
Flash Floods Down The Ravines:
The Industries of Dubuque boasted in 1887 that "Owing to the humidity of the climate and a topography special1y
favorable to drainage, the death rate is remarkably low, only 14.3 per 1000 of population (The Industries afDubuque,
1887, p. 20).
The above reference likely applied to regional drainage rather than localized drainage in the city proper.
Dubuque from its earliest years suffered recurring and frequently catastrophic flash floods down its several principal
ravines and uphill-running streets to the west. The worst flood, on July 4, 1876, destroyed the village of Rockdale,
located south of Dubuque near the mouth of Catfish Creek, and killed 39 residents. This was the worst flash flooding
since 1851. In Dubuque 17th Street was gullied and gouged "to such an extent that all fonner damage there seems not
worth mentioning in comparison" observed one resident. One chasm measured 100x40. Streetcar tracks on Clay and 17th
were buried by three feet of flood debris. There was one fatality in the city, a drowned infant. Other cascades damaged
Mineral Street, Kauffman Street, and Dodge Street "as usual got scoured and tom by the stonn." The city suffered
$15,000 in damages to a July 2,1889 stonn (1880 County History, pp. 475, 488; Oldt, p. 192).
Massive stonn sewers, particular the Bee Branch sewer along the Couler drainage, were built beginning in 1898-
99 and enlarged to remedy this problem. Any blockage of these large drains results in flooded streets, particularly in the
lower Couler Valley.
Generally speaking, the destructive freshets occUlTed when more than three inches of precipitation were received
within a 24-hour time period. This amount was exceeded on the following dates (Twentieth Annual Yearbook of
Agriculture, 1918, p. 763):
September 18-19, 1874
September 8-9, 1875 (5.4 inches)
July 4-5, 1876 (4.55 inches)
September 5, 1876
July 6-7, 1879
June 3-4,1880
September 25, 1880
July 10, 1881
September 26,1881 (4.01 inches)
August 23-24, 1885
May 9-10, 1890
June 2-3, 1890
June 16, 1892
July 26, 1896 (4.82 inches)
The best testament to the need to fortifY those streets that serviced the various hollows in the bluffs is West 14th
Street, west of Central, with its two-three feet high stone curbings. That street is a part of the Jackson Park Historic
District.
If disastrous floods weren't enough, the city could also claim its own earthquake experience. Dubuque's single
recorded earthquake occUlTed on August 31, 1886. Pictures and chandeliers were set to swinging and the residents living
--_._._-~. .
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
above the Gennan Bank Building on Main Street came rushing out of their apartments fearing that burglars were
undermining the bank below (Herald, September I, 1886).
Property Type Discussion:
An excellent related structure is West 17'" Street with its exaggerated stone curbs. The street was designed to
handle heavy runoffs. Another potentially eligible property type are key portions of the sewer system, notably the Bee
Line Sewer. These massive sewer runs were over-built to remove floodwaters.
Context #3, Dubuque's Golden Age, 1894-1910:
Representative of Dubuque's ever-present sense of its own history, the Enterprise recognized the legacy of economic
achievements, the products of now deceased entrepreneurs:
That Dubuque bas maintained the proud position she bas held for the last balf-century as the Key City, is due in the
greatest measure to the progressive spmt and energy of those who are in the management of her successful business
institutions. While some of the names are almost household words in Iowa, as for instance Tredway, MehIhop,
Hancock, McDonald, Piekerilirock, Peaslee, Rhomberg, and others, and bave been identified with different lines of
trade for years, those that founded the business bave passed away or retired and the management of their enterprises
is in the hands of younger men. How well those pioneers in the trade builded [sic] is shown in the substantial
foundation they laid for their successors and it is on this foundation that the great enterprises of the present are being
reared. In many instances those in charge of the business were reared in it and how well they profited by the tutelage
they had, and their practical experience is well shown in'the prosperity of the city (Enterprise, January 24, 1903).
PS Fo'm 10.900.,
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National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number..É..- Page.-M
The Architectural and Historical Resources ofDubuaue, Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuaue County, Iowa
County and State
Figure 18: Industrial Dubuque, (Dubuque, Iowa, Dubuque Commercial Club, 1911)
Fighting For Second Place in State Population:
Figure 19 traces the gradual, then abrupt erosion of Dubuque's former first in the state population status. Its
second place rank was successfully challenged by Sioux City but the financial downturn of 1893-94 eliminated that
western rival for some 15 years. Back in her silver medal slot, Dubuque watched with anticipation as the state did its
1905 census enumeration. When the 1895 state census was taken, Dubuque saw to it "that the census was worked as hard
~~-~
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Continuation Sheet
Section number..É..- Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources ofDubuGUe, Iowa, 1833-1955
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Couuty and State
[as] it was possible to do it. While the lists were not actually padded, it has been stated that that the names of transients
were taken, and others were counted who Were not real bona fide residents of Dubuque." The inflated 1895 count gave
Dubuque a few more residents than 40,000. This represented a five-year a claimed gain of 10,224 residents, "three of
them hard years" noted the Times. The Times triumphantly announced that Dubuque was "the largest city on the upper
[Mississippi] river." By 1897, the estimated population was claimed as 44,325 residents and it was quite a shock for the
city to lose 8,000 citizens literally overnight when the 1900 federal census enumerated just 36,297 Dubuquers. As a
result of the more accurate 1900 count Dubuque "paid the penalty in the reflection [of] the seeming decrease in
populatiòn." Des Moines similarly "caught the fever" and produced an 1895 headcount of 75,000. The 1900 federal
count cut that figure to just over 61,000! Following the collapse of Sioux City's early 1890s "boom" "there wasn't so
much interest in the subsequent census" although "now the rivalry, or rather apprehension, is with Davenport, which is
making claims to being the second city in the state..." (Weekly Times, July 30, 1895; Enterprise, December 13, 1904).
Figure 19 depicts the city's explosive population growth through 1890, and then the painful leveling off that
followed. Also clearly shown is the exaggerated interim state census head counts which began in 1865.30
~~ Loss of Primacy in Iowa
I The Five Most Populous Cities,
I
I
I
1860-1920
...., 1&7" 1S81J - "'" ,.", """
DUBUQUE Dmnpod D....,in.. D..",i"" D"Moin.. D"""oi~, [)@""'"".
13,000 2M38 """"" "',093 61,139 86,368 126,468
[lav,,"po" DU.BUQUE I DUBUQUE I Sio= City I DUBUQUE I Sio.. City s- Cily
11,2<i1 18,4"" 22,2S4 37,'" 36,7!11 47,828 71,227
"..kok B.,lington Dmn¡>o" DUBUQUE Davonport Dav.npo" Dm1>pOrt
8,136 14,"'" 2I)!31 "',311 35,254 43,028 86,W
Budin¡¡ton "..kuk BU1li!'g1uu 0,,""1"'" Sioux City I DUBUQUE I C. .<IM RopiJs
',m6 12,766 19,451) 26,812 33,111 311"",, <S,""
M"""ti.. D.....- CB""" Bmli!'g1o. C<dM Rapids C",,", "pid. I DUBUQlJE I
8,324 12,"'" 18,063 22,565 25,65' 32,811 39,1<1
I. 18BlJtlrethr"m""pqn<I.""""",." in 1m"",."" 0'"""1,,<42.996; Polk (DesM.""',,¡ <2,395; SrotliDo_) 41.266.
¡" 1980 tM I""'~ dt'" in [- ""'" V"¡'¡"¡"" 191.003; C- Rapid.! 110,2<3; l>w<np<»t W3,264; Sfuux CÜ¡¡ 81,0"';
W,re"". 75,985; DUBUQU¡¡ 62,321.
Figure 19: (Reproduced from Wilkie, p. 333)
The 1899-1900 city directory had calculated that by multiplying directory entries by 2.5, the city had 45,280, a
gain of 4.710 since 1895. Dubuquers were greatly disappointed by the 1900 federal census figures and long-anticipated
gains were completely absent from the 36,297 total. The count was accepted as accurate but the low nwnbers Were
explained as being due to the fact that 1900 "was exceptionally dull in the building trade lines, and that industries were
generally rather quiet..." The 1905 state headcount approached and ever ready to be disappointed, Major Berg infonned
his Sioux City counterpart that his city had reached 45,000 residents. The Enterprise prayed for at least 40,000 and a
more honest effort on the part of all contenders to produce a more accurate state headcount. Once the disappointing
counts were made available, the Enterprise was at least relieved to learn that Sioux City was still "several thousand
behind this city." Sioux City and Davenport had the advantage because their city limits extended "several miles beyond
the actual residence district." Ever optimistic however, a population of 50,000 Dubuquers was predicted within just ten
years away (1899-1900 City Directory, introduction; Enterprise, July 15, 1905).
10 Only the federal census labels appear. The bar for each of these appears immediately above and to the right of the respective date.
State census years are unlabeled, but occur between each federal census.
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
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COUIlty and State
Property Type Discussion:
Buildings associated with Dubuque's perceived sense of progress best represent this sub-theme. An excellent
example is the Bank & Insurance Building, 900 Main, the city's first skyscraper and modern office buílding. It represents
the northward advancement of the downtown and the local embrace of a new building form, the professional office block.
The building is too altered to be NRHP eligible but its massing and most of its exterior terra-cotta cladding survives. A
well preserved and contemporaneous commercial block is the Security Building, 800 Main.
Political Strangers In A Strange Land:
It was the ironic fate of Dubuque that its national polítical representatives (read Republícan) persisted despite the
éity and county Democratic election majorities. Iowa Senator William Boyd Allison (1829-1908) represented the Third
Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives ITom 1863 through 1871, and then served six Senatorial
terms up to his death. His seniority and dominance on fiscal matters made him nationally significant when appropriations
were involved and he played a critical role in national party matters. Allíson even received opposition ITom local
Republicans. Scottish-born David B. Henderson (1840-1906) was a disabled Civil War veteran who had the distinction
of being the first Speaker of the House to be elected ITom a district located west of the Mississippi River. He served nine
consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives (1883-1903). He was first elected Speaker in 1899, and again in
1901. Allison-Henderson Park Was establíshed to honor both men in 1940 (Wílkie, p. 221, Lyon, p. II, 197-98).
Symbolíc of Dubuque's sense that it was being ignored by Des Moines and state interests was completion of the
Soldiers and Sailors monument on the statehouse grounds in 1894. There was room allocated for just four ofIowa's five
Civil War major generals and it was Dubuque's man, Francis Jay Herron (1837-1902), the state's youngest major general,
whose portrait was omitted ITom the design. Dubuque was outraged by the omission and blamed it on a língering
prejudice that the city had not sufficiently supported the northern war effort. Particularly galling was the fact that Herron
was belatedly awarded the Medal Of Honor in 1893 for his courage in the Battle of Pea Ridge (March 7, 1862) (Eicher,
John H., and David J., Civil War High Commands. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2001, p. 294).
Reflective of the city's sense of powerlessness was the passage of a state law that required fire escapes on and
sprinkler systems in the downtown buildings. The two demonstrated "the advisabilíty of the business men of
communities líke Dubuque paying more attention in polítics and pending measures, not locally but in the state." The
Enterprise called for a committee "to guard against legislation of this kind.. . and to save expenses by exercising a
scrutiny over the acts of the city council." The issue also illustrated the conservative nature of the downtown interests.
The fire escape law covered buildings of three stories or more. A range of arguments were offered beyond the sheer cost.
Beautiful facades would be compromised and newer fireproofbuíldings didn't need them. Already, there were
"buíldings the upper stories of which are not used at all, and others in which the upper stories are used only for storage
purposes." This polítical incident is useful in dating the appearance of fire escapes on commercial blocks in the city
(Enterprise, August 29, 1903).
Property Type Discussion:
Senator Al1íson's rowhouse residence survives at 1134-36 Locust (Jackson Park District, NRHP). Congressman
David B. Henderson's residence survives at 1433 Main (1870, Jackson Park District, NRHP).
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Continuation Sheet
Section number -É.- Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
Unfaltering Financial Institutions; Weathering the Panic of 1893-94:
A third major national financial panic struck the country in 1892-94, and once again, Dubuque was able to largely
weather its impacts. The Enterprise looked back on the hard times, a year later:
We glance over the storm-swept country about us, where for nearly two years the terrific [mancial tempest has raged,
and everywhere are visible wrecked business institutions of all kinds, and we point to our banks that have weathered
the gale and under a steady helm are scudding before the wind, and our business institutions, against whose record
not one failure is recorded, as evidences of the financial stability of Dubuque and the resources of our citizens. But
the greatest evidence that the Key City is so firmly founded, that ill winds may blow from what direction they will
and she will prosper, are our building and public improvements. These evidence the confidence of Dubuque's
capitalists and businessmen in their city and their belief, which is paramount, in her natural resources and her
stability. These have kept the masses in continuous employment, not only keeping down the cry here for
employment which has rung out in almost every city in the country, but many from other cities have come here
seeking employment and have found it. The laboring classes have been furnished with means whereby the merchants
have not only weathered the storm but have had a prosperous year, and in this alone we [md the explanation of the
singular escape of our banks and business houses from the financial storm (Herald, January I, 1895).
A major advantage for Dubuque was the lack of dependence on outside capital, particularly with regard to public
utilities. The same source noted in 1904:
In other cities the gas, elec1ric, water plants and similar concerns are owned, almost without exception in this state,
and it is the rue in other states by outside capital. In the same way in many of the cities that make pretensions of
commercial and manufacturing consequence, the institutions that give them title to the claim are financed by outside
capital. In the fact that Dubuque institutions are owned exclusively by home capital, that everything there is of
manufacturing and commercial importance here is home entetprise and capital, this city is a notable exception, and in
a position in which few others of the country rival it.. ..because there has never been a boom or other opportunity
given the eastern money manipwators to make the city the shuttle cock in their get rich-quick games, it has been
given the reputation of being conservative (Enterprise, June II, 1904).
The number of city banks increased to eight by 1909. This new era of banking was best symbolized by the relocating oflowa
Trust and Savings Bank to the new Banking and Insurance Building in 1895. Banks were, in the post-1900 years building their own
monumental structures. As of 1903 the seven city banks had a combined capitalization of $1,025,000 and a total surplus/deposit figure
of$5,892,137. These two values were in direct proportion for the largest banks. Iowa Trust and Savings commanded 29 percent of
capitalization and surplus and desposits, with First National in second place with 19 percent of each of these. The German Trust and
Savings was in third place with 14.6 percent of capital and 13 percent of surplus deposits. Collectively these three banks accounted for
60 percent of the city's surplus/deposits and banking capital (Enterprise, January 24, 1903, p. 7).
Table 9: Dubuque Banks 1893-1910:
Bank Period ofServ;ce Officers L~acv
Fin;t National Bank 1864-present D. N. Cooley, C. H. Eighrnen Nearly closes August 16, IS93, for 95 year¡¡ on
northwest comcr Main and 5& (IS67 to 1962),
non-ex""!'
Genmn Bank/German Savings IS64-present A. Kammann, A. A. Cooper 342 Main Street, builds new Main S!. building
[State] Bank 1901-02 on old site, renamed Gennan Saviugs
Bank 1904, onens Coub Ave. m-anch 1905.
SecOnd National Bank IS76-c.1922 Goo. B. Burch, W. P. Large 605 Main Street, non-oxtan!.
Building & Loan Asso. c.lS77-1900 Li"uidated Novembcr 1900.
IQwa Trust & Savin!!S ISS4-1932 Geo. L Torbert, F. D. Stout, J. E. Allison T07 & Main IS95, non-extau!.
DubuQue National Bank ISS8-1922 B. B. Richards, D. D. Mvcrs
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa, 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
German Trust & Savings 18S7-1932 John Bell, Nicholas Glab Northwest comer Clay/Central and 13 , later
Dart of Union Trust & Savin~s Bank
Citizens SMe Bank c.lS9S-1922 P. J. Lee, E. B. Piekeubrock N.W. come; Main and 8fu, non-extant.
Gennan American Savings Bank 1901-32 N. J. Shrup A branch ofthe Gennan Savings Bank (see
above), reuamed Pioneer Savings Bank &
Trust Co. 1918.
As Galena had been eclipsed fifty years before, the Panic of 1893 promptly eliminated one of Dubuque's two
major urban rivals, Sioux City. The 1890 census had dropped Dubuque one more peg to third place statewide, with
Sioux City assuming the number two spot. Like Dubuque, Sioux City was boastfully on its way to becoming the
"Chicago of the West" with massive construction projects under way which were funded by Eastern, primarily Boston
capital. The Panic crippled that city's hopes and by 1900 it had fallen away to fourth place in population. Sioux City
would rebound during the pre-World War I years and in 1920 once again claimed the silver medal for urban population
(Wilkie, p. 333).
Local Financial SelfSufficiencv;
The 1895-9610wa State Gazetteer And Business Directory credited Dubuque with having the healthiest of local
economies:
As a commercial and financial center, Dubuque cannot be equaled west of Chicago. The aggregate
amount of capital used by its banks [down from nine as of 1890], which now number eight, is
$1,450,000. Banking houses here report a very large and prosperous volume of business far exceeding
that of any previous year in the history of Dubuque.
Dubuque of Today (1897) echoed this claim, noting "the city, in point of substantial and self-owned capital, is without a
peer in the West." Ominously the number of banks was reduced by one more within year's time. The 1897-98 edition of
the Gazetteer simply repeated the 1895 report, and upped the total capitalization to $1,500,000. Curiously this figure
remained unchanged as of 1901 when the city had eight banks. The 1899-1900 city directory boasted that "not five per
cent" of the estimated $30,000,000 in assessed city value was "owned by people outside Dubuque" (1895-9610wa State
Gazetteer And Business Directory, p. 483; 1897-9810wa State Gazetteer And Business Directory, p. 505; 1901-0210wa
State Gazetteer And Business Directory, p. 567; 1899-1900 City Directory, introduction; Dubuque of Today, p. 12).
The year 1902 was rated "without question the most prosperous in the history of the city" and "every institution
has prospered.. . [with] a great increase in every line." The seven city banks were collectively capitalized in the amount of
$1,025,000 with deposits of $6,000,000. Municipal ownership of the waterworks, secured in 1901, was due to local
investors who purchased $545,000 in municipal mortgage bonds when bond brokers questioned the legality of the sale.
The street railway and electric utilities systems similarly represented a local investment of$I,OOO,OOO. The opening of
the second Mississippi River vehicular bridge in 1903 was celebrated as yet another example of the fim¡ncial self-
sufficiency of Dubuque. The new Julien Hotel and the modem downtown office buildings were similarly the products of
local capital. The Enterprise boasted is a "fact that there is not a dollar of outside capital invested in any of these
institutions, and none in the city, except in those interests controlled by large corporations and of which the local
institutions are branches or agencies..." (Enterprise, January 24, 1903).
._~~m,.,"~_----
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OMS Appmv" No. 1024.0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number....É....- Page---Æ!
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County, Iowa
County and State
The new Gennan Bank, pictured above, was representative of the new bank buildings which were typical of new
bank architecture as of the early years of the 20th Century. Fonnerly located in larger multi-use office or commercial
buildings, bank revenues now justified single-use facilities with highly ornamental facades. Williamson and Spencer of
Chicago designed the Gennan Bank, which Architect John Spencer described as being Italian Renaissance. Non-
Dubuque architects continued to be preferred for these building designs, although Spencer was really a Dubuque
architect, and soon returned to his home city. The exterior featured polished pink marble, the upper levels a "dull enamel
terra cotta." The plan featured a three-story vault (Enterprise, November 3, 1901).
The Herald published an unusual list of the city's millionaires in late 1903. The Financial Redbook of America
was the source of this revealing information, although these were not true millionaires, the test being possessing wealth in
excess of $300,000. Included were Mrs. Ellen H. Burch (widow of George Burch); Thomas Connolly (wagon maker, his
house, altered, survives at 1637 Iowa, Jackson Park District, NRHP), Austin A. Cooper (A. A. Cooper Wagon Works, a
portion of which survives at 299 Main); William H. Day (Second National Bank), Charles H. Eighmey (First National
Bank); H. B. Glover (clothing manufacturer); B. W. Lacy (Iowa Trust & Savings Bank), John V. Rider (Rider-Wallis
Company); and Frank D. Stout (Hotel Julien and Union Electric Company, house survives at 1105 Locust, Jackson Park
District, NRHP) (Herald, October 20, 1903).
The Financial Panic of 1905-06:
Dubuque came through 1904 in good shape. The Enterprise celebrated the "Auspicious Outlook of the New
Year with reports ¡Yom merchants and manufacturers:
Never in their experience in Dubuque have they seen a year begin with the prospects as auspicious as
they are now.. .one exceptionally gratifYing feature of the year just closed is that it is not marked with the
gravestone of a single Dubuque [business] institution.
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Continuation Sheet
Section number -5- Page--2Q
The Architectural and Historical Resources ofDubuaue Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuaue County Iowa
County and State
Indeed the city had gained several new firms. Area crops to the northwest, particularly close in, had been exceptionally
good in 1904. Five firms were expanding their facilities and M. M. Walker-Toussaint-Trexler, burned out just a few
weeks previous, was resuming operations at a new site (Enterprise, January 7, 1905).
The city survived the initial national economic downturn. The Enterprise noted "the oppression of hard times is
not felt here as elsewhere because the business industries of Dubuque are uniformly conducted along conserVative lines"
(Enterprise, February 18, 1905).
Property Type Discussion:
A number of bank buildings survive to interpret this sub-theme. Three Gennan-ethnic bank buildings survive,
342 Main, the Gennan Trust & Savings Bank at 1307 Central, and the branch German American Savings Bank at 1842
Central (1900). The city's weathering of the Panic of 1893 is best represented in the institutional architecture that was
built up during the early 1890s. Of secondary importance are the lesser buildings that date trom those same years. Of
particular importance are the many outstanding examples of the Romanesque style, that are embodied in the institutional
buildings.
Industrial Might And Labor Strife:
The depression of the early 1890s failed to slow local building, but it did leave its mark on the city's industrial sector. The
Times celebrated a "revival in manufacturing" in 1897 and noted "after four years [1893-97] of depression the immense plants ofilis
city have once more started their machinery running on full time." Those four years "have been a battle" and "more than one concern
has passed through the fray by oruy the narrowest of margins." The first year of post-depression recovery was so explosive that many
local industries recorded their highest volumes of business. The claim was again made that Dubuque was the state's largest
manufacturing center, with an annual product output that just exceeded $40 million, and an investment of $42 million. It is instructive
to realize that industry was equated with the "iron industry." That sector dominated the local economy and dwarfed all of the other
manufacturing sectors (Imnber, $22 million; mill working/sash & door, $2.7 million; clothing manufacture, $1.8 million). The curious
reality for Dubuque's industry was that everything save for labor and capital, had to be brought to the city, even fuel (Times, December
16,1897).
Figure 21: A. A. Cooper Wagon Works, non-extant, 1910 (Our Spirited Years, Telegraph-Herald, p. 39)
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Continuation Sheet
Section number -É..- Page----2!
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
The 1895-96 Iowa State Gazetteer And Business Directory rated Dubuque as "the largest jobbing, wholesale and
manufacturing point in the State ofIowa." There were 300 manufacturing firms with 8,000 employees, and 2,000
additional jobs with jobbing finns. Incorporated companies numbered 95. It was reported that "a new industry, the
building of steel boat hulls, has gained for Dubuque a wide reputation in that line" (1895-96 Iowa State Gazetteer And
Business Directory, pp. 483-84).
The Des Moines Register sent reporter C. L. Dotson to Dubuque in mid-1899. Dotson lauded the city's industry
but also wondered why it was that lllinois cities, even the lesser ones, tended to have larger manufacturing plants where
farm machinery, fencing and windmills were produced for Iowa fanners:
.. .From the depots and along the way up town you see boiler shops and dingy looking factory buildings
and wholesale houses. But these are the pride of Dubuque, for she has a goodly share of those valuable
industrial enterprises and they are what have made and are sustaining the city. These buildings look old
and dingy because they are old and have stood the storms and the strain of machinery for years. When
you get on the inside you see the busy worlanen and the revolving machinery you forget all about how
the exterior of the buildings look and you begin to let envy creep into your nature and wish you had 'em
transferred to your town. You can then see for yourself the why of Dubuque' s pride in her
factories. ..(Des Moines Register, copied by the Daily Telegraph, July 24, 1899).
In late 1901 the Enterprise proclaimed "the [industrial] tide has turned for Dubuque" and lauded "those patriotic
and home interested people who have pulled the hardest when Dubuque's star was most clouded." The new-found
optimism resulted from a short list of reopened plants, a promised rebuilding of the burned out Richardson boots and
shoe factory, the rebuilding of the electrical and streetcar systems, a recapture of the Chicago Great Western Railroad
division to the city (325 jobs), and additions on the part of the mill working plants. The industrial world was changing
however. One indication was the appearance in mid-1900 of the first massive railroad "car famine." Chicago reports put
the deficit at 100,000 cars (Herald, May 17, 1900; Enterprise, October 20, 1901).
The Milwaukee railroad shops were also "a big industry" in the city with 678 employees and a monthly payroll of
$50,000. The facility was said to be largest of its kind in the state. The railroads division headquarters, also in Dubuque,
employed 30 engineers and 35 firemen. Cars and engines were rebuilt for the Dubuque, Chicago, Council Bluff, Kansas
City, Sioux City and Dakota divisions (Enterprise, January 24, 1903).
The Enterprise declared in early 1901, "the tide of prosperity has turned again for Dubuque." Citing "a renewed
confidence in business circles and the universal awakening on every hand" the same source claimed "there is not left a
single desirable building for the location of a factory project of any considerable proportions." The recovery was
measurable. The Dubuque !Ton Works and the Smedley Works had revived. The George Richardson Company, burned
out in 1903, had rebuilt with greater capacity. Carr, Ryder & Adams was installing a new mill outfit. The Chicago, Great
Western Railroad division had returned to Dubuque with 325 resident employees. A new bag factory occupied the
fonner Dee factory and Harvey Chalmers & Son were setting up a shell button factory that promised 150 new jobs
(Enterprise, April2, 1901).
The filling massive wetland areas behind the riverfront was the lasting legacy of the factories and the railroads.
The Enterprise observed in early 1902 that the Adams Company (not to be confused with Carr, Ryder & Adsms
Company) established itself in 1892 at the foot of Third Street amidst a slough with water depths of up to 15 feet. The
plant then had a 30-man payroll and part of the plant was extended over the water. Over the next ten years the fmn raised
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Section number -É...- Page-----26.
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
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County and State
up a three-acre plant site as it increased its payroll to 150 workers. As a result it possessed "one of the most desirable
manufacturing locations in the city." Excavation barrow from the Office and Security and St. Luke building projects
provided much of the fill material. The adjacent railroads, impressed by the Adams Company efforts dumped over 1,000
carloads of fill material to bury a sideline trestle that adjoined the company. In this manner, incrementally the city was
advancing toward the Mississippi River (Enterprise, March 9, 1902).
The Dubuque Enterprise cautioned against taking for granted the regular and large scale business expansions
made by the larger manufacturing firms, noting:
Some cities with but half the opportunity would make a big splurge about them, but we, because they
come voluntarily and cost the community nothing, take them for granted and while the more progressive
appreciate their significance, there are still some who can neither see that Dubuque is going
ahead...(Ente'1'rise, November 18,1903, p. 9).
A number of industrial sectors were by this time assuming a substantial scale in Dubuque. The overall and
clothing factories as of 1903 provided jobs for 1,200 young women had its origin in small plants in the 1860s. "Today,
half a dozen of the most substantial plants in the city are devoted to it, and all are daily enlarging the scope of their
operations." The cigar and tobacco sector now claimed three major producers and six jobbing plants. The iron and steel
business had trebled its business in the previous ten years. In the "wagon industry, brewing and liquor business, the
grocery and supply concems...there has been the same development, in some of them greater." The Dubuque Traveling
and Business Men's Association represented a critical marketing and promotional ann of the city's industries. A
majority of its positions had been created only within the previous 25 years "and many of them [were] the result of the
last decade of business energy..." (Ente'1'rise, January 24, 1903).
Even the long-established finns were adapting to the changing times. The Enterprise noted "practically every
business concern, even, the older ones, have been reorganized within the last twenty years, and many of them within the
last ten." The same source then went on to tally up new industrial finns. Twenty-two finns "have been established and
developed within the last twenty years." Nine named finns and "others" had done so in the last 10 years and twelve (and
others) in the five years just past. Since 1902 one major finn had reorganized, four new firms had been established
included a bag factory and the pearl button works (Enterprise, January 31, 1903).
The factories operated full time through 1904 "and nearly every plant has been increased, and its corps of
employees augmented during the last five years." There was "a number" of new finns and "we haven't lost any
institutions to speak of' (Ente'1'rise, December 4, 1904).
One of Dubuque's unsolved notorious crimes was a reign of terror that was conducted in 1906. A series of six
major dynamite blasts exploded over six months. The first blast damaged the St. Mary Casino, at White and 16th streets
in late June. The second target, struck six weeks later was the Dubuque Tobacco Roller Works, 9th and Jackson streets.
The entryway to the Dubuque Club was nearly destroyed in a third blast. Two bombs exploded on election night outside
the Telegraph-Herald building and the Sheriffs residence at the courthouse. The last attack destroyed an illinois Central
switchman's shanty on the outskirts of town. Nobody was ever apprehended but the attacks did result in a shakeup in
both the police department and city government (Des Moines Register & Leader, November 25, 1906).
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Continuation Sheet
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County, Iowa
County and State
A Mining Renaissance:
The nadir of zinc mining came in 1894 when not a single pound of "dry bone" was marketed from Dubuque
during the first half of that year. All of the mines were closed down and the Times observed that "not since the
development of the zinc industry in this region has the outlook been so unfavorable for those engaged in mining. Part of
the problem was the consolidation of the smelting finns with three national finns dominating the market. A competing
smelter was under construction in East Dubuque to broaden competition. By 1897, the local zinc industry was valued at
$118,900 annually. Lead mining yielded just $324,000. In 1896 the market for lead fell to its lowest recorded level ($12
per 1,000 pounds). By 1897 it had rebounded enough to enable a local smelter to operate (Weekly Times, June 23, 1894;
December 16, 1897; Herald, August 5, 1897).
The attention long paid to lead began to switch to zinc ore or "dry bone" which was being smelted at LaSalle,
lllinois and Mineral Point, Wisconsin "who have no competition to contend with in the northwest." It was rumored in
mid-1897 that the Glab brothers were planning to establish a zinc works. Large-scale mining operations occupied the
highlands to the southwest, unthreatened by suburban expansion (Daily Herald, June 27, 1897).
Labor versus Management:
Union strife reached its high-water mark during 1903. The third party political candidates had always generated
a three or four percentage point voters turnout in the elections but Socialist Eugene Debs polled a record seven percent in
the 1904 presidential election. Twenty years later Progressive Robert LaFollette bested even the Democratic Party
candidate as well as the Republican winner, Cal Coolidge, taking 43 percent of the vote. As the Civil War years had
shown, Dubuque's political makeup was complex and combative.
The winter of 1901-02 was termed a "great winter for labor" as factories "almost without exception have been
running full time all winter and that the open winter has been very propitious for building operations." A new bag factory
was employing women and "everywhere is heard complaint about the scarcity oflabor." Spring promised 100 new jobs
at the Iowa Iron Works and architects promised "a building boom" (Enterprise, February 16, 1902).
The winter of 1901-02 wi1nessed a flurry of union organizational activity. The teamsters successfully put
together a local of 150 members as did employees at the Dubuque Brewing & Malting Company, the George Richardson
Company, the Union Electric Company, and the Iroquois Pearl Button Works. Carpenters too were rumored to be
organizing and plasterers, bricklayers, stonemasons and other trades were newly organizing in anticipation of the coming
building season. Efforts were underway by mid-March to organize the wood workers at Carr, Ryder & Adams, Farley &
Loetscher, A. A. Cooper and the Alter companies. All of the locals would demand wage increases as the opportunity
allowed. As a result "there is much apprehension, particularly in building circles, and it is almost impossible to obtain a
contract for anything in which labor is a material factor. Even the ice dealers are declining to make contracts for the
season. This line of business is likely to be materially effected by the unions." The Enterprise noted that fair wages
protected the laboring class just as high protective tariffs protected industry and capital. Anti-tariff democrats had
claimed the tariff was a tax on the working class. The Enterprise offered that while the working class paid the tariff
"tax" and received no benefit, they would also pay the higher wage "tax" but they would get a benefit. At any rate the
larger issue would be settled quickly, predicted the same source:
Persons who are in a position where they should know say that one season will settle the matter in
Dubuque. They claim that the wave for organization has been slow in reaching Dubuque and that cities
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Continuation Sheet
Section number -É.- Page---21
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
like Davenport, Rock Island, Des Moines, Joliet, Quincy and others went through the mill two years ago.
They maintain that prices will adjust themselves to changed conditions and that after the first few months there
will be no trouble. They claim that with the trusts hoisting prices on all connnodities they control that labor most
protect itself and thst the increased cost of living makes necessary the demand that is becoming general for increased
wages (Enterprise, March 14, 1903).
The first strike of 1903 took place at the Iroquois Button Works. Locals had invested in the plant to bring it to
Dubuque but tTom the start the owners complained of an inability to secure enough workers. Untrained workers started at
low wages with a promise that with dexterity, they would outpace a laborer's wage within a few weeks. The plant
doubled its capacity during the summer of 1902 and consequently needed twice the workers. The Retailers Association
looked at the company books and determined that the average weekly pay was just $7.00. In addition workers were being
shorted by the disallowance of thin button slugs and they were being charged for saws and other penalties. The
Enterprise expressed initial support for the strikers, while still hoping that a valuable company could be retained. At any
rate the strikers lost, apparently due to bad management on the part of the union (Enterprise, March 14, June 13, 1903).
The factory owner was absent in California when the strike began and his local operatives simply shut down the
plant in the face of the strike. The Enterprise reported a week into the strike action that it
has not created the apprehension in business circles that some of the more timorous were apprehensive it
would. .. .Now however, that the button workers have set the ball rolling, the more attention is attracted to
them [the other unions] for the reason that it will give the trades and labor organizations opportunity to
demonstrate their strength and also the measure of support for those who walk out can expect tTom other
unions.
At any rate all union eyes were on the strikers. Their success would encourage further labor tests and their failure would
"have a detracting effect on the faint hearted" (Enterprise, March 21,1903).
The strike that did cripple the city came tTom an unexpected quarter. Seventy street car operators had unionized
in February 1903 part of a total of 4,000 union members, a number second only to that of Des Moines. The Union
Electric Company had replaced three car fmns in 1900 and now controlled public transportation and electrical service.
The company secured a 25-year city tTanchise in March 1902. One of the features of the tTanchise was a half fare charge
for commuting laborers. The company started to upgrade its lines in the spring of 1901 and raised both wages and the
public appreciation for its service and efforts. A 1902 point system that rated employee performance and docked workers
for delays and other errors. The union (Local 329 Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employees
of America) struck on May 7 when three of its members were [¡red for presenting demands to the company. The
company firemen joined their striking brothers two days later (Scharnow, pp. 60-70).
Historian Ralph Schamow has documented the failure of what otherwise should have been a major union victory.
There was strong community support for the strikers and strike had shut down a critical transportation system. Initially
supportive crowds stopped the cars tTom running and they were silent during a visit by President Theodore Roosevelt on
June 2. The company hired Chicago strikebreakers and resumed service on June II. Mayor Berg dithered, on one hand
he deputized F. 1. Dane, the company manager as a deputy sheriff, but he also refused to use the [¡re companies to
control the crowds. The climax occurred on June 16 when a crowd of 1-2,000 shut down the service at its main hub. The
state militia was called in to quell the strife. They were replaced by National Guard troops and Governor Cummins
unsuccessfully attempted to mediate a solution. Public support disappeared with the riot and local clergy and the press
"~-_._...~ .-,--..-- -~
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Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque Couutv. Iowa
Couuty and State
supported a "Law and Order Alliance" which oversaw car operations with militia guards. The Dubuque Club finally
secured an agreement but the Union lost on all of their main requests. The union itself survived as a paper organization.
The mayor, popular C. H. Bern (a seven-tenn mayor), and the sheriff, initially pilloried by the public for supporting the
transit company, survived politically (Scharnow, pp. 71-75).
The Enterprise had lavished praise on the good works of the new transit company in January 1903 and it was
hard pressed to offer the strikers even the minimal support it had voiced for the button cutters. It criticized the three
dismissed union leaders for failing to step aside from the negotiations, it blasted faint-hearted businessmen for failing to
support the use of the cars during the boycott and it lambasted the secondary boycotts against the fmanciers of the transit
company. "Mr. Stout, with Messrs, Shields, Burch, Cooper and others of the men who have made Dubuque and given it
the factories that employ the labor of the city" were to be honored and not vilified. When the strike was finally settled
the paper regretted six weeks of wasted time with no substantial resolution of the basic issues "and the ignominy that is
heaped on Dubuque' s name. Were it not for the labor troubles, 1903 "would have been a record breaker" (Enterprise,
June 13,27, August 29, 1903).
~25
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Five Year Time Periods
Figure 22: Age of Dubuque industrial fmns, 1911
(date compiled by J. Jacobsen)
The publication of the massive Greater Dubuque in 1911 marked the "high water mark" ofthe city's industrial
growth and development. Figure 22 depicts a chronological breakdown of founding dates for the firms then in operation.
These figures necessarily combine the tiniest and the mightiest firms and firms which closed down or combined prior to
1911 are unrepresented. Still, this representation includes the long-term successful firms which were established early in
the city's history while it also summarizes the more recently founded firms. One glaring gap which is hinted at in these
figures is the absence offmns which were established between 1872-1874. The seven finns credited for 1870-74 were
all started during the fITSt two years of that half-decade. The next five years were little better. Five businesses started
1875-76, but just three more are credited to 1877-79. Reflective of Civil War period start-ups, ten finns dated from 1861-
65. The explosion in industrial growth dates from 1880 and continues unabated through 1893. During the next four
years, 1894 (two firms), 1895 (one finn), 1896 (two firms) and 1897 (two finns), things slowed down and during 1898
there were no new start-ups. The year 1899 signaled a rebound with four new finns. The new century witnessed
renewed entrepreneurial energy and as many new firms were founded in 1910-11 as had been founded in the previous
five years (Index, Greater Dubuque, 1911).
Property Type Discussion:
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National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number l- Page---22
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
The proposed Carr-Ryder-Adams/Farley-Loetscher Industrial District includes virtually all of the surviving
significant industrial plants, notably the two major millwork firms that comprise the district title. Other surviving
buildings represent the Iowa Iron Works, Klauer Manufacturing Company, the Key City Iron Works, the Wieneke &
Hohenadel Pickle & Kraut factory, Spahn & Rose Lumber Company, and the Kretschmer-Tredway Company. The
largest of these buildings are the best industrial examples to be found in the state and they represent significant examples
of heavy frame industrial buildings. The rarest and most impressive building is the Farley-Loetscher covered lumber
shed that occupies an entire block (Jackson to Washington, East 7th-8"' streets). A number of other major plants, furniture
and coffin manufacturers, are located to the north of the industrial district. These include the Metz Manufacturing
Company, Iowa Coffin Company (Elm and East 15th, no integrity), Dubuque Casket Company (1798 Washington), and
the Dubuque Clamp Works (260 East 18th Street, c.1909). Another important range of properties, particularly to
represent lost industrial buildings, is the residences ofmajor industrialists of this era. The Lawther Candy Factory, 137-
53 Main (Old Main District, NRHP) is a rare downtown example of a five-story factory. It attests to the mixed
commercial use of the lower end of Main Street. This building (1907) replaced a burned predecessor that was
incrementally built up beginning in 1872. Trenk Wire Works, 190 Main, is a two-story factory building in the same
district (pre-l 884). The A. A. Cooper Wagon Works is a four-story factory building at 299 Main (same district, 1881-2).
The Dubuque Star Brewery (East 4th and river, SHPO DOE) and the Dubuque Brewing and Malting Company (3002
Jackson, de-listed NRHP at owner's request) are excellent Romanesque style brick brewery complexes. The John Trudell
Carriage Works building is at 870-80 Central (1895-96). The National Biscuit Company building, 80 Main (1892-1908) is another
example (recommended for addition to Old Main District, NRHP).
Retail Trade, the Achilles Heel?
By 1897, Dubuque's retail sector was valued at $26 million, the largest sub-sectors being dry goods (worth $3.2
million in trade) and groceries ($3.1 million). The strength of this key sector depended on the wholesale trade and the
city was masterful in combining an aggressive sales and service campaign with shipping advantages. The increased
market area penetration of Dubuque newspapers was credited with promoting the retail trade. The retail sector used its
shipping advantages to amass larger inventories and this ability enhanced trade. Even in the lesser trading sectors over
half of Dubuque customers came from outside of the city. An army of "traveling men," 300 in number by 1897,
supplemented other forms of advertising and it was this workforce that the Herald credited with making Dubuque's
growth and prosperity a fact. These men represented the city's wholesaling and jobbing firms and they canvassed the
entire Midwest (Times, December 16, 1897; Herald, January 1, 1898).
Under the caption "Dubuque's Future The Stake" the Enterprise presented a remarkably candid assessment of the
city's retail strength. It offered "the great draw back to the city has been its lack of retail trade." While that trade was
comparable to cities in the other states, "the opportunities are at hand for its being the best and greatest.
The main dependence of the retail dealers has been on the home trade and it is due to the large laboring
community and the fact that the jobbers and manufacturers have been buying almost exclusively at home,
that the retail interests can make the showing they do. Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Sioux City and others
in the state that take rank with Dubuque far outstrip this city in the volume of trade from out of the
city. ..IfDubuque, with her great volume of home trade, can add a proportionate amount of rural trade,
this city will be the best for retail trade in the state. Business men realize this and the complaint has been
bitter over the lack of facilities and inducements to bring this trade here.
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National Park Service
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National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number -É.- Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque Couutv. Iowa
Couuty and State
Figure 23: 1982 Dubuque retail market area
Dubuque from its inception possessed a tri-state market focus but the river to the east and the highlands to the west had
hindered its ability to capture a broader market in the hinterlands (Figure 23). The complaint voiced above indicates that
delays in building bridges and in making Iowa's interior more accessible, had allowed regional markets and products to
be siphoned away by other regional cities. The completion of the Eagle Point vehicular bridge, delayed until 1903, was
lauded for its potential to "open a vast territory to the retail interests of the city." The city wasn't receiving its due share
of area stock and produce shipments. The same source noted "there is not half enough grain hauled in here for the local
feed supply, and shipments of stock from this point have become rare occUITences. The fanners have facilities closer
home and they will not come here unless there are convenient facilities to doing so or other inducements." Hopes for a
packing plant had,been delayed to the lack of area stock supplies. Creameries and produce stations in the city were
valued more for the "rural trade they attract" than for their present financial contributions (Enterprise, January 24,31,
1903).
The 1895-96 Iowa State Gazetteer And Business Directory claimed that the completion of the city's first highway
bridge over the Mississippi River with "had secured the trade of a large community of fanners living in the States of
illinois and Wisconsin near the river" but this success was apparently insufficient, given the 1903 complaint noted above.
The 1903-04 Iowa State Gazetteer writers were so enamored with this claim that they used it again with reference to the
completion of the Eagle Point-Wisconsin bridge which "secured the trade of large community of fanners living in the
states of illinois and Wisconsin and has provided them a market for the products of their fanns..." (1895-96 Iowa State
Gazetteer And Business Directory, p. 483; 1903-04 Iowa State Gazetteer, p. 611).
The city was delinquent in its development of interurban traffic, a ten-year old phenomenon by 1903 and one that
was now more mechanically feasible due to technological development. Apparently Mr. Flynn and others had, with three
years effort, fmalized a "project to build from Dubuque into Wisconsin" and route surveys had been completed to the
west and southwest. Curiously the city strongly valued creating interurban links to the Chicago Northwestern, which ran
west of the county. This "has long been the dream of the business men [and] it will be practical to make at least three
connections withthat road." What was the point of making these linkages? Usually interurban lines served as feeders to
a city's existing railroads. The Wisconsin interurban never materialized, primarily because it required the use of the new
highway bridge at Eagle Point (Enterprise, July 4, 1903).
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Section number ~ Page--..2§
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
Retail failures of at least ten major fmns during the summer and fall of 1903 underscored the weakness of the
retail sector despite the relatively good overall economy. The Enterprise observed that the closings were "in marked
contrast to the falling off of the retail trade and the poor showing made by it, is the prosperity and development of the
jobbings and manufacturing interests." The same source dared to credit the success of the latter sectors to their excellent
organization. The 300 city retailers were not organized and they had allowed their retailers group, fonned in 1900, to
wither away after just one year of operation (Enterprise, November 14, 1903, pp. 8-9).
The Enterprise led the local fight against catalog and out-of-city shopping trips. It urged readers to shop for
Christmas in Dubuque even as "the mail men are loaded down with pamphlets and booklets from mail order houses in
Chicago, St. Louis, St. Paul and other cities.. .the city is being flooded.. .by these mail order houses." While
acknowledging "there isn't the buying outside of the city there used to be, but there should be none." The Telegraph-
Herald was lambasted to running a half page advertisement for mail order buggies in early 1905 (Enterprise, December
3,1904, February 18, 1905).
Figure 24: Fourth Street "Gateway" to Dubuque (Enterprise, June 20, 1903)
The imposing Star Brewery (left front) and the Shot Tower (not visible, to right hand side)
flanked the vehicular entrance to the city. Downtown (not visible), a large key was hung above
Fourth Street to symbolize entrance into the "Key City." Note the lumberyard drying piles at the left rear.
Property Type Discussion:
The most representative buildings under this sub-theme are the larger and more distinctive business blocks, and
wholesale and jobbing buildings. Relatively few ofthe latter survive however. Two notable jobbing house examples
include the M. M. Walker and Schroder-Kleine warehouses, 40-48 Main (c.1895), the Rider-Wallis Warehouse, 769-75
Locust (1892-98) and 840-52 Main (1899). Fourteen multi-storefront commercial examples and 11 single storefront
buildings date to this contextual period and these are listed in the Phase III survey report. Notable multiple storefront
examples include 1000 Main (1894),800 Main (Security Building, 1896),799 Main (Roshek's Department Store). All
are outside of historic districts and all are consultant-recommended as being NRHP-eligible. Single storefront examples
include 1543 Central (H. Richter Block, 1899, Central Avenue District), and 342 Main (German Bank Building, 1903,
~~,~~,.~.,~.- - --_._---~_."-...,,--_.,--
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National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number --É- Page--22
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque Countv Iowa
County and State
Old Main District, NRHP). The Orpheum Theater (1910, 405 Main, NRHP) is a surviving landmark commercial
building.
Municipal Growth, 1893-1910:
Between 1890 and 1895 the city's population increased an impressive 14 percent to 40,574 residents. New
construction during 1894 exceeded $2,000,000, exceeding "any recent year" in the city and a feat "unequalled by any city
in the state." This impressive building record was accomplished "in the face of the general depression and financial
disaster that has swept over the country." As a result "Dubuque [had] a position unequalled, yes even unapproached by
any city in the state or perhaps any city of its size in the United States." The total valuation was driven upwards by an
array of truly remarkable large-scale public, institutional and private projects. These included Central High School, the
brewery at 27th and J ackaon streets, the Mt. Cannel Motherhouse, the Stout Auditorium and the Bank and Insurance
Building (Herald, January I, 1895).
The local impact of the national financial panic of 1893-94 on new building construction is difficult to measure.
It is the consistent claim of Dubuque historians that the city was able to better weather these difficult times due to the
dominance oflocal capital in the city's economy. Newspaper accounts describe a forced consolidation on the wholesale
trade, particularly in groceries, where three local wholesalers consolidated in January 1893. As late as mid-November of
that year it was reported that local merchants were reducing their inventories and curtailing operating expenses "awaiting
the outcome of the general depression which has been felt here to some extent." An examination of new business block
construction indicates that building rates declined during 1891, but rebounded in 1892-93. Institutional construction, on
a massive scale, dominated construction during the mid and late 1890s. The absence of annual progress reports during
these years bespeaks the fact that new construction was corning in bigger doses, included a major emphasis on residential
construction, and wasn't comparable to the heady days of the 1880s (Jacobsen, Phase ill report, pp. 79-85; Weekly Times,
November 14, 1893).
The construction of the Security and Bank and Insurance buildings in 1895 represented the growing need for
professional offices to be located in modem office buildings rather than above storefronts in buildings scattered
throughout the downtown. It also represents a growing local trend to select prominent Chicago architects to design
landmark Dubuque buildings. Willoughby Edbrooke, who later served as Supervising Architect for the Treasury
Department, designed the Grand Opera House in 1889. William W. Boyington similarly designed the Bank and
Insurance Building in 1894. It was notable for the use of fireproof terra cotta encased steel beams and columns and for
its unmatched ornate Beaux Arts terra cotta exterior (Daily Telegraph, August 20, 22, 1894; Enterprise, June II, 1904).
During 1895 nothing was being built on the "cheap John" order and all the new residences were claimed to be
"modem, of tasty design and have all the latest improvements, both sanitary and otherwise. Dubuque is known
throughout the state as having its beautiful residences and the list has been increased wonderfully from year to year"
(Herald, May 24, 1896).
St. Luke Church, under construction in 1896, was rated by the Herald as "the finest in the city" despite the higher
building cost incurred building St. Johns Episcopal Church (mostly foundation work). Newspapers continued to avoid
using stylistic descriptors. Jacob Traut's new house at 19th and Jackson streets was "of neat design." Other examples
were of "recent design" or were "strictly modem throughout" or "fitted up in modem style" (Herald, May 24, 1896).
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OM8 App,"v,' No. 1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number Í- Page-.lQQ
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
The year 1897 witnessed record levels of home construction while business expenditures were largely restricted
to remodelings.
The present season in Dubuque has witnessed no particular building boom thus far, although ever since
winter all our local carpenters have been busy constructing residences in every portion of the city. It has
been years, if ever, since so many houses were built in Dubuque during a single season as have already
been constructed this year. This era of building shows no sign of abatement and will continue until snow
flies.
Rumors circulated that eastern capitalists sought investments in the city. Several small business blocks were underway as
was a new Ryan packinghouse. The earliest indications of an emerging zinc ore mining industry were present and "a late
building boom of gigantic proportions" was predicted (Herald, June 27, 1897).
Real estate business prospered as building proceeded at record levels. The largest demand in the city's history
was reported in the spring of 1891. One measure ofretrenchrnent in the mid-I 890s was the large-scale failure of the fiTIn
ofRhomberg and Walker in the fall of 1896. Transfers during 1900 ($1,626,795) outpaced those of 1899 ($1,476,180)
which in turn exceeded those of 1898 ($1,255,091). An unprecedented real estate boom in early 1901 was reflected in 76
land transfers in just three days (Daily Ledger, April 25, 1891; Daily Globe Journal, September 2, 1896; January I, 1901;
Herald, December 31,1899; March 6,1901).
One hope for new jobs was the planned shops and yard expansion of the lllinois Central Railroad. Dubuque
hopes were dashed at the end of 1899 when Waterloo was awarded the division point designation. The Telegraph-Herald
bemoaned "Tis Tough on Dubuque. The city directory reported 125 miles of improved streets in Dubuque, six miles
being paved in brick (Telegraph-Herald, January 4, 1900; 1899-1900 City Directory, introduction).
Census year 1900 and presumably the years preceding and following it "was not one of particular prosperity for
the city. . .it was exceptionally dull in the building trade lines. . .many mechanics who belong in Dubuque were out in
other cities working." The Herald checked with some of its better architects early in 1900. One expected little new
building, while two others were turning away new work. The newspaper concluded that the despondent but famous
architect "must be judging the whole community by the small amount of work he has (Enterprise, December 3, 1904;
Herald, April 14, 1900)."
The Enterprise reported building material costs in 1902 and 50 percent higher than a year before but noted
"and yet the building goes on in Dubuque at a rate that is most encouraging. A drive about town, along
Grandview Avenue, Hill Street and Alpine will convince the dullest observer that Dubuque is in a most
flourishing and prosperous condition. Residences are springing up like toadstools, and they are not the
small sqilllTe boxes offoTIner years, but handsome and artistic homes. Even the smallest have
architectural merit. Each year we are making our city more attractive to the horne-seeker. Each year we
are gathering within our borders a class of people who are a credit and honor to the town. People corne
to Dubuque for many reasons. Our schools are of the best, business locations may be found here, and the
industrial and social life are prominent features of the town. Dubuque is too conservative to boom, but
its growth is steady. And no better indication of our prosperity could be given, than the fact that in spite
of the high price of building materials, our carpenters have never been busier (Enterprise, July 20, 1902).
.---".__._--_.~~ ..~~
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National Park Service
OM8 App'o",' No. 1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number -É.....- Page-1Q!
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
Grandview Avenue with its boulevard had the potential of becoming a city's latest "nob hill" but a major
impediment was its lack of city water services. One landowner proposed that the city would give an 18-foot wide strip
frontage to each landowner. The owner would then plant four rows of trees spaced every 50 feet and keep the land
properly sodded. The idea was short lived if only because many hoped that the streetcar would require some of this right-
of-way. The Enterprise commented:
"Dubuque is in need of...a 'beauty drive.' Aside from our picturesque country roads our driveways are
sadly lacking in interesting and beautiful features. They are narrow and noisy and dirty, and are not laid
through the finer residence parts of the town. Grandview Avenue is destined to become the drive of the
city, and as soon as the property owners on that street are able to bring city water to their homes its
improvement is secured.. . Grandview Avenue occupies a unique place in the city. It is urban as to its
character, but it is the pathway that leads from the city to the country, and as such we cannot afford to
lose it (Enterprise, September 7, 1902).
The year 1902 witnessed the building of75 houses in the Fifth Ward, and from 25-50 in each of the other wards.
During 1903,
... the report for this year will make a showing that will be a surprise. In spite of strikes, and the unsettled
conditions, which caused the abandonment or postponement of a number of building projects, there
wasn't a time during the season when mechanics were out of work. On the contrary, contractors were
short of men, and it was one of the most prosperous in these lines the city has had. If ocular evidence is
wanted, one has only to take a trip over the city. Take, for instance, in the vicinity of the Malting
company's brewery, where there were solid blocks of open lots six years ago there are today rows of
residences and within the last five years hundreds of residences have gone up on the hills (Enterprise,
November 21, 1903).
A 1904 building boom was predicted by the Enterprise with the announcement of plans for five major building
projects (Farley & Loetscher, Metz Manufacturing, Mercy Hospital, St. Franciscan Sisters Home for the Aged, Union
Electric Company power house), representing an aggregate value of half a million dollars. Foundations for the first three
were already in place by the end of 1903. Many smaller buildings were planned and builders were so busy that repair
work and smaller jobs had difficulty getting done. There were over ISO new houses built and half of these were in the
"upper part" of the city (Enterprise, November 18, 1903; December 3, 1904).
Those hopes were confirmed and the number of new houses built in 1904 exceeded that of 1903. The year 1904
"was one ofthe most prosperous years in the recent history of the city. Not only has trade been good in
all lines, but it has been a record-breaking year in building. In addition tot he big industrial plants, there
has been a building boom in residences a;1d store buildings, and mechanics have been in demand. At
times during the summer work was delayed because of the inability of contractors to secure men, and
many mechanics were brought in here from the outside."
. . .Districts where ten years ago there were only a few scattered residences, have been built up, and now
some of the most thickly populated sections are where they weren't even streets laid out fifteen year ago"
(Enterprise, December 4, 1904).
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National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number L- Page-1ill.
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa, 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
The year 1904 witnessed the construction of factories and homes. The Herald noted that "Homeseekers have
saved more money the past year and as indications point to steady employment and better wages for years to come, they
are turning their savings into homes (Herald, February 28, 1904).
"Immense Sums" in excess of$1,500,000 were expended in the city during 1905. Record 1904 expenditures
were bolstered by utilities expenditures but the 1905 improvements actually exceeded those of the previous year.
Dubuque was "forging-ahead" in all areas, "the corporation has not only expanded but the workingman has built himself
a home." Flats were being built in larger nwnbers as were three-unit houses. Brick continued to fade as a preferred
material for houses with just 17 percent of new houses being brick. This could reflect the rising costs of structural brick
construction. Brick would reappear in a veneer application following the First World War. Counting new houses was
made difficult because the city had ceased to do the tracking and the newspaper chided the city officials, reminding
readers that "it must be remembered that no official records of building permits or the like are kept in Dubuque"
(Telegraph-Herald, December 31,1905).
"The hill" north of Dodge Street, was the scene of residential construction beginning in 1905. The Enterprise
reported the start of construction of houses on Winona Avenue and Alpine Street. It predicted
"more fine houses [will be] built on the hill than in any previous year. The rate at which the hill is
building up is surprising. A few years ago there was not a house on such streets as South Alpine,
Winona, Third street extension and others on which there is now hardly a vacant lot. All the way out to
West Dubuque the hill is being built up, and it wont be long until the tide of home seekers sets in on
Grandview avenue. It is understood that this property is to be put on the market this spring and when it
does begin to build up, there is the certainty the Union Electric company will put in a belt line from Delhi
to South Dodge street terminal (Enterprise, April 15, 1905).
Record building was anticipated during 1906. Planned projects included a new brewery, German Theological
Seminary expansion, three new public schools, a new Masonic Temple and $26,000 in new residences already announced
(Telegraph-Herald, December 31, 1905).
The knockers of 1906 warned that Dubuque was "in a state of innocuous desuetude and is not forging to the front
at a modem city."'! Defenders noted that "new houses have sprung up in all parts of the city like pansies in a garden and
stand today a credit to the builders, and a proof of the rapid growth of the city." The city was "well fIXed with overtaxed
factories" and these had expended over $300,000 in improvements. Dubuque's "fame as a home of institutions" was
maintained by over $400,000 in expenditures. Many of the new homes were being purchased by retired farmers and the
city was fast becoming a "Mecca" for them. Mechanics were coming to Dubuque to insure that their children received a
good education. "Dubuque is everywhere known as a city of cheap living, low rents, good schools and plenty of decent
amusements" (Telegraph-Herald, December 30, 1906).
At the end of 1907 the Telegraph-Herald credited the slow but steady growth of Dubuque to the principle of
"Conservative Development;"
The history of Dubuque is a repetition of remarkable achievements secured through conservatism. Year
after year new industries are added, old establislnnents broaden out; vacant tracts of land become dotted
31 Desuetude, a condition of disuse.
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OMB App'o,,1 No. 1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number -É..- Page----1QJ.
The Architectural and Historical Resonrces ofDnbuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
DubuQue County Iowa
County and State
with attractive and costly residences and dwellings; competition appears only to stimulate the Dubuque
business men to acquit themselves of greater deeds and victories. Conservatism marks every step. No
radical, foolhardy step has been taken since the days of the 'boom' period. Dubuque has progressed and
advanced to a point where the future appears like gold on the horizon. "Of all that is good, Iowa affords
the best," and Dubuque is the Key City.
Major new improvements included the Roshek Bros. Store, Security Building, railroad improvements ($105,000),
Gen:nan Theological Seminary, and public school improvements ($150,000). Nearly every factory in the city expanded
and improved. "Scores of residences were erected during the year and time would not pennit of personal inquiry into
each one." Apparently building permit records remained insufficient. The impressive achievements of the year were
lessened by the "counteraction of certain conditions which tied up building and expansion nearly the whole summer"
(Telegraph-Herald, December 29, 1907).
Continued "conservative growth" was lauded at the end of 1908 but the numbers were down and a few larger
projects accounted for a quarter of the total. Factory improvements lagged below those of recent years. Residential
construction "during the year closing [was] one of the largest in recent years." Throughout the city "house after house
has gone up. On the hills and the north end of the city this is particularly true. Strong, substantial residences have been
erected" with an average cost of about $3,500 (Telegraph-Herald, December 27, 1908).
A record number of houses were built during 1909. For the first time the Telegraph-Herald claimed that
"Dubuque contains a larger number of home owners in proportion to population than any other city in the country." The
city owned itself as well. "Dubuque is built up on her own capital. Here people in larger degree than in any other city,
own what is here. She is stable and has within herself enormous resources." A study of Main Street properties indicated
that they were mortgaged at just six percent of their total value. The record growth of the city this year could not be
attributed to any larger building projects, that largest being valued at $150,000 (Telegraph-Herald, January 2, 1910).
The first reference to a bungalow in Dubuque came in 1909 in the end-of-year, with a sole reference made to an
$11,000 bungalow that was built by Rev. Clark. The term reappears in 1911 with just two listings. By 1915 15
bungalows were reported, two-thirds of these being credited to Chris Voelker (Telegraph-Herald, January 2, 1910).
The house-building boom continued into 1910. At the end of 1909 contractors and real estate men were
anticipating a "veritable boom" in house building with a doubling of value over 1909. One contractor had three jobs
committed and all had work enough to start as soon as the weather pennitted. The actual numbers fell well short of the
1909 record count. By years end a local realtor reported "there is still a dearth of homes, moderate in price and
substantial in quality." Most of the houses were for "the prosperous wage-earner" and were valued from $2-4,000. The
annual numbers reflected the return oflarge-scale building by religious institutions ($243,000) with six major projects.
Private construction accounted for 63 percent of all improvements. Greater Dubuque credited 1910 with the "greatest
building season ever experienced in the city of Dubuque" (Telegraph-Herald, January 2, October 2, 1910; January I,
1911; Greater Dubuque, p. 4).
McFadden's factory on Iowa Street was likely one of the first concrete skeleton industrial plants to be built in
Dubuque. The Times-Journal warned "to overlook McFadden's big concrete structure on Iowa Street would miss a
handsome five-story building oflatest construction with the facilities to handle a business that is growing enormously."
Farley-Loetscher also completed a massive five-story fireproof reinforced concrete building that same year (Times-
Journal, February 6, 1910).
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United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
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National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number --L- Page-1Q.!
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa, 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
A 1914 growth retrospective by the Telegraph-Herald credited the Bank and Insurance Building and Dubuque
Brewing and Malting Company (1894) with being the first modern commercial buildings in the city.
"From 1894 until 1909 progress was slow. In 1909 more residences were erected and also a few business
houses were built. Each year as business got bigger and more facilities were demanded larger and more
substantial buildings were erected (Telegraph-Herald, December 27, 1914).
By 1910 the city's architecture, particularly the elevated residences on the bluff !Tonts, was showing very well.
The Telegraph-Herald observed in late 1910:
Dubuque's buildings and architects are rated as among the best in Iowa and the beautiful structures
decorating the hills, bring forth admiration !Tom the visitor who chances to view the city !Tom a point of
advantage. The religious institutions which catch the eye of every person passing by or through the city,
have gained an enviable reputation for the architects who have laid the plans for the structures and the
Dubuque builders are constantly in demand by out-of-town parties desiring big contracts to be filled
(Telegraph-Herald, October 2, 1910).
Table 10: Annual Dubuque hnprovements. 1893-1910
Year Total Construction New Resideotial Constroction
Total Total Non- Nnmber Total New Mnlti-
Valne Residential New S/F Residential ramily Honses
Honses Valne Note"
1S94 $1,791,000 32 35 3 Estimate $150,000 unreported, Ceutral High School, new
brewery, Bell Bros. Factory, Sisters of S1. Mary Orphanage,
YMCAG=
1896 $416,800 17 36 3 Figures througb May, $3,000,000 total including last years
completions, Security Bldg., Saeugerbund Hall, German Pres.
Church, Holy Ghost Churcb, S1. Luke's Church, Stone Hill
School
IS97 End ofMav onlv, $3million countino finishing '95 proiects
IS98 Partial list, IS new houses, four others inc1. Finlev Hosnital
1901 Sisters ofHoly Ghost Moth" House, S1. Joseph's Academy
addition, S1. Anthony Catholic Church, Gecman Bank Building
(3DOs Main), High Bridge, Adams Co. foundry, Customs House
addition, Carnegie-Stout Library, Dub. Malting Co. addition
(Dailv Tele~anh, October 2,1901).
1902 not as many dwellings built as in 1901 (Telegraph-Hemld, April
6,1902).
1903 150 new buildings all fvnes
1904 Larger than street car barn, S1. Raphael School, S1. Columbkill's Catholic
1903 church, S1. Francis Old Folks Home (Herald, February 2S, 1904).
1905 $1,327,210 105 $443,210 24 new brewery, three public schools, Masonic Temple, House of
("resideuces, Good Shepherd, German Seminary (Telegmph-Herald, Decemb"
etc.") 31,1905):
1906 $],054,850 681nartial $12S,150
1907 $1,912,900 "scores", $162500 Voelk" built 22 houses averaging $2,500 in cost, and all other
no fewer new houses were valued at $109,000, newspaper listed six major
than 31 houses finished, tlITee underway.
starts
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OMB Appoo",' No. 1024.0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number l- Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County, Iowa
County and State
1908 $1,134,43S 13 (partial $310,000 Estimate based on average cost division of total.
list), 8S
estimate
1909 $1,240,750 145 Average 200 total new buildings, 25 of which had values greater than
value $2- $10,000
4,000,
estimated
total value
$430,000
1910 $1,S41,747 $668,582 SS $2S6,000 Majestic Theater, St. Joseph Catholic Chapel, Christian Science
Church, Holy Trinity Catholic Church, St. Mack's Lutheran
Church
Property Type Discussion:
This period witnessed the [mal infilling ofa number of residential historic districts, including Jackson Park
(NRHP), Cathedral (NRHP), Fenelon Place, West 11th Street, Old Town, and Langworthy (see next contextual period).
The commercial and industrial sub-sections of this context address that range of properties. Numerous fraternal and civic
landmark buildings that date to this period (Masonic Hall, Elks Building, Commercial Club) are non-extant. Numerous
monumental churches attest to the prosperity and growth of this era. These include St. Luke Methodist Episcopal Church
and Rectory (1199 Main, NRHP, 1896), St. Matthew Lutheran Church (1780 White, 1908), the First Church of Christ
Scientist (1910,395 West 9"') and the Gennan First Evangelical Church (1896, 1684 Iowa). This is the time period
dl)I'Ì11g which house builders began to build larger numbers of houses and tended to focus on specific plats, often their
own developments. Small building groupings that represent this important community building function are potentially
NRHP-eligible. The best example of such a builder/developer is Christian A. Voelker.
The Maturation of Streetcar Service:
Municipal transit systems in most instances only became fully matured in the years just after 1900. The
consolidation of multiple companies, the resulting increased capitalization and rebuilding, improved technology, and the
addition of additional needed lines resulted in a reliable and sufficient level of service. As a result the car lines began to
play an important role in city growth and development. Dubuque's transit system achieved this level of service c.1902-
03.
Streetcars directly facilitated the final infilling of the Collier Valley and Rhomberg areas in the pre-World War I
years. It is more than likely that the several large satellite industrial that which located in both areas were made possible
by the combined services of streetcars and railroads. There is architectural and historical evidence that in Dubuque,
living immediately adjacent to a car line was a definite advantage. Builder Chris Voelker in particular constructed his
moderate-cost houses along streetcar lines. Collier Avenue (now Central) experienced sustained mixed commercial,
industrial (breweries, greenhouse, brickyards) and residential growth due to the presence of double-track car lines along
its entire length. The impact of the car lines on bluff-top residential and institutional development is less clear. This
historical question requires research and any architectural/historical survey should be attentive to architectural
correlations between buildings and streetcar/bus lines.
As of 1899 the Collier Valley was served by two north/south lines along Couler/Central and Jackson, north of
14th Street. The latter line rejoined the former at Peru (East 32nd) and the main north/south line continued along Couler to
Nutmeg Raceway, Stewart/Union Park and other attractions. The Linwood line departed the Jackson Street track at East
Eagle Point Road (East 22od Street) and ran via Windsor Street past the cemetery. The Rhomberg line turned off of the
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Continuation Sheet
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
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County and State
Couler track at Rhomberg (East 20th Street), crossed the Jackson Street track, and ran northwest along Rhomberg/East
22"" to 9th Avenue. (Roosevelt). The downtown car lines followed Clay (now White) and Main streets, and reunited at 2""
and Main. The Main Street line tenninated at Jones Street. Two lines served the bluff-top districts, departing the
downtown along 8d1 and Dodge. The Main Street line bisected on 5th, ran south along Locust to Dodge and followed
Dodge to Grandview. The 8th Street line ran east ofthe downtown and apparently served the several passenger depots
near the Ice Harbor. It also ran west, angled southwest along II th (Hill), turned west on 3'd Street, turned north on
Alpine, Julien (University) (west) and finally ran west on Delhi Street, tenninating at O'Hagan and Asbury streets (Map
of Dubuque Showing Circulation of "The Telegraph," (The Telegraph's Dubuque City Directory 1899-1900, Keokuk: W.
H. McCoy, 1899).
DUBUQUE
1 92 B
'"
."
-"="'C^,~~
............- RMLRO^"'
- 'Tn""T' o. """'"
@
Figure 25: Dubuque's Streetcar System, 1928
This system is descriptive of the various lines ITom c.1900 onwards
(map drawn by Donald R. Schultz for Iowa Trolleys Bulletin #114, 1975, Wilkie, p. 331)
The several streetcar companies (Dubuque Light & Traction Company was the principal service provider and was
an 1893 successor to the Dubuque Electric Railway) merged in 1899, becoming Home Electric Company, a newly
'..~..~",-."---",,,-,
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National Park Service
OMS App'o"" No. '024.0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number....É....- Page-2.QZ
The Architectma1 and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque Couutv. Iowa
Couuty and State
incorporated entity. In August 1900 the company was renamed Union Electric Company. F. D. Stout headed the new
fmn. It was uniquely self-financing, having raised $1,000,000 without the issuance of bonds. Like other cities, the
provision of electric power and streetcar service was unified within a single corporate entity (wpA History, pp. 62-63;
Lyon, pp. 209,455; Oldt, p. 195).
The Enterprise proclaimed in early April 1901 that "the tide has turned for Dubuque." Among several positive
signs of new economic vitality was the "rehabilitation of the street car and electric systems" which had begun in 1900.
That fall the same source pronounced "the street car system perfect-Union Electric Company Has Redeemed Its
Assurance It Would Give Dubuque the Best." The" obsolete and inadequate" system of two or three years previous was
contrasted with its replacement "modern in its equipment and up-to-date in its management." "The dingy, weather beaten
cars, uneven tracks, slow and irregular service made the system the city the laughing stock of visitors and disgusted our
own people." Over $100,000 in expenditures replaced (40 new cars) or rebuilt every car and re-Iaid 20 miles of trackage.
Most notably car service was faster and more frequent. The longest run, from central depot to the city limits, was ten
minutes faster, just twenty minutes. Cars with two IS-horsepower engines now boasted two 38-horsepower ones. Two
hundred men had worked all summer on line improvement and 20 mechanics and artisans on car work, a monthly payroll
of$IO,OOO. A separate Iowa Street powerhouse now exclusively powered the cars (Enterprise, November 3, 1901;
January 24, 1903).
The Enterprise lauded the new "metropolitan" streetcar service:
The system is now not only modern, but it is being run on modern plans. The cars run by schedule and
the men are required to make the schedule time. There is no more stopping in the middle of a block or
waiting for a passenger who hails from a window and then stops to bid the family good-bye. Cars stop
only for passengers on the opposite crossing, and, while employer e]s are required to be courteous and
accom[ m ]odating, patrons must learn that there is a limit and that the tedious waits and delays of the old
days to accommodate one at the expense of many others are usages of the past. The cars now run with
such frequency that if a patron is not ready to get on, he is allowed to wait for the next car (Enterprise,
November 3,1901).
A few instances of run-away cars with resulting corner smash-ups led the company to introduce safety measures.
Each car sported protective "fenders" and all cars now halted completely at every crossing. The Hill line cars made two
complete stops coming downhill, to allow for a controlled descent overall. Stop signs, once provided only on the Hill
line, now ornamented each of 50 key crossing points. A "Y" switch was added at the corner of Couler and Peru streets.
Outgoing cars (northward) now took a separate east track32 Similarly, on special" summer rush" occasions, the Iowa
Street and Couler Avenue lines now specialized, one for out-going, the other for in-bound cars. Newly awarded right-of-
way on the Rhomberg line also guaranteed adequate service for special events. Finally the new McGuire snow sweeper"
promised reliable winter service. The Enterprise closed its account with the promise that the company was "now
prepared to give Dubuque a metropolitan service...[one not]...surpassed in any city the size of Dubuque in this country
(Enterprise, November 3, 1901).
32 A later accouut stated "The switches on the upper end of Couler avenue were taken out and by putting in the loop on Eagle Point
avenue, Jackson street and Couler avenue a complete double track is secured on the main line, which obviates all waiting on switches
and other delays (Enterprise, January 24, 1903).
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County and State
The line improvements were only interim ones, pending the development of an entirely new system, one that was
to be guided by company counselor (now called consultant) F. 1. Dame, an MIT graduate and l2-year transit design
veteran, who became company general manager. The company envisioned a new power plant, new car barn, and line
extensions along West Locust Street and Grandview Avenue (Enterprise, January 24, 1903).33
This initial partial rebuilding of the transit system had at least two results. The first was the fostering of
additional house building on the bluff tops and at points well removed from the city center. The Enterprise noted "What
a factor satisfactory, convenience [sic] transportation facilities are in the growth and building up of a city, is shown in the
hundreds of new buildings on the hill and in the subUrbs." The unintended negative with the city's most monumental
labor-management struggle, the streetcar drivers strike ofrnid-1903, which is recounted in the labor section of this
context (Enterprise, June 11, 1904).
Grandview Avenue, south of University (then Julien) was first laid out in 1865 by John D. Bush, and opened in
1873. Destined to best approximate the city's fmest residential arterial, it wasn't until 1902 that "the probability of the
street car line on that street" was a serious possibility). In 1890 the carline was extended to Herron's Point, near
Grandview Ave. and South Dodge (Oldt, pp. 157, 173; Enterprise, September 7, 1902; Wilkie, p. 331).
Comprehensive transit system improvements, valued at $500,000, said to be the largest such expenditure in the
city's history (or the state), were completed in 1904 when the entire trackage and power plant were replaced. Only the
new cars were retained. The power plant claimed the first installation of stearn turbine powered generators "in the west"
The plant was also the fITSt Dubuque building to employ concrete piles for its foundation supports in lieu of the
traditional timber ones. Hollow steel molds were driven to bedrock and filled with concrete. The 120-ton steel
smokestack was also the first of its kind west of Chicago. A new car barn, with a 50-car capacity, more than tripled the
total capacity. Replacement rail, rated at 72 pounds to the yard, were heavier than the 60-pound industrial standard. New
white oak sleepers supported the rails on unpaved streets, and a concrete bed did the same on brick streets. The resulting
system, to be finished by the fall of 1904, was "a model for the state" and the company consequently hosted the annual
meeting of the state association of street railway owners in 1905 to show off the system (Enterprise, June II, 1904).
A related context that demands the attention of the historian is the matter of interurban service for Dubuque.
Electrically powered interurban railroads provided critical passenger/local freight service to expanding urban areas. They
particularly fostered the development of area truck fanning and suburban growth because outlying residents on acreages
could cheaply and quickly ship fresh produce to downtown markets and buyers. The 1902 completion of the Eagle Point
Bridge was coupled with hopes for an interurban service into Wisconsin that would have utilized the bridge. Nothing
carne of these plans however. The organization of the Rochester & Dubuque Traction Company was announced in late
1906, but the fate of this company is unexplored. The role ofinterurbans and Dubuque require focused attention (Des
Moines Capital, October 5, 1906).
Property Type Discussion:
The streetcar barn at 2401 Central Avenue (1904) is the best associated building with this sub-theme. It
represents the rebuilding of the entire streetcar system at that time. It occupies the same site as the barn that was
associated with the 1903 strike.
33 Two lines were actually pl.Ù1ed up, Iowa and Jackson as far as Sanford Avenue, and 2nd, Locust and Iowa as far as Jackson dming
1903 (Enterprise, Apri118, 1903).
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County and State
Mississippi River Traffic Ebbs:
The Anny Corps of Engineers finally began to make a substantial impact on river navigation during these years.
A combination of wing dams, closing dams (which closed off multiple channels), wing dams and rip rapping did the trick
in a rudimentary way to achieve a minimal six-foot channel. By 1905 there were 225 miles of wing dams in place
(Anfinson, pp. 114-24).
It wasn't until 1907 that federal attention was paid to regularizing even a minimal n'avigable channel in the river
above the Missouri River. Congress mandated a six-foot channel that year for the river between S1. Paul and the mouth
of the Missouri River. No comprehensive action would be taken for some 30 years however. A long-anticipated event
the next year, 1908, welcomed the belated opening of the Hennepin Canal. That canal linked the Mississippi River
(below Rock Island, lllinois) and the Great Lakes (at Chicago) and it was envisioned as a permanent deeper water
shipping competitor to the railroads. Unfortunately the canal was too small to handle then-current vessels when it was
opened, and the river trade that it was to have enhanced had been captured by the railroads anyway. The last lumber raft,
comprised of sawn plank passed Dubuque in 1915. hmovative Dubuque lumbermen had already switched their wood
source to the West Coast and sawn lumber reached the city by rail (Tweet, 1984, p. 256).
Three record flood years were recorded at Dubuque between 1916 and 1920. On May 3, 1916 the river reached a
level of 19.8 feet. Then twin flood levels struck in 1920, both 21 feet in elevation, on April 7 and 21 (Dubuque Business,
October 1929, p. 28).
Property Type Discussion:
No surviving resources appear to be directly associated with this sub-theme.
The Sawmill Industry Dies as Timber Rafts Diminish, but Arson Helps to Destroy the Industry:
The exhaustion of the upriver lumber white pine resources and the end of the river shipping of cut logs combined
to plague the city's massive sawmill industry beginning in the last years of the 19th Century. It was a third force, that of
arson-caused fires that finally destroyed this key city industry. The first disaster had struck on June 9, 1894 destroyed the
LeSure Mill and the massive Standard Lumber complex was saved only by an intervening slough. Some 60 million board
feet oflumber was consumed. lndividuallumberyards and a mill were lost in 1895 and 1906 blazes. The string of record
destructive lumberyard fires began on April 11, 1911 (7th Street, $100,000 loss), April 21 (Jackson Street, same loss) and
concluded with fires on May 27-28 ($500,000 losses) and July 30 ($220,000 loss). The principal casualty was the
Standard Lumber Company, which ceased operations. Never again would lumber operations of that scale carried out in
the city. While lumber cutting was largely eliminated, mill working firms that were already using West Coast hardwood
and Pacific pine lumber sources, were unaffected and evolved into several of the world's largest companies of their class.
Curiously, mill working would replace lumber processing as a key industrial sector, representing a substitution of skilled
labor and heavy machinery for cheap lumber, lumber was brought in by rail from the West and South (Telegraph-Herald,
September 22, 1958, "Dubuque Sawmilllndustry Died in Spectacular Fire").34
34 One of the great Dubuque urban legends alleged that permanent underground fires from the Standard Lumber fires of 191 I continue
to burn. See "Underground Fire Theory Is Disproved," Telegraph Herald, December 6,1937.
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The lack of fair shipping rates was perceived as a hindrance to the milling industry. The Times-Herald noted in
early 1910 that "Nothing but railroads and export duties restrained the Dubuque lumberyards from an export trade of
greater magnitude.. . (Times-Herald, January 31, 1910).
ProPerty Type Discussion:
The Shot Tower is an excellent associated memorial to the record fITes that destroyed the low saw milhng induslIy. The
tower was used as a fire watch tower by Standard Lumber Company and it was gutted in the May 1911 fITe.
Finally Another Mississippi River Vehicular Bridge, one for Wisconsin, 1902:
Figure 26: The still incomplete Eagle Point Bridge, view towards Wisconsin (Enterprise, April 27, 1902)35
The present-day reader is accustomed to free bridge service over even major rivers but this was not the case for
most of Dubuque's history. It wasn't until the early 1950s that the Julien Dubuque bridge cons1ruction bonds were paid
off and that bridge opened for free passage. The Eagle Point Bridge was a toll crossing even after the state purchased it
in the late 1980s with the intention of taking it down.
"Dubuque Now Clasps Hands With Wisconsin" proclaimed the Enterprise as the city's second Mississippi River
vehicular bridge was completed in early 1902. The bridge directly linked southwestern Wisconsin with a population
equal to that of Dubuque (these 40,000 lived within a 20-mile radius of Dubuque). Support for the bridge was not
citywide, being pushed for by the major industrial interests of north Dubuque, specifically the Dubuque Malting
Company. The chief proponent of the new bridge, Mr. Fengler, died in 1900 and the project waned for another several
years. It was said that the disinterest on the part of the rest of the city was due to the many other competing undertakings
and not to a lack of appreciation for the trade advantages promised by the bridge. There were some fears that the
northern bridge would substantially divert traffic from the older high bridge. The cons1ruction of the Burlington Railroad
eliminated a riverfront farm-to-market road which led south to the high bridge and what had been a three-mile trip was
35 The Rhomberg Avenue approach to the bridge is visible in this photograph. Large-scale cut stone abutruentlretaining walls (visible
to the right) ran along the riverside of the approach. It is possible that this wall survives and could be used to interpret the now-
demolished bridge. It is also possible that the construction of the lock and dam widened or replaced this approach.
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lengthened to one of seven or eight miles, and "[the fact that] the detour around the hills was more than the farmers
would make was manifested by our loss of their trade." Grant County, Wisconsin, it was noted, had no towns larger than
2,000 population and the only competing major urban center was Madison, 120 miles distant by train. One example of
the failure of Dubuque to develop as a produce hub was the fact that grain for half ofthe city's 6,000 horses had to be
imported, at a time when the city should have been a grain-exporting center. The city would also benefit fÌom livestock,
dairy and other farm products. City public entertainments would attract a broader audience and city residents could now
enjoy using "one of the finest drives in this part of the country...what would be enjoyable than a drive over there
[Wisconsin] for supper and the return by midnight" (Enterprise, April 27, 1902).
The bridge was s1rongly supported by north city interests, particularly the Gennan community. The latter raised
$1,000 for the bridge at a special Saengerbund Hall event and the 300 subscribers to the $94,000 bridge company stock
"included.. .nearly every merchant and business man in the upper part of the city...it was taken up by them as their
special project. Fund raising actually first began on the Wisconsin side fÌom area fanners. The city built the Iowa bridge
approach ($25,000) and the bridge cost $110,000. Chicago architects E. C. and R. M. Shankland designed the structure.
Toledo Bridge Company provided the structural steel and Lenihan & Molo built the bridge. Pier work began in July 1901
and the steelwork was erected on the ice during the winter. The steelwork was done by early April and the entire
structure finished that same month. The four spans measured 1,110 feet, and the Wisconsin 1restle approach was even
longer, 1,824 feet. The roadway was 18 feet wide. The clear span above the high water mark was 55 feet. The bridge
was s1ronger than comparable spans at Clinton or Lyons and could support the heaviest s1reetcar if necessary.
Vehicular bridges over the Mississippi, even with tolls to be paid, were of vital importance for the economy of the City of
Dubuque:
In earlier times Dubuque had but two railroads instead of the present four, and for half the year had no
reliable means of communication with her natural1rade territory on the eastern side of the Mississippi.
Railway construction meanwhile has been of great value in sustaining and developing our most important
industries.
The construction of two high bridges across the Mississippi River greatly improved our position in
competition for the trade of neighboring lllinois and Wisconsin, but did not perfect it. We had yet to deal
with country roads difficult or impassable to travel in some seasons.. . (Dubuque-Past, Present and
Future, 193O, p. 9).
Property Type Discussion:
The bridge and its Iowa-side approaches are non-extant. The importance of the bridge is reflected in the
completion of up-building that took place on Eagle Point as a result of the influence of this bridge.
The City Beautiful Movemeut Iu Dubuque:
The problem with Dubuque, in tenus of aesthetics, was that it was principally a gritty smoky railroad and
industrial center, albeit one that was nestled in a truly beautiful natural setting. In 1899, a Des Moines reporter
described his impressions of the city:
The prettiest part of Dubuque is not seen unless you hunt for it. Outside of a pretty view of the
Mississippi not much that is taking to the eye is seen as you enter the city on any of the roads. From the
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depots and along the way up town you see boiler shops and dingy looking factory buildings and
wholesale houses.. .If does not matter whether it is your first, second, third or fiftieth time when one
visits a city he wants to see the best. The beauty of the city of Dubuque is to be found in her residence
portion, and the eye-pleasing landscapes spread out before you ITom the plateau of the bluffs where the
residences mostly are. The business portion of Dubuque is flat and low and when you walk ITorn the
business streets to catch a glimpse of the residence portion you [md yourself suddenly facing a bluff
almost perpendicular and in the neighborhood of 200 feet above the business houses. The street cars
have to go some distance around in order to find a way to reach this part of the city, but there are a
system of elevators located at various points which elevate you on short order and safety.. . (Daily
Telegraph, July 24, 1899, "Des Moines' Man Sees Dubuque by C. L. Dotson, copied ITom Des Moines
Register).
Dubuque was so well provided with natural beauty and picturesque bluffs that little organized attention was given
to the creation of parks, boulevards, or the improvement of the city's industrial river1Ìont. The Enterprise judged that
Dubuque had "not only refused to aid Nature, but we have worked against her to some extent." The same source tallied
"ragged river banks, the filth and squalor along the 'flats,' the fact that our forests are being robbed to fill our wood box,
the hideous advertisements that deface many of our magnificent bluffs, and our general unkempt, untidy appearance." It
recalled the words of the Walrus and the Carpenter in early 1902 in describing the river1Ìont:
The Walms and the Carpenter were walking hand in hand.
They wept like anything to see such quantities of sand.
"If this were only swept away," said they, "It would be grand."
"But sand was not the worst thing to be seen. Muddy, swampy banks, covered with weeds, piles of
lumber and evil-smelling masses of clamshells line the shores of Dubuque. Ashes are dumped here, and
debris and rubbish of all kinds pollute the air and foster disease germs."
Clinton's riverfront improvements were contrasted with Dubuque's lack of them. That city to the south, with just 23,000
population had secured a government-built seawall and was laying out a two-mile long rivernont park. "There is no
reason why the people of Dubuque should not follow Clinton's example. We have her same possibilities, even greater
natural advantages, and a large amount of influence with Uncle Sam" (Enterprise, February 23,1902).
Two years later, Edith Lane writing in the Enterprise, echoed some of these same concerns, lamenting the lack of
trees along Dubuque's streets and the continual loss of the few that did exist. She lamented "for thirty years our method
oftree-trinuning and care has been a byword and laughingstock through the country; east and west we hear it,--'Do they
still cut off the tops of the trees in Dubuque?'" Lane deplored "our deplorable lack of park and play-ground... [and] the
vandalism that robs our window-boxes and injures and destroys public and private property." Lane's lens was a high-end
perspective. While she admired the Central High School and "perhaps half a dozen houses in the city-no more" the city
had a long way to go before its residents could "truthfully tell about the beauty of Dubuque" (Enterprise, November 26,
1904).
All came to a head with City Planner Charles Mulford Robinson's study of Dubuque and his subsequent "Report
On The hnprovement Of The City of Dubuque, Iowa" which he presented in late 1907. First the good news. Robinson
found Dubuque to be a city of homes with well distributed wealth, occupying "a wondrously beautiful location, nature
not only pressing it around with varied and picturesque scenery, but thrusting beauty of bluff or river or view into its very
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street system, so that throughout the whole city one can hardly ever be forgetful of the natural beauty of the site." Now
the bad news. The city lacked a park commission and its parks consisted of "a couple of little triangles at street
intersections, and two little city [nondescript] squares..." Robinson noted critically that ".. .no beauty of bluff or river has
been set aside for the people, and viewpoints have been parted with for what they would bring. The citizen who would
enjoy the beauty that should be the right of those who live in Dubuque is compelled to trespass on private property."
Robinson found three main components which comprised the city's natural beauty; the river, the adjacent bluffs, and the
western highlands with their inland perspective. He laid out recommendations for ornamental spaces, neighborhood
parks, recreational playgrounds and large country parks, and a series of connecting boulevards. These small parks were
particularly appropriate because the city's irregular street pattern. He favored enhancing the engine house corner at ISth
Street and Central Avenue, the terminus of the Sth Street carline and Grandview Avenue at Dodge, South Dodge and
Delhi streets. Truly "spectacular" results would be achieved at little cost if the city purchased the bluff fronts at a
number oflocations. These were partially hidden with billboards. Rock-hewn public steps could replace rickety wooden
stairways and a safe trail could follow the bluffline. Neighborhood parks would occupy the best vantage points along the
trail. The playgrounds were intended for placement near the Great Western Shops for use by laborers. Present day
Comiskey Park was recommended by Robinson as an excellent location for such a park (Robinson, pp. 3-14).
Locals encouraged Ham's Island as a location for a larger park but Robinson saw no potential, citing its
inaccessibility, regular flooding, and the compelling alternative of Eagle Point, with its vistas and wild beauty. Kelly's
Bluff, on the south end of the city was the second recommended park site. Robinson judged "there is in Dubuque no
other unoccupied height of such area so accessible and with so splendid a view." The two parks would improve local
property values and would largely pay for themselves in that manner (Robinson pp. l5-lS).
When Robinson presented his riverfront parks recommendations he compared Dubuque's relinquishing of its
riverfront to factories and railroads to the Chicago riverftont. The city fathers were not well pleased with this finding.
Never mind that it was the railroads and industries that had filled in the riverfront to make it usable in any form.
Robinson recommended riverfront parks along the south side ofIce Harbor (owned by the city) and Rafferty's Slough, a
spring-fed wetland that ran in ftont of Mount Carmel Road. The latter was to be a water park, with summer swimming
and boating, and winter skating. Finally a larger rural park reserve was best located on the lower Catfish Creek, site of
Dubuque's grave. A connecting boulevard could then link the Ice Harbor, Mount Carmel, the Kellys Bluffpark,
Grandview Avenue (with a standard 100-foot width), Seminary Street, Madison Street hill, Garfield and Rhomberg
avenues, and Eagle Point (Robinson, pp. 18-25).
Robinson closed with some other recommendations. He favored widening of Main Street or at least removing
"unnecessary sidewalk obstructions." Major east-west streets (14th and 8th streets) which connected to uphill arterials
were too narrow while other east/west roads which led nowhere, ending at the bluff base, were too wide. Second Street
in ftont of the Cathedral in particular was 100 feet wide and could be parked west ftom Main Street. The Rhomberg
Avenue elms he cited as a model for other key streets, but recommended a thinning of the maturing trees. He chided the
flimsy electric lights which hung ftom wires in the downtown and pleaded for street name signs "very much needed
throughout Dubuque." Waste cans would look better without advertising. Dubuque's alleys were "so broad and so
conspicuous that they may properly be considered under the head of streets. Their dirtiness is appalling." Robinson was
impressed by the size of the school playgrounds. He urged that all at-grade railroad crossings be raised and he favored
the building of a union railroad station ("instead of the four village-like stations"). Robinson challenged the city, citing
"the present keen rivalry of cities" that only a broad comprehensive implementation of his park recommendations would
transform Dubuque into a truly modern city (Robinson, pp. 25-31).
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Dubuque smarted under the criticism and most of Robinson's recommendations remained dreams. Between
1908-10 Eagle Point Park was IlliIde a reality with 133 acres. The Herald credited Judge Shiras with acquiring and
donating the initial 80 acres. Streetcar access followed the extension of Ravine Road in 1912 and the park formally
opened September 28,1912. Riverfront steps later further enhanced visitor access (Lyon, pp. 133-34; Herald, May 17,
1912).
A 1911 Chamber of Commerce promotional book cited "the layout of a 'City Beautiful." The city "cannot be
said to have been planned but grew without a plan." Terming the city "The Heidelberg of America," nature and not man
was credited with having beautified the city. A candid self-criticism admitted that "almost all of the public buildings are
poorly located, though fine structures in themselves." Neighborhood was not sufficiently considered when they were
built. In truth all of those buildings had their origins in pre-Civil War Dubuque. All of these buildings and most of the
city's churches were on the lower level part ofthe original city. The same source IlliIde the same distinction between the
city proper and its elevated residential districts, as had the 1899 visitor:
Far better, however, the managers of the large educational institutions, the colleges, seminaries,
hospitals, homes of aged.. .have chosen sites and thus you [rod them occupying beautiful view points,
with abundance of pure air and sunshine and away from the city's smoke, IlliIgnificent [and]
buildings.. .(Dubuque, Iowa, p. 13).
The City Beautiful movement also encompassed the creation of momunental and properly located
public buildings. Dubuque was famously notorious for providing the sIllilllest amount of space for its small
number of public buildings (courthouse and county jail, city hall, federal Customs House) and for its
inclination to retain even inadequate buildings long after they would have been abandoned anywhere else.
The downtown schools started out without adjacent playgrounds and the Herald chided the city for a habit
that IlliIde it necessary to acquire and clear valuable adjacent land for the schools. The same source
recommended a picturesque park at the west end of 8th Street and otherwise challenged the city to "build for
tomorrow." During the Depression, plans were IlliIde for a government plaza that would have surrounded
Washington Square on three sides. Only the federal building was actually built. It is today ironic that the
city's retention of the courthouse, jail and city hall served to preserve three architectural treasures (Herald,
May 17, 1912).
Property Type Discussion:
Associated significant properties include Eagle Point Park, the Julien Dubuque Memorial (just south
of the city), the Council Ring (on the riverfront), the several public bluff front steps (Madison Street Steps,
West 15th Street Steps), and the Shot Tower (the early focal point of a proposed riverfront park).
A Cultural Flowering Iu Dubuque:
Lawrence Sommer in particular felt that Dubuque's role as a theatrical and cultural center was an important one.
This context is recommended for development. While the city boasted two opera houses as of the l890s, there is some
indication that a cultural high water mark was achieved after 1900. The Enterprise noted in late 1902 that "Dubuque is
fast becoming one of the best show towns in the state." Other developments, particularly the construction of the
Carnegie-Stout public library, the founding of the Dubuque Club, and the flourishing of ethnic cultural organizations,
combined to make the city a cultural center. Literary and other groups and the emergence of the Enterprise magazine,
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largely a local cultural journal, were other indications of a cultural and literary movement. Noteworthy Dubuque writers
included Richard Bissell (1913-77), Marian Hurd McNeely (1877-1930) and "Jazebo of Old Dubuque" John Patrick
Mulgrew (1886-1949) (Enterprise, July 20, October 19, 1902; Lyon, pp. 40-41, 300, 321).
Another very significant Dubuque historical theme is its role as a college city. Collectively the many colleges
have contributed culturally to the community in addition to their financially beneficial role. Despite Dubuque's
reputation for cultural conservatism, there is considerable evidence to show that new ideas and initiatives have flowed
constantly from its colleges, seminaries and related institutions. Certainly students and faculties have contributed to the
impressive corpus of Dubuque and Iowa history (Dubuque Business, Dubuque-A College City, Prof. H. S. Ficke, June-
July 1930, pp. 6, IS).
Property Type Discussion:
The Carnegie-Stout Public Library, 360 West II th (1900) and the Grand Opera House, 135 West 8th are the best
directly associated buildings with this movement. The career-related residences of the several local writers would also be
good potentially significant buildings. The large number of colleges, and particularly their theaters and their cultural
programs are also worthy of investigation.
The Catholic Church and the City of Colleges:
It was during this contextual period that the Archdiocese of Dubuque completed its municipal system of parish
churches, a parochial school system, and inaugurated a massive building program that produced or enlarged a broad range
of educational and church institutions. Additional educational institutions emerged (University of Dubuque, Wartburg
Seminary) to make the city a seat of higher education.
Church growth continued unabated through the 1890s. The Sisters ofSt. Francis purchased the J. P. Farley house
(Bluff and 6th streets) and established the St. Francis' Industrial School and Home For Young Ladies. The Sisters of
Charity motherhouse was nearly done. The Couler Avenue Holy Ghost church and St. Joseph Church in West Dubuque
were begun in 1895. Two insane asylums, St. Joseph and Mercy Hospital were also started, the fonner being locatèd
three miles from the city. During 1898 St. Josephs College, five female seminaries and the St. Anthony Church
(dedicated 1900) were all under construction (Oldt, pp. 893, 896-97).
Property Type Discussion:
Suburban parish churches continued to be built and these Were massive in scale. The list includes Holy Trinity
(and its school and convent, 2443 Rhomberg; St. Columbkille's Church (West 3'd, 1904), and Holy Ghost (with rectory,
2197 Central, 1896). The many institutions continued to be established and enlarged. Several religious orders built
enonnous motherhouses (Sisters of Charity, Sisters ofSt. Francis) during the late I 890s, executed in the Romanesque
style. All of the very many church-related buildings and institutions merit a contextual survey and evaluation.
PS Foem 10.900'a
'Rev. 8.86'
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMB Appm',' No. 7024-oo7B
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page-1!.2
The Architectural and Historical Resources ofDnbuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
Context #4, An Era of Stability, 1911-1955:
Figure 27: Dubuque Forward! (Dubuque Business, May 1930, p. 6)
The State of Dubuque:
Dubuque and Dubuque County were defiantly and increasingly pro-Democratic even as Iowa as a whole had
grown more and more staunchly Republican. During the 19'" Century, as previously noted, the city was for generations
represented by powerful and long-serving Republican politicians. On the local level, the assumption that the city always
voted solidly Democratic is a false one. The city and county figured prominently during the 1931 statewide
Congressional redishicting during the Democratic Party resurgence of power. The local transformation reached its
highpoint in the 1928 presidential election when the last marginal Republican townships were swept away by a growing
Democratic majority. Throughout its history, city and county produced lopsided Democratic victories in the usually in
the 60 to 40 percentage range. County party Sllpport exceeded that of the city. There were notable exceptions in
elections dating !Tom 1904 when Theodore Roosevelt's popularity swept out all Democratic county office holders save
for the County Recorder, the first time this had ever happened. In 1912 Woodrow Wilson prevailed in the face of a
divided opposition. Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive Party garnered 27 percent of the vote. Possibly setting a pattern
of anti-incumbency, Wilson barely prevailed in 1916, gaining a bare two percent majority over Hughes. More surprising,
Republican Warren Harding was awarded a 59 to 36 percent majority over Cox in 1920. Progressive third party
candidates, usually Socialists, usually polled three percent of the electorate, although Eugene Debs attained 7 percent of
the 1904 county vote (and II percent in the city).36 This record level of support closely followed the labor unrest of
1903. Robert LaFollette smashed that record in 1924, winning the county with 43 percent of the vote. His Republican
opponent Calvin Coolidge beat out Democrat Davis by ten percentage points. The traditional Democratic plurality
returned in 1928 and Roosevelt's first term victory set an all-time record with a 71 percent Democratic turnout.
Remarkably Roosevelt slipped in popularity in each of three successive three elections, and he actually lost to Wendell
Wilkie 51 to 48 percent in 1940. The voters clearly disfavored Roosevelt or the hilltop precincts did so to such an extent
that they prevailed over the flat-landers. Every other Democratic nominee was elected. Dwight Eisenhower carried the
36 The Socialists did very well in the 1902 elections, garnering votes as high as 732. In the spring of 1904 the party offered a full city
ticket but their mayorial candidate garnered just 272 votes (Oldt, pp. 386-87).
-~~~~~-~.~~=~~.""'.~=_..
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PS Fo'm 10-900.,
'R",. 8-861
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OM8 App,ml No. 1024.0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page-1!1
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa, 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
county in two elections but Trun:1aJl, Kennedy and Johnson all received landslide-level victories. Lesser Democratic
victories followed from 1968 through 1984 (Wilkie, pp. 221,231; Calkin, p. 65).
With the passing of the political giants, Senator Allison and Congressman Henderson, Democratic Dubuque
candidates had at least a chance to occupy the vacant seats in Washington, D.c. Dubuque Congressman Maurice
Connolly (1877-1921) was elected in 1912 and four years later sought a Senate seat in the first popularly elected race for
that national chamber. He lost to Republican and former Iowa governor Alfred Baird Cummins (1850-1926). Former
Telegraph-Herald editor Richard Louis Murphy achieved a Senate seat with Roosevelt's first victory, but he died in an
automobile accident in 1936 before his first term was completed. Murphy Park honors his memory (Wilkie, p. 409, 419,
427; Lyons, p. 323).
Property Type Discussion:
The homes of those Dubuquers who sought and possibly achieved state and federal elected offices and
appointments would be the most directly associated with this sub-theme.
Municipal Growth, 1910-1955:
Population Stagnation:
Figure 28 dramatically depicts the failure of Dubuque's population to grow during the 40-year period following
1900. In 30 years, 1900-30 the net gain was just in excess of 5,000 persons. Note that the state census totals continued to
outpace the federal findings, the last state headcount being taken in 1925. It wasn't unti11930 that the 40,000-population
target was finally achieved (unless one accepts the 1925 state figures which, for the first time appeared to be accurate).
Relying upon the federal counts, population growth 1910-20 was 1.6 percent, between 1920-1930, 6.4 percent, and 1930-
40,5.3 percent. World War II did [mally bring substantial population growth to the city and a 13 percent gain was
recorded between 1940-50 (a 1945 count would indicate the degree to which this growth came during or after the war).
An identical gain was achieved between 1950 and 1960.
I~-
i
Figure 28: Population Trends, 1850-1940
PS 'oem 10.900'a
IRe,. 8.861
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMBApp",,¡No.7024-oo78
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number -É..- Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County, Iowa
County and State
This urban population profile is of some historical interest because it offers the model of a large Iowa city that
failed to grow in population at a time when other comparable cities enjoyed considerable growth. Growth was
particularly associated with World War I-era prosperity. From Dubuque's standpoint, what is significant about these
figures is not so much the lack of growth as the lack of population loss. Despite the trauma of the Great Depression, the
city population loyally remained in the city.
Development Trends:
Dubuquer's doubted that any other city in Iowa or the west "could make an equal showing under similar adverse
circumstances" as their city did during 1911. Ten months of struggle between labor and contractors greatly impeded
building. Building continued to be predominately small-scale and just a dozen projects exceeded $10,000 in value. One
of these, the new Brunswick-Balke-Collender factory ($500,000) accounted for one third of the city building total
however and the five largest private projects ($945,000 total) accounted for 62 percent of the total. Adding municipal
improvements ($200,000) just 25 percent of the total was attributable to small-scale private building. The Telegraph-
Herald concluded:
The meaning of this can be but one thing. Dubuque is building residences for its working classes and is
building them because they are needed. This must mean Dubuque is increasing in population, and
without a doubt, the next census will show Dubuque has the healthiest advance in population of any city
in the state.
The 1911 improvements included just two bungalows, The majority of the new houses cost $3-3,500 (Telegraph-Herald,
December 31,1911).
The Telegraph-Herald downplayed the 1912 improvements under a small caption "Much Building Done Past
Year." Residences dominated local construction and "but few large buildings have been erected." No counts or list were
offered. "Many new residences erected" proclaimed the newspaper and it was reported that "architects and contractors
are unanimous in declaring that the year has been a prosperous one in their respective lines of work." New homes were
"especially noticeable in the hill districts and in the north end of the city." Five larger projects were valued at a total of
$430,000 (Mercy Hospital Home for the Aged, A. Y. McDonald warehouse (non-extant), Severance Hall at the
University of Dubuque, heating plant at the German College, and a armory-like gymnasimn at St. Joseph College)
(Telegraph-Herald, December 29, 1912).
The Telegraph-Herald warned "More Homes Are Needed In City" in mid-1912, and lauded the developers who
had built Coventry Court Flats and the Austin Apartments in the face of local criticism. Both buildings were "filled or
almost filled with the most desirable of tenants." A "glaring shortage of suitable cottages or modem flats" should
encourage other similar projects. "It will appear laborers, carpenters and others will have their hands full at all times." A
promotional "Home Builders Directory" printed in early May featured a concrete bungalow plan designed by regional
architect Charles Sedgwick, valued at $2,800 (Telegraph-Herald, May 5, June 23, 1912).
Between 1912 and 1914 the Telegraph-Herald estimated that a million dollars had been spent building new
homes in the city, mostly in response to the arrival of the Brunswick-Ba1ke-Collender Company with several hundred
new jobs. A major inducement to residential growth in West Dubuque was the extension of the West Locust Street car
line to Asbury and Delhi streets. For a nickel a commuter could traverse a four-mile route west from the Great Western
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PS Fo,m 1().900.a
{R".8.8S{
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMB Appmv,' No. 1024-001B
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number --É- Page----1l.2
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
Depot. The newspaper noted "It has opened up a new section of the city which promises to become a most desirable
residential section."
A trip over the city must convince one of the building activity. Various sections which were nothing
but prairie, some of them covered with water and overgrown with weeds, are now among the most
beautiful and sanitary residential districts in the city.
One of the marked changes in this respect is represented by the new Municipal Athletic park. For years
the site was a dumping ground. It now is one of the best-improved pieces of property in the city and one
that will grow in value and usefulness.
Homebuilder Chris Voelker was credited with building a bungalow development around the former athletic park and with
building up the South AHa Vista S1reet district (although the list of new houses included just six bungalows). "This
neighborhood development idea is taking a hold in Dubuque in a remarkable manner..." The 1914 construction numbers
were impressive, in excess of $4 million. "It can be said without exaggeration that Dubuque has taken a longer
progressive step in 1914 than any other city in Iowa." Wartburg Seminary, new to the city, was being constructed at a
cost of $200,000. Four religious institution-building projects totaled $823,000. The railroads expended $233,000 and
public services $493,000. The new Julien Hotel (extant, 3m & Main, no integrity) and the Elks Home (non-extant) cost
$670,000 (Telegraph-Herald, December 27, 1914).
A record number of residences were built in 1915 and the list included 15 bungalows. The three principal house
builders were Bradley & McClay, Kubnals & Son, and Chris Voelker. It was noted "during 1915 there have been more
residences built than in any other year in the history of Dubuque" although the published lists were minuscule:
With the rapid growth in population, due to the increase of business, suitable houses are in great
demand. There was a constant cry for houses this year and many con1ractors were forced to double up on
the shift in order to get the homes ready. Real estate men and those who make a business of handling and
building residences claim that there was never such a demand for residences as this year.
Total private construction accounted for just 44 percent of the year's growth. Religious institution improvements
(principally Wartburg Seminary and Sacred Heart School, totaling $625,000) made up 31 percent. The new building was
"evidence of stability had in style of architecture and serviceability of structures" boasted the newspaper (Telegraph-
Herald, December 26, 1915).
A small 1916 progress report recorded a 50 percent decrease in total construction compared to 1914, below
$2,000,000. The collapse was due to the lack oflarge private projects. Just one such project that year was valued at
$75,000. Private investments accounted for 39 percent of the years total (compared to 56 percent in 1914). Public
improvements were s1ressed as were the building efforts of religious institutions and public utilities. The Telegraph-
Herald admitted "for the past number of years [Dubuque's] growth has been varied but gradual." Prospects for 1917
were brighter and readers were assured "Dubuque's population is still on the increase." The city's gateway, "the leading
channel into illinois and Wisconsin," 4th S1reet, was paved. Windsor Avenue was "made over" and the West Locust
S1reet paving was extended. Clay Street, between 2nd and 24th s1reets, was also paved (Telegraph-Herald, December 31,
1916).
The year 1917 was "another banner year" in the estimation ofthe Times-Journal but the total valuation of new
construction, barely above that of 1916, was the lowest since 1913. Strikes had impeded growth during 1915 and 1916.
PS 'oem 1a.SCO.,
'R". 8.861
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMB ApP'ml No. >O24-0a1B
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page----11Q
The Architectural and Historical Resources ofDuhuque. Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Duhuque County Iowa
Couuty and State
One growth area was in street and alley improvements. The Farley and Loetscher Warehouse, an addition to the First
National Bank (non-extant) and the new Holy Ghost Church represented $360,000 in value. Two filling stations were
included in the list of new buildings (Times-Journal, January 1, 1918).
World War I brought with it sharp wage and building materials price hikes and during 1918, restrictions on non-
priority construction. Inflation was increasingly present in the pre-war years and particularly during the war when war
needs and military priorities competed for both labor and materials. Construction during the final seven months of 1917
was $603,170, and this figure plummeted to $300,000 during that same period in 1918. Under reporting of additions and
remodeling was blamed as part of the cause for the drop but government restrictions were the main cause. Dubuque's
construction rebounded immediately when the government ended its prohibition on non-priority building and 1919
building figures doubled those of 1918. The munbers were bolstered by a number of very large projects, notably the
Tuberculosis Hospital ($150,000) and the Brunswick plant. A small number of builders dominated, Anton Zwack on the
larger projects, Voelker Realty and James Gregory led in the house-building trade. Contractors counted on filing their
building permits after-the-fact and the city engineer threatened fines for the delinquents when they filed for $45,000 in
permits the fITst Saturday of the new year 1920. Contractors were enjoined by the Times-Journal to save the city
receiving "a black eye" when undervalued figures were printed each year by "one national engineers magazine." Mid-
year 1919, the Telegraph-Herald celebrated the fact that June building pennits were 107 times June 1918, reflecting "a
natural return to prosperity." The city experienced a severe housing shortage after the war and just two houses were
available to be rented at years end. (Daily News, December 31,1919 Times-Journal; January 5, November 23,1919;
Telegraph-Herald, July 24, 1919).
By 1922 local construction had largely rebounded, and doubling the 1921 totals. Public and institutional building
projects drove up the numbers. Downtown the Federal Bank Building and Union Trust and Savings totaled $600,000.
Three religious institution expansions and two new junior high schools were also underway (Telegraph-Herald,
December 31, 1922).
The boom continued through 1924 when $3,000,000 was expended although the local newspaper fudged the
figures by including county road paving expenses in the total. Streets and sewer projects accounted for over $2,600,000
of the total. Church institutional building and Finley Hospital expansions were also underway. A statewide comparison
of building permits issued through November I placed Dubuque behind (actually well behind) Des Moines and Sioux
City but the comparative city listing in The Dubuquer was still headed by Dubuque. Cedar Rapids was close behind but
Davenport, Council Bluffs and Waterloo all languished (Telegraph-Herald, December 28, 1924; The Dubuquer,
December 1924, p. 3).
By 1925 the big projects were finished. The Canfield Hotel expanded and the University of Dubuque built Van
Vliet Hall. Public expenditures comprised just 14 percent of the total while new house starts accounted for 53 percent
(Telegraph-Herald, December 27, 1925).
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PSF"m 1o.9o<J.a
IRev. B.B5)
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OM8 Appm..' No. 7024-0078
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number -É.- Page----In
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
NUM¡;,¡;r:¡ AND eDIT o¡:: WOUf¡;f ¡;R¡;CT¡;'O IN DUðUQU¡;
Figure 29 visually traces the changing mix of housing cost categories over a ten-year period 1924-33. Houses
priced $4,000-$10,000 dominate through 1929 while the most expensive houses increase in number between 1925 and
1926, and then decline to a handful, but dominate building in 1933. Lower cost housing (less than $4,000) increases
sharply by 1931, but fades after 1932. By 1920 the average new house cost was $6,000 (Dubuque Business, January
1930, p. 4).
By 1926 the city boasted 125 miles of paved roads. The year was termed a "Banner Year for the Better Highway
System" given the county's approval of a paving bond issue. It was also "probably the first time in the history of the city
the municipal government lived within its incomes." The city's "auto row" developed along Iowa Street by 1929. The
city had 96 miles of water mains and during the year added 347 new water meters for a total of 8,005 units. These were
not all new buildings but reflected progress in modernizing older properties. The police handled 150 auto theft
complaints and returned all but eight vehicles. A total of 644 deaths occurred during the year but it was stressed that ISO
of these were strangers and shouldn't be counted in calculating the city's mortality rate! (Telegraph-Herald, January 2,
1926; January 2, 1927; Times-Journal, January 2, 1927; Telegraph-Herald, August 29, 1929).
The 1929 building program included a good number of major construction projects. These were an addition to
the Mary of the Angels Home (6th and Bluff streets), Clarke College gym and auditorium, Holy Trinity School, the first
(north) half ofRoshek's Department Store (8th and Locust streets), the Burns Realty Company garage, and the new
Telegraph-Herald and Times-Journal building ($500,000) (Dubuque Business, January 1930, pp. 4, 7).
The strangulating impact of the Great Depression wasn't strongly felt until the latter part of 1931 in the Midwest
and Dubuque, like all cities on the go, was busily engaged in erecting major new buildings. Over $3,000,000 was
PS 'oem 10.90Q.a
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United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMB Appm",' No. ,024-001B
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number....É.- Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa, 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County, Iowa
County and State
expended in the city during 1929 and a host of major 1930 projects were announced by January 1930. These included the
new Masonic Temple ($250,000), the south half of the huge Roshek's Department Store and four lesser industrial and
commercial projects (Dubuque Business, January 1930, pp. 4, 6; Telegraph-Herald, January 2, 1931).
A local campaign was initiated to employ 1,000 unemployed in the cons1ruction industries during 1931 and some
success was achieved with nearly $1,000,00 being spent in new building and remodeling. There were 17 new business
buildings and five new filling stations. The cons1ruction season ran later than usual and permits for 23 of 54 new houses
were taken out in the final 90 days of the year. Garage cons1ruction continued to play catch-up with increasing auto
ownership. Of 107 new garages, 81 were of frame cons1ruction. Six elevators viere added to existing buildings and 39
electrical advertising signs were added. Four houses were moved and six demolished (Telegraph-Herald, January 2,
1932).
IOWA STATE PLANNING ßOARD
DUBUQUE IO'XfA
! . LOCATlbN"O¡:
Å NbW j...¡QU\b)
T 1924 1934
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..----.
PSPoem 1<J.90<J.a
,Rev. 8.861
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMS Appwval No. 1024.0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page---In
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County, Iowa
County and State
Note the clustering along the "western highlands" and bluff tops.
The 1934 housing survey offers a comprehensive picture of the state of the city's housing as of that year. New
house construction was taking place on the fringes of the city (see Figure 30) despite the presence of 4,000 irmer city
building lots. Many of the new houses lay outside of the corporate city limits beyond the reach of the tax collector or
land use con1Tols. High property taxes drove up rents, principally in the flats located in and around the downtown. Many
commercial and office buildings had been converted for residential use, apparently in the 1 920s, with inadequate
provisions for sanitation and modem conveniences. The city was physically divided by class with poorer housing being
on the lowlands, and the better houses on the bluffs. The greatest population density was at the point and in Kauffinan
Valley, and between 9'" and Dodge s1Teets west of the downtown. The downtown precincts were smaller in size than the
bluff top precincts due to this higher density (1934 Housing Report, pp. 77, 98).
Dubuque was described as a city of single-family dwellings and these were nearly completely dominant outside
of the downtown. Multi-family housing, comprised mostly of converted single-family houses, was intennixed in the
downtown with flats set above storefronts, apartments and rooming houses. Two-family units were of two types, with
side by side and up and down divisions. The housing study found the city notably lacking in multi-unit housing. Low
cost housing was not being built and new construction failed to meet the need. Even with its low level of growth,
Dubuque was gaining 60 new families annually but new construction would have housed just a third of these. Add in an
estimated 150 housing units (this 1.5 percent of the total housing stock was a theoretical obsolescence rate but these units
didn't necessarily disappear from the housing market) which became obsolete annually, and the housing shortage
increased. Twenty percent of city housing was over 50 years old (1935 Housing Report, pp. 13-14,20-21,26,31).
The fITst comprehensive plan (1936) lauded "the notable progress made in the architectural merit of recent
private business structures." The 1937 building program as of early May exceeded those of the previous "nwnber of
years." The ten new houses then underway included a Cape Cod cottage (2285 Bennett) and a bungalow (263 Valley
S1Teet). Seven businesses were making improvements and Molo Oil Company was building a service station (14'" and
Central). House building was clearly leading the way in reviving the local construction industry (1936 Comprehensive
Plan, p. 11; Telegraph-Herald, May 9, 1937).
It wasn't until early 1940 that the fITSt real residential construction boom unfolded in the city, the fITst time that
over a hundred houses went up since 1925. Half as many houses were built in the suburbs beyond the city boundaries.
New house starts continued at the same pace through mid-May of the next year (Telegraph-Herald, May 18, 1941).
The city as of 1942 included 38 schools, as many churches, 10,000 homes, two thirds of which were owner-
occupied, 16 parks, 89 factories and 599 retail stores (WP A History, p. 68).
A statewide canvas of November 1945 new house starts awarded Dubuque the leading role with 40 new houses
started for a value of$179,900. One of three new houses underway in 16 first-class Iowa cities was located in Dubuque.
These were of course the houses meant to house the new Deere plant workers and Dubuque Homes mc. was responsible
for all but two of the house starts. By years end half were already under roof and the first would be ready for occupancy
within four to five weeks. The city also led in remodeling permits that month (Telegraph-Herald, January 6, 1946).
PS 'oem 10.9()Q.a
tRe,. 8~86t
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMB ApP'm¡ No. ,024-00>8
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page--ill
The AIchitectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
Table 11: Armual Construction Statistics. 1911-55
Year Total Constructioo New Resideotial Coostructioo
Total Valoe Total Non- Nomber Total New Multi-
Resideotial New S/F Resideotial family
Houses Valoe Hooses Notes'
1911 $1,515,645 69 (pelTOits 4 86 new buildings, Brunswick-Collender Plant, Mercy Hospi"'l
only) Home for tbe Aged, Dubuque Packing Plant addition, German
Collepe donnito~
1912 $1,500,000
1913 $2,993,549 $2,566169 59 (pelTOits 5427,380 3 Lams Hall, St. Anthouy Home For The Aged, Prescott School.
onlv) (Aoartments)
1914 $4,041,745 $3,724,945 79 (permits $316,800 5 Julien Hotel, Wartburg Seminary (four new buildings), Elks
only) (Anartmeuts) Home
1915 52,978,571 $2,635,631 96 (permits $342,940 None Sacred Heart Catholic School, YMCA, Baptist Church (non-
onlv) extaut)
1916 51,914,300 $1,400,000 ? Nearly $500,000 No majo< new buildings.
(est.)
1917 $956,445 (1918 $699,990 5S $256,455 Farley & Loetscher building, First National Bank addition.
report says
"final account"
$603,170.
1918 early 1919 building permits Bryant School addition, Laude's garage,
report says $200,000
aorox.$300,000
1919 $2,500,000+ 100 building permits Tuberculosis hospital, Dubuque Casket Co., CarT, Ryder &
$2,000,000 Adams addition, 267 to",1 nermits
1920 90 building permits 325 pelTOits issued, 3,173 to",l dwgs. 1920 census, no large
$751,750 pm'eets begun
1921 $1,SS9,320 68 building permits 350 permits issued, new high school, Mercy Hospital addition
$1,325,057
1922 $2,564,477 125 New houses average $5,000, 4S4 to"'l permits, several hundred
garages, two junior high schools, Federal Bank & Trust Bldg.,
Union Trust & Savines Bank
1923 $1,SIS,OOO 177
1924 Over $1,632,000 163 building permits S,790 total dwgs, 594 total pennits, Carr, Ryder & Adams
$3,000,000 streets, $1,611,778 addition
$1,616,15S $100,000+
private sewers
1925 $1,140,000 (all 59S0,261 143 $603,950+ (new $.75 million public improvements, Eagle Pt. Pump Station, 7
permits only) houses only), miles sewer, S.5 miles paving, aYerage house cost $4,000,1551
$150,730 all total permits
other oermits
1926 $677,876 93 $343,818 1,282 total oermits, 176 para'es
1927 66 Estimate based on 1935 housing chart
1925 55 Estimate based on 1935 housing chart
1929 $3,000,000 60-75 Averagecost Estimates by C. F. Bartels, Bldg. COnmllssiouer
$6,000
1930 $1,5478,929 48 Telegmph-Herald buildiug, south half Roshek's department
(all permits) store
1931 54 $213,477
1932 29 Estimate based on 1935 housing chart
1933 22 IlS total 1930-33
1934 10,435 total families
1935
1936
1937 $ 225,000 (as 10 (as of As ofearIy May, Malo Smice Station 14m and Central, one
of May 9) May 9) bungalow, one Cane Cod
1938 $1,000,000+
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PS Foem To-9OD.,
[Rev. 8.861
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OM8 Appw",' No. 1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number....É..- Page-112.
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
1939 $1,124,S93+ 3S
1940 $72S,817 107 $ 500,000 ".few Figure excludes estimated 50 houses in suburbs
dunlexes"
1941 $815,377 22 as of May $ 316,725 (2 duplexes)
18
1942 $341,137 Just $10,000 ~ent on new homes
1943 $142,171
1944 $2S8,960
1945 $620,970 47 (50) $199,250 $4,240 averaee house cost, 5S0 total nenuits
1946 $2,703,239 158 $7S5,000 $4,970 averaee house cost, 6S9 total nenuits
1947 $2,500,000 269 110 De"e Houses underway, 12 done by mid-Sept., 744 total
nermits
1948- Dats not found
1955
The year 1945 was tenned a "banner year" for city house building with more new house pennits being issued that
year than in the ten previous ones save for 1940-41. The Herald explained that "this city's rapid population growth has
made the demand for housing especially intense here." The new houses were accompanied by 43 house conversions
which produced at least that many new housing units (Telegraph-Herald, January 6, 1946).
The year 1946 construction figures set a record in every respect, and represented the best building year since
1930. Mercy and Finley hospitals expanded as did the Virginia-Carolina Chemical Company. Loras College built a
chapel (Telegraph-Herald, January 5, 1947).
Pre-fabricated houses played a minor role in new house starts the next year, 1949, with 21 of269 units being
prefabricated modes. The boom in new housing was underway. Just two prewar years, 1938-39, were in any way
comparable to the growth now being experienced. Three major business expansions drove up the numbers. Farley &
Loetscher added a power plant, Dubuque Packing Company expanded its stockyards and the Northwestern Telephone
Company started the basement and first floor phase of a new office building (Telegraph-Herald, January 6, 1946; January 4,
1947).
Annual new housing starts are lacking for the late 1940s through 1955. The residential funges continued to be
built up and one notable development was the construction of several hundred brick-tronted Colonial Revival minimal
traditional plans along Asbury Road. These were built for an anticipated influx of workers who were to work at the new
John Deere factory.
Propertv Type Discussion:
Landmark public and commercial buildings and modem stylistic residential architecture attests to Dubuque's
efforts, individual and collective, to embody a modem growing city. Banking, industrial and Catholic institutional
examples are addressed under their respective sub-themes. Non-Catholic institutional examples reflect the establislnnent
or expansion of the several colleges and universities. Building examples include Severence and VanVliet halls at the
University of Dubuque, Wartburg Seminary campus. The public school system was almost completely re-built with
architecturally distinctive and unified designs. The Masonic Hall (Locust and 12"') and the Y.M.C.A. addition (Iowa and
8th, NRHP), the Eagle Point Water Works and the Federal Building (Locust and 6th, Cathedral District, NRHP) are
excellent and well-preserved examples of public buildings built during these years. The Langworthy residential district
was fully infilled during the pre- Wodd War I years. The John Deere housing, with its distinctive style and unified design
merits investigation as an excellent early post-war large scale housing development. This was the era of the large-scale
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developer/builders, of which Chris Voelker remained the most prolific as late as 1920. He was termed "the wholesaler of
houses" and introduced concrete block construction to the city, particularly in residential designs. Other large-scale
contractors were Anton Zwack and James Gregory. The Langworthy and Cathedral districts include excellent groupings
of some of Voelker's better house and bungalow designs and other groupings have been identified in the Couler Valley
and on Eagle Point. Landmark commercial buildings include the Canfield Hotel, Roshek's Department Store (the largest
department in Iowa, 7th and Locust), and the Telegraph-Herald building (8th and Bluff).
Dubuque's Reliance on Industry Is Shaken:
The adage "hope springs eternal" well fits the hopes of post-I 91 I Dubuque for better industrial days. The city
exhausted every effort to build up its industrial capacity. Industry had led the city economically for generations and when
that key sector collapsed, the city's growth had stalled. In 1947 the Telegraph-Herald offered a retrospective ofthe hard
times just lived, that preceded renewed hopes that things had finally turned around for Dubuque:
The average Dubuquer is taking new pride in his city, once the biggest manufacturing center ofthe
state, as he sees it regaining some of its fonner distinction.
Recalling the huge soap plant and lumberyards that once flourished here, the plow factory which Mark
Twain was told was the biggest in the world, John Q. Dubuque was a bit ashamed of his town in the
30's....
Some citizens will recall that Dubuque in 1880, with 23,384 population, held the top place in Iowa.
And they will further recall, abashedly, that the population in 1930, when Dubuque sank to seventh
place (behind even Council Bluffs), was smaller than in I 90S-the figures were 41,679 and 41,941
respectively. . . Yet, despite a few blemishes in the general picture, the average Dubuquer has reborn
confidence in his city as a new year "takes off." His hopes are in the altitudes again, like the planes that
will be zooming out of the new airport (Telegraph-Herald, January 5, 1947).
From the perspective of the state's capitol city, these successful local industrial redevelopment efforts of the
between-the-war years were not appreciated. During the late 1960s the Des Moines Register was recalled "Dubuque for
almost 50 years coasted on the achievements of its first 50 or 60 years. Then for 50 years, nothing much happened until
[John] Deeres arrived." In fact the majority of the city's then existing industries were established or recruited after 1900.
An industrial headcount taken in 1964 found that of 105 manufacturing fmns, just 19 predated 1900 and 27 postdated
1945. This left the difference, 59 fmns (or 56 percent) had arrived on the local scene between 1900 and 1945. So very
little "coasting" had indeed occurred (Des Moines Register, October 25, 1964; Des Moines Sunday Register, October 27,
1968).
This transitional postwar period has been addressed by Sylvester McCauley, who, writing in 1922, studied the
operations of the massive Brunswick-Balke Collender Company", producer of phonograph players. McCauley found
that in the prewar years wages were high and labor was somewhat scarce as the fmn operated at normal capacity. With
the coming of the war wages continued to rise in the face of a growing labor shortage. City industrial finns were
producing such items as the lumber components of cartridge boxes. Women and girls temporarily entered the workforce
to fill the void. At Brunswick they accounted for one half of the workforce at one point. Following the war normal
production continued through April 1920. The only change was in the supply of male laborers, now sufficient. Wages
and prices remained high. By this time the company was working overtime according to McCauley. After April 1920
37 The former Brunswick Plant is now the Flex-Steel complex.
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there was a gradual decline in business trade, the female workforce was dismissed through the summer and fall. The
"industrial crash" in McCauley's words, came that fall.
Figure 31: Brunswick Plant, 1911 (Courtesy Dubuque County Historical Society)
The Brunswick was one of the last fmns in Dubuque to close down. While some of its employees were
laid off in early October, the factory kept going until the first of December, when the plant's doors were
closed, throwing a thousand men out of work.
For the next few months, business in the city was at its lowest ebb. Then the factories began taking on
more men and things brightened a bit. The high wages of the war, however, were gone. Men at the
Brunswick, working by the piece, who had previously made as much as fourteen and fifteen dollars a
day, found their scale of piece wages sadly reduced when they returned to work and had to be satisfied,
in many cases with little more than half what they had earned before. Employees from other factories
were far worse off than this (McCauley, pp. 215-16).
McCauley determined that "Dubuque was not hit nearly so hard as other cities in this post-war slump." It was the
woodworking component of the city's industrial mix that sheltered the city. A house-building boom in New Jersey and
New York for returning soldiers provided a massive market for sash and doors from Farley & Loetscher Manufacturing
Company. McCauley offered a contrasting (unnamed) example of a company that failed to respond to changing times:
We have in Dubuque a plant which, during the war, reaped enormous profits manufacturing war
materials. The management of this company did not have the foresight to realize what was coming after
the war; consequently, all the profits of the company were sunk back into extensive, likewise, expensive,
improvements, for the purpose of turning out still more war materials. When the depression set in this
particular company practically went on "the rocks," and has been so since. A large building, begun
during those times of inflated prosperity, had to be abandoned and still stands there, a mute testimony to
the folly of poor management under abnormal conditions (McCauley, pp. 215-16).
Market conditions improved and normalcy was finally achieved by the summer of 1921. Wages were "only fair"
given a plentiful labor supply. Business during 1922 was normal for seven months in the summer and fall when the
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national railroad strike caused some job loss and production cutbacks. At the time of his writing, in 1923, McCauley
observed full-time plant operations and full employment and optimistically predicted "Dubuque has nothing to fear
conc=ing unemployment at present" (McCauley, pp. 215-16).
The 1924 report on the state of the city warned that "development of the city has been held back on account of
the scarcity of industrial property or property which could be served by the railroads." The city accordingly had
purchased a large 25-acre slough that it filled at a cost of$140,000. The plan was successful at least in part and "a part of
this ground has already been sold and a desirable industry employing a considerable number of men is occupying it (1924
City of Dubuque Report, p. 11).
The post-World War I rebound of the 1920s convinced Dubuque leaders that fortune had once again come their
way. At the end of 1927 it was promised that Dubuque was on the "Eve of a new era" and the Chamber of Commerce
called upon all citizens for broad-based support. There was, in the words of Chamber president Dove, an "urgent need
for development in nearly every direction." A lack oflocal financial support had left a number of new industrial
developments in abeyance and there were innumerable civic improvements required commitment and resources
(Telegraph-Herald, January 7, 1928).
Industrial recruitment was the principal focus of the Chamber of Commerce as of 1929. Outgoing Chamber
president Wliliam Avery Smith challenged the organization to tackle its outstanding objective, that being
. .. the stimulation of our community industrial growth. We want new industries. We want those already
here to grow larger and more prosperous. Most of our so-called objectives relate themselves directly to
this major problem and take on added importance because of the relationship. Probably all will agree
that the industrial development of our city is of paramount importance.
Smith candidly reminded his colleagues "there are [no industrial] conc=s clamoring for an opportunity to locate in
Dubuque." He noted that "the past few years have been marked by an unusual migration of industries [from community
to community]." These relocated principally due to market labor conditions or transportation needs, not in sole response
to financial inducements. Echoing a future truism of urban growth, Smith noted that locally developed firms created the
most jobs and were most loyal to their home communities. He urged the Chamber to focus on assisting those local finns
which targeting branch factory recruitment. Dubuque was, admitted Smith, "outside the magic circle" vis-à-vis the major
urban areas. Smith closed with the recommendation that the Chamber should
.. . strive for favorable living conditions attractive to a self~respecting laboring class; facilities whereby a
worthy but struggling industry may be aided by wise fmancing; factory sites, available at reasonable
prices and suitable to a variety of needs; transportation rates and facilities, enabling a local industry to
compete with those of the same kind elsewhere (Dubuque Business, February 1930, pp. 3-4),
In early 1930 Dubuque Business honored the city's five woodworking companies that collectively made Dubuque
"the world's greatest millwork center." The finns (Farley & Loetscher Manufacturing Company, Carr, Ryder & Adams
Company, Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, Metz Manufacturing Company and Hurd-Most Sash and Door
Company) employed 2,500 persons and enjoyed a national market for their products, with exports to Canada, South
America, Mexico and Cuba. The southern export market was a relatively recent development. Dubuque's advantage was
its central location relative to market as well as its central proximity to scattered and distant lumber sources.
Surprisingly, wood supplies were coming from Wisconsin, Michigan and the southern Mississippi valley. Products were
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principally sashes, doors, blinds, molding, frames and cabinetwork. Carr, Ryder & Adams had eight branch factories all
established between 1892 and 1916. All of the branches were in larger Midwestern cities than Dubuque but the local
plant was still the largest plant. Fonner Dubuquers managed all but one of the other branches. Farley & Loetscher had
three branch factories and four distribution points scattered across the country (Dubuque Business, January 1930, p. 5).
The Great Depression settled in on the Midwest by 1930-31. Dubuque Packing Company (16th and Sycamore
streets) suspended its operations in April 1931. Good news for the city came that next July when a new corporation of
the same name purchased the plant and pledged to spend $2,000,000 annually in stock purchases and to employ 50-60
persons. Harry W. Wahlert headed the new finn. Wahlert and director Fred Krey, had previously been associated with
the Krey Packing Company of St. Louis. The new firm immediately expended $75,000 in improvements and broadened
the company's product line. Wahlert favored the Dubuque location because of its proximity of a "great stock raising
country." Dubuque Business predicted that the new plant would be "of untold benefit to the farmers in this vicinity who
raise livestock for market." The Wahlert purchase saved the city's meat packing industry and that name continued to be
equated with the local industry until quite recently (Dubuque Business, July 1931, pp. 3-4).
Figure 32: Dubuque Packing Company, 1931 (Dubuque Business, July 1931, p. 4)
The Iowa State Planning Board studied housing conditions in the city as of 1934 at the request of the city
government. The study naturally investigated the ciiy's employment profile and particularly the industrial employment
base, the most measurable victim of the Great Depression's impact. The study determined that the new 1934 city zoning
ordinance had allocated too great an area to heavy industry, reflecting lingering hopes that industry would once again
bring growth to the city. Industry had always carried the city's economy in the past (July 1934 Report on Housing).
Dubuque had a 16,000 (preswnably male) workforce aged 18 years or more and fully one-fourth of these had no
employment. This massive job loss was the result of the "loss of some industries and the slowing down of others" and
the result was the "economic crippling of the city." Many of the lost jobs were long gone before the famous Depression
descended on the country however, and evidenced an industrial decline that had its roots in the post World War One
economic transition. The Bnmswick-Blake-Collender Company plant, producer of phonographs, employed 1,500-1,600
persons as of the early 1920s, but its workforce was reduced to just 700 jobs by 1927. The massive plant was completely
silent by the end of 1929, taking with its closure a tenth of the total industrial jobs in Dubuque. Its demise preceded the
actual Wall Street market collapse and was due to competition from the consolidating national radio industry.
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Consolidation with the Wamer Radio Company resulted in the final plant shutdown. The Chicago, Milwaukee and St.
Paul Railroad once again relocated its shops out of the city in the late 1920s taking with it 600 jobs. The major
woodworking mills with 950 and 700 jobs respectively as of the mid-I920s by this time had reduced their combined
workforce to just a little over 200 jobs. Their regional competition was increasingly with iron and steel substitutes in
building materials and the sector was burdened with a sluggish building industry in the postwar and depression years.
Many smaller manufacturing finns simply disappeared. This shaking out was caused by an inability to compete with
finns that were either better located near their markets or their raw materials. Recall that all raw materials and fuel as
well were imported to Dubuque's industries. Many of the industries, which once made Dubuque one of the most
prosperous cities of the west, did not adjust themselves to the modem demands for new processes and new products, and
are now partially or entirely shut down. Many new ventures also proved failures (1934 Housing Report, p. 75).
As of 1934 14 manufacturing firms employed 1,145 persons and total employment in the city was tallied at 2,181
jobs. Two railroad shops provided 775 jobs. Four banks employed 62 workers. The federal revenue office provided 70
jobs. The sole surviving consolidated newspaper (Telegraph-Herald) had a payroll of 44 persons (the other major
employers were a mining company with 20 jobs; the power and light company with 25 jobs; an engineering finn with 20
job; and the oil company, 20 jobs) (1935 Housing Report, p. 4).
The Second World War both stimulated and exhausted Dubuque's industrial base. Wartime conversion to
produce military goods was limited and it appears that few existing plants enjoyed retooling opportunities, new
construction or other forms of capital reinvestment. At the same time Dubuque was the place of choice for numerous
[InnS that relocated there during the war. The J. P. Smith Shoe factory was the first to come in 1941, followed by the
Arkell Safety Bag Company in 1943, the Electronics Inc. Company, Dubuque Screw Machine Company, Thermo Electric
Manufacturing Company, and the Dubuque Garment Company. Late-war recruits included the Virginia-Carolina
Chemical Company (which took up quarters alongside the Shot Tower), Baxter Manufacturing Company (a soap making
company), General Timber Services (a Weyerhauser Lumber Company subsidiary), and L. and N. Specialties (glove
factory). These along with the John Deere plant that was secured in 1945, provided the "backbone" of a new emerging
postwar industrial base. Established local firms, including A. Y. McDonald and the Dubuque Packing Company both
undertook expansions during this period (Telegraph-Herald, January 5, 1947).
In sheer numbers of plants the industrial attrition in Dubuque by 1942 was fairly astounding. The 200 factories
present as of 1900 were by that time reduced to just 90. Dubuque had long been the state leader in manufacturing and
this last claim to fame was [mally forfeited. Certainly, the old-line major industries, providing the lions share of jobs
remained in place. A major loss was the departure of the Milwaukee Shops, the city's largest employer for years. As late
as 1918 it provided 2,000 jobs but was completely closed soon after that (WPA History, pp. 66-67).
The year 1946 was the "banner year" for city industrial development. Chamber secretary John A. Kerper
credited 1945 and 1946 with being Dubuque's "two greatest years of industrial progress in a generation." The city
population finally surpassed the 50,000 mark and the city annexed 59.6 acres in the Asbury area for the Deere workers
housing, the first land annexation in almost a century. Secretary Kerper claimed that in the past three months 20 new
finns had given up plans to move to the city because of the lack oflarge open areas in proximity to railroad sidings.
Predicting a successful near future but long-tenn industrial park initiative, Kerper reported that the Chamber was
studying using City Island for that purpose. It was predicted that the city would surge on to the 60,000-population mark
in the near future, in light of all of the industrial growth. Darkly, the newspaper candidly worried "Will this expansion
pick up even more steam or gradually slow to a stop (Telegraph-Herald, January 5, 1947)?"
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County and State
The lack of elbowroom had always hindered Dubuque's growth and development and by this time Dubuque's
municipal boundary, encompassing 12.1 square miles was barely exceeded by down-river cities (Clinton had even less,
Burlington just a tad more) except Davenport (17.75 square miles). Mason City wasn't much larger (12.4 square miles)
but Cedar Rapids (28.36 square miles) and Des Moines (55.91 square miles) left Dubuque in their dust. The seeds ofa
northward industrial expansion were sown in the 1890s when the Dubuque Malting & Brewing Company had built their
massive brewery in the northern reaches of the Couler Valley. The Brunswick plant located beyond that site and the
Deere plant would actually locate beyond the northern boundary of the city (Telegraph-Herald, January 5, 1947).
Des Moines newspaper reporter George Mills penned an excellent profile of Dubuque in 1952 as part of his "The
Romance ofIowa Industry Series" for the Des Moines Sunday Register. The city had 4,000 more industrial jobs then
than it had in 1942 at the height of wartime mobilization. The Deere plant employed 2,000 and had expanded 50 percent
since its founding. Dubuque Packing Company employed just 500 at the end of the war but now had 2,300-2,400
employees. The firm commanded a specialty East coast market due to its kosher kill. Two chemical/fertilizer firms,
recruited postwar, Virginia-Carolina and Algonquin were thriving. The city had excellent river barge service and access
to four railroad networks. Reflective of this growth, during a six-year period, from 1950-1956, Dubuque experienced a
26 percent population increase, to a total of 62,853 (for once a population prediction was achieved). Mills attributed this
success to the fact that Dubuque was close to the center of national markets and enjoyed advantageous freight rates, an
efficient workforce, proximity to raw materials and the (always controversial) benefits ofIowa's Right to Work law. The
principal downside was worsened flooding. The city was attempting to elevate the 830-acre City Island and the river
wasn't cooperating. Another initial problem was a lack of skilled workmen. At one point one-third of the Deere
workforce commuted from outside the city (Des Moines Sunday Register, August 17, 1952).
The giant woodworking firms continued to playa key role in the city's industrial output. These local firms were
bolstered by the national postwar house-building boom. Farley & Loetscher (1875) employed 900-1,100 workers and
Carr, Adams & Collier (1866) had 800 workers. The former was the world's largest plant of its kind and the latter
processed 40,000,000 board feet oflumber during 1951. Their combined annual payroll was $7,300,000. Their primary
trade area was the eastern two-thirds of the country. By this time their lumber source was northwestern Ponderosa Pine
which could be cheaply shipped by rail to Dubuque (Des Moines Sunday Register, August 17, 1952).
AY. McDonald (established in 1856) employed 850 Dubuquers and H. B. Glover (founded in 1857) had a 200-
person payroll. The latter was said to be the oldest apparel-manufacturing firm west of the Mississippi. It also operated a
branch plant in Dyersville. Its sales had been banned by the weakness in the sale of dress shirts. The Adams Company
(founded in 1883) provided 375 jobs in its machine shops. Nurre Company (established during the I 930s) produced
mirrors and employed 60-76 persons. It claimed to be the world's largest plant of its class. Northome, maker ofliving
room furniture, came to Dubuque in 1937 from Minneapolis to take advantage of a better corporate tax situation, better
transportation and good mechanics. It was the first plant to utilize a conveyor belt in furniture manufacturing. The firm
employed 240 persons (Des Moines Sunday Register, August 17, 1952).
The city issued $2,000,000 in general obligation bonds to construct an industrial park south of Eagle Point Park.
After the war larger industries in urban centers were establishing branch operations in smaller cities and Dubuque hoped
to capitalize on this trend. Over 4,000,000 cubic feet offill was expended to fill in the park site. It took the construction
of a riverfront levee, following the 1965 record floods, to finally make it a success. Development was considerably
hindered by the city's refusal to subsidize the relocation of existing industries into the park (Des Moines Register,
October 17, 1976; Lyon, p. 121).
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Figure 33: Dubuque's new riverftont industrial park, aerial view to northwest, the new marina is visible at lower right,
the Rhomberg neighborhood (phase II survey are) along top of image (Telegraph-Herald, May 24, 1957)
Property Type Discussion:
Excellent industrial plant examples associated with this sub"theme and period include the Brunswick-Balle-
Collender plant, the Dubuque Packing Plant, Metz Manufacturing, and the well-preserved Carr-Ryder-Adams and Farley-
Loetscher factory complexes. All of the largest mill buildings, the adminis1rative building for the latter (1916), post-date
1911 and represent the final large-scale expansions of the companies which dominated the city's industry into the 1960s.
None of the A. Y. McDonald complex survives. The Morrison Boiler Works, in the lower Couler Valley, dates to this
period and represents the northward rail-related migration of early industries away from the riverfront. Several of the
coffm factories made additions during this period.
Taming the Mississippi River:
The Mississippi was only improved for commercial navigation just as it was losing its last substantial shipping
use, the log rafts. The moribund river trade was revitalized by two federal initiatives. RaiJroad car shortages were f1rst
felt in 1906-07 but the shortages became acute during America's pre-World War I indus1rial mobilization for Europe's
war. The lack of ocean fteighters forced east coast shipping interests to collect and use cars as temporary warehouses
and cars were soon drained away ftom the Mississippi River Valley, hampering local industries and agricultural shippers.
The east/west shipping system that had replaced river shipping during the Civil War suddenly ceased to work. The 1917
RaiJroad Con1rol Act provided substantial funds for the construction of barges and boats to supplement rail service in
response to the car shortage. The federally organized and run barge fleet, the "Inland & Coastwise Waterways Service,"
was begun in July 1918 and was under the RaiJroad Adminis1ration. With the passage of the Transportation Act of 1920
it passed to the Secretary of War's con1rol and fmally became the Inland Waterways Corporation in 1924, at which time
it was extended to the upper Mississippi River (in the foan of the Upper Mississippi Barge Line Company, foaned at
Minneapolis, to be leased by the corporation, Dubuque con1ributed $5,000 towards the cost of capitalizing the new
company). The Upper Mississippi Division included 21 shipping points in four states. The barge line wasn't ready to
operate until 1927 by which time it had two towboats and 11 barges. Nothing could be shipped until cities like Dubuque
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constructed modem barge tenninals and these cost $200-500,000 each. Dubuque, with its muddy levee, lacked any
docking capability. The Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce and local newspapers convinced voters to authorize the
fonnation of the Dubuque Dock Commission in November 1926. Anton Zwack was contracted by the CommÌssion to
build the terminal at the bottom of Jones Street and the Dubuque Boat & Boiler Works was contracted to build three stem
wheel towboats (8. 8. Thorpe, Charles C. Webber, T. Q. Ashburn). The tenninal (Figure 34) with its excellent rail links,
was one of the earliest completed tenninals and it opened July 21, 1927. Dubuque oil tanks serviced the three local boats
and refueled downstream boats. The first federal barge shipment left Minneapolis on August 25, 1927. The Dubuque
Boat and Boiler Works built the towboats that were used by the new firm. By 1926 the Federal Barge Lines offered two
weekly departures each way between St. Louis and St. Paul. It was this barge-shipping initiative which put in place the
supportive constituency that first secured a federal six-foot and then a nine-foot channel federal commitment, the latter
coming only in 1930 (Tweet, 1984, pp. 256-57; Anfinson, Chapter 8, pp. I, II; Kruse, pp. 30-31).38
Figure 34: Dubuque Federal Barge Tenninal, view north, photos by John Vachon, 1940
(two images joined, Library of Congress photo)
The nine-foot channel enabled the Federal Barge Line to gradually increase its capacity, with much larger barges
and more towboats. While total tonnage was well below that which would develop after World War II, year-to-year
tonnage increases were impressive. Wartime needs further increased river shipping but the true significance of the barge
line was to set the stage for future massive oil and grain shipments. The oil companies were the fITst to augment the river
with their own towboats and barges. In 1953 the barge line was privatized, and became Pott Jndustries of St. Louis
(Kruse, pp. 30-31).
38 By 1928 the federal barge line had four towboats and 60 barges. Supporters for federal assistance noted that communities made no
contribution to the barge service below St. Louis, but they paid all of the cost for upper river shipping development (Anfinson, Ibid., p.
30).
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Figure 35: The first Federal Barge Line Shipment, August 20, 1927 (Telegraph-Herald, October 20, 1975)
Another key factor that pushed for improved Upper Mississippi River navigation was the opening in 1914 of the
Panama Canal. The canal reordered the balance between expensive rail shipping costs and cheaper water shipping costs
and Midwest shippers were handicapped. Shippers with direct canal access (coastal shippers using ocean freighters) had
their costs cut while upper Midwest river shippers with indirect access (transshipment from river barge to freighter) were
less competitive, being now further away from a foreign market. It cost more to ship from Dubuque to San Francisco by
rail than it did to send a shipment from New York to San Francisco by boat. The nine-foot channel concept was first
advocated as a means by which shipping costs inequities could be addressed and the farm crisis of the mid-I920s could
be tempered. The overriding goal was that of simply increasing river traffic. By the mid-1930s the justification was
based on public employment and responding to the Great Depression. The nine-foot channel was strongly opposed from
the start by conservationists, railroads and some engineers. The flfst serious study, conducted by Corps Major Charles
Hall in 1927-28 recommended against both a simple channel (which wouldn't work) and a lock and dam system, which
would have transfonned the river into a string of stagnant lakes. Hall feared broad scale damage to the public health and
to wildlife. The belated inclusion of the nine-foot channel in the 1930 Rivers and Harbors Act was accomplished in the
fonn ofa last minute 1935 Senate amendment to the original act. With this accomplishment what has been tenned the
"Golden Age" of the Corps of Engineers had its beginning (O'Brien, p. 14; Anfinson; Kruse, pp. 13-14).
Anfinson cites two other events that led to the construction of the nine-foot deep navigational channel. The
Indiana 1921 railroad rate case shattered the historic linkage between rail and river shipping rates, and drove the fonner
upwards. The national farm crisis of the early 1920s ended two decades of record fann commodity prices. These prices
went through the floor in mid-I920 and fanners now joined the advocates of channel improvements in the hopes of
securing a foreign market (Kruse, pp. 17-18).
The original 26 sets oflocks and dams were built in order of their importance in alleviating age-old navigational
obstacles. The Zebulon Pike Lock and Dam No. II, a Class "C" project, was built between 1934 and 1937, situated just
upstream from the Eagle Point toll bridge. The complex was relocated to Dubuque in a 1933 planning revision and its
construction was hastened to alleviate chronic unemployment in Dubuque. Dams Nos. II and 18 were the first district
dams to utilize submersible elliptical Tainter gates and submersible roller gates. The lock and dam cost $6,655,000 and
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employed 901 workers at the height of its construction effort (O'Brien, pp. 14,27,30, 136-37, 166-67; The Middle and
Upper Mississippi River, pp. 5-7).
The new navigation system was completed just in time to aid the national mobilization effort prior to and during
the Second World War. Dubuque's role in ship fabrication was made possible by the river improvements. River
shipping took a generation to achieve any significant volume. Petroleum shipments comprised 35-40 percent of all barge
traffic through 1941. Total shipping by 1945 amounted to just 5,000,000 tons. By 1960 this total increased to
27,000,000 tons and was dominated by grain shipping (Anfinson, pp. 276-77).
Another significant "tamer" of the river was the replacement of the old High Bridge with the wartime
construction of the Julien Dubuque Bridge. The bridge represents a vital federal wartime construction project as well as
a substantial component in the long-tenn process of relocating the major east-west highway to the south end of the city.
The bridge was finished in 1943. Its completion was made possible because it was a national security asset (Dubuque,
The Birthplace of Iowa, Vol. I, p. 119).
Property Type Discussion:
The Zebulon Pike Lock and Dam No. II (located north of the city), the Federal Barge Tenninal, and the Julien
Dubuque Bridge (NRHP) are the most directly associated resources under this sub-theme.
The Emergence of Mnnicipal Planning and Land Use Controls:
A city manager fonn of government was adopted in the city on April I, 1920 under the leadership of Mayor
James Alderson, the last person to serve five consecutive tenns as mayor until Jim Brady did so during the early 1980s.
One of the casualties ofthe new fonn oflocal government was the ward system. It would not be re-established until
1980, at which time the mayor's term of office was extended to four years. Alderson issued a progress report on new
government. As was the case with any change or major decision, the adoption resulted from "a rocky road" but it was
sold on the promise of efficiency and economy in local government. A substantial minority strongly opposed the change.
A Police Court Judge replaced a system of justices of the peace. Court fmes averaged $1,370 between 1915 and 1920 but
in 1923 totaled $18,209. The city adopted a modern accounting system, eliminated non-essential positions, replaced
horse teams with trucks, disposed of an extra firehouse, constructed a new municipal garage and a new water pumping
station, created the city's first health department and built a new 7,500,000 gallon concrete water reservoir. The old city
hall replaced 15 old stoves with central furnace heating. An important change came in 1921 substantially changed the
city map by renaming or consolidating many of the principal streets and renumbering street addresses. East-west
numbers were now based on Central Avenue and not Bluff Street. The north/south numbering remained based on
Dodge/Lombard streets. Other ordinances put in place the first municipal building code (April I, 1924), mandated
building pennits (April 6, 1923), and authorized the issuance of extensive sewer and waterworks bonds (1922-23). The
new athletic field was established and developed and a tourist camp was established at Eagle Point Park (Report, City of
Dubuque, 1924; Lyon, pp. 470-72).
The failure of the city fathers to recognize the bounty inherent in the city's natural beauty was once again noted,
this time in a housing report by Iowa's advocate of things natural, Ding Darling:
More of a city's prosperity depends on its beauty than is commonly accepted. A city's guests, by their
number and by their appreciation, come very near to being the yard-stick by which to measure its success
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or failure. A municipality which is not inviting to the visitor, and which sends him away cold soon
becomes a community of citizens trying fruitlessly to get rich taking in each other's, washing. Beauty
spots that linger in the memory are more the result of wise planning than of extravagant expenditure.
That city will fare ill which leaves in the mind of the visitor within its gates nothing but an impression of
factory chinmeys, crowded tenements and blighted residential districts. It is equally true that a city
whose guests are eager to come again and who leave with regret will not only be rewarded by their
repeated patronage, but will be equally attractive to those who make their homes within its pleasing
environs. It, therefore, behooves all cities to spend some time in efforts other than the addition of more
factories, more railroads and switching yards. Our commercial clubs and booster organizations have
concentrated on the latter for so long that they have too often forgotten entirely the necessity for the
fonner (Ding Darling, 1935 Housing Report Preface).
The city housing conditions were exhaustively surveyed in 1934 by the Iowa State Planning Board. The findings
of that study and its three separate report versions are treated under the industrial and Great Depression sections of this
context.
The first city plan took the fonn of a zoning ordinance and was prepared by City Planner John Nolen. It was
enacted January 29, 1934. Like most contemporary plans, this ordinance asswned that the city would naturally rebuild
itself from the inside out, the downtown would replace aging housing around its perimeter and each residents would
inherit slightly newer and better housing as each class built, occupied and relinquished a generation of housing. The
1934 State study found that the zoning plan was overly ambitious in its hopes for securing new light and heavy industry.
A vast riverfront area, including all of Ham's Island, was reserved for this land use yet only 20 percent of the area was
then actually used for heavy industry. The planners urged the city to buy all of the island, in addition to that being bought
for a new airport, to make the area available for recreation until the time that industrial needs required it. The zoning
allocation had historical roots. The 1934 report observed "Dubuque has been fortunate in the past by reason of the
concentration of land use." Geography had limited its four railroads to the use of a single focused corridor while other
cities had been cut up by railroads that came from every direction. The report also noted "This concentration of railroads
has influenced business and industry, and has resulted in a concentrated industrial section and business section which are
well connected by paved streets with the rest of the city." Growth to the north had stopped by 1924 despite the provision
of city services and the developed nature of the area. The plan predicted westward residential growth with "subsistence
homesteads" favoring establishment to the northwest (July 1934 Housing Report, pp. 38-39; 1935 Housing Report, pp. 9,
57-59).
The first Dubuque comprehensive plan dates to 1936 and was developed by City Planners John Nolen and Justin
Hartzog (John Nolen and Associates) of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The plan development followed the establishment of
a planning and zoning commission on March 29, 1929 (a new zoning ordinance was enacted January 29, 1934. Perhaps
most notably this plan favored the establishment of an administrative governmental center that was to include a new city
hall, new courthouse and a new federal/post office building. A "Thoroughfare System" of arterials was also favored as
was a union railroad and bus station, an airport on Ham's Island (or Peru flats) riverfront recreational facilities, regional
highway construction, and the implementation of zoning and land use controls. Curiously absent was any
recommendation relative to Mississippi River shipping or support for a nine-foot navigational channel (1936
Comprehensive Plan, pp. 1-8; 1934 Housing Report, p. 9).
The plan enwnerated a nwnber of "outstanding and praiseworthy features" in the city. The list included Eagle
Point and Grandview Park, Grandview Avenue ("a striking residential boulevard"), the Dubuque Cascade Road, the
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reclamation of riverftont sloughs, the city's promotion of river development and the provision of docking facilities, the
concentration of most railroads to a single coITidor in the older part of the city (now considered an asset?), as well as
excellent public water supply, a new high school, a generally clean city, and "unusual facilities in colleges, academies
and schools" (1934 Housing Report, pp. 10-11).
The city lacked an adequate arterial road system. The haphazard process ofland subdivision had produced many
streets with overly steep grades and poor alignments. Main thoroughfares remained obstructed by at-grade railroad
crossings. East and west city gateways required improvement. There was a need for a municipal golf course. Generally
the park system needed improvement and natural resources required protection and development (1934 Housing Report,
p.11).
On the primary downtown streets walls "of brick and stone and steel at the property lines" exceeded the carrying
capacity of very narrow streets. The plan favored enlarging the downtown business district, and decentralizing
specialized retail land uses into neighborhood centers. Road improvements were recommended at the western downtown
links to the outlying residential areas. A traffic bottleneck was cited at the junction of Hill Street and Julien Avenue.
Fourteenth Street and Central Avenue (above 22"" Street) were to be widened and Garfield Avenue improved to provide
access to northeastern Dubuque. An infonnal pattern of locating neighborhood stores had by this time transfonned into a
pattern of favoring comer locations on principal thoroughfares. Neighborhood retail centers with off-street parking were
now favored. The city lacked large acreages for new industries and 750-acre Ham's Island was favored for a heavy
industrial area with barge access (1934 Housing Report, pp. 11-33).
The planners were pleased with the condition and appearance of city streets but favored the elimination of
"unsightly poles and direction signs, and heterogeneous advertising" and billboards in residential areas. Overhanging
signs in the downtown were discouraged. The famous Rhomberg Avenue Elms were again cited as worthy of emulation.
The "great handicap" for city public buildings was the "lack of setting" resulting from the standardized block size. Any
new structures should locate outside of the downtown and the new high school was offered as a successful example. The
planners praised "the improvement in the appearance of the business district during the past years.. .both in the character
of new structures and in the reconstruction of some of the older buildings." Apparently some late-Depression
improvements had been made. Many "shabby structures" needed to be replaced with "up-to-date buildings of good
architecture" (1934 Housing Report, pp. 34-41).
The proposed regional plan extended its land use controls a mile beyond city limits, primarily to control funge
development along Asbury, Middle and Delhi roads were an estimated 2,000 residents now lived. This control effort
anticipated "potential additions to the city in the next ten to twenty years." In anticipation of regional highway
construction a 11 O-foot standard right-of-way was urged for the key routes leading inland; Sageville, Asbury, Middle,
Dehli, North Cascade and Cascade roads. Circwnferential highways were recommended to follow the one-mile, two-mile
and five-mile zones out from the city center (1934 Housing Report, pp. 41-43).
Property Type Discussion:
Related properties would be those that are related to the emergence of a modem municipal government and
planning function. Example properties include the municipal garage (if extant), public buildings such as fire departments
(two buildings survive at 417 Locust and 18th and Central), the restored city hall. Particular municipal improvements,
including street changes and the early development of parking are other possible related resource types.
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The Obliteration of German-American Identity, the Decline of Ethnic Identity:
Gennan-American ethnic identity enjoyed its best years during the 1890s and pre-World War I years. As the war
consumed Europe, The Telegraph-Herald carried a regular "Gennan Views of the War" colunm, but once the war was
Americanized, any pretense of a neutral stance was abandoned. Gennans became the "Huns" and all things German were
derided and finally legally banned. The several Gennan banks changed their names as did the various German cultural
organizations and the churches dropped German language services. Nationally, the largest ethnic group in the country
simply disappeared. Historian John Haygood defines the post-1919 Gennan-American experience as being that of a
separate existence on the part of the Gennans, to the extent that a cultural identity was preserved at all (see the Telegraph
Herald, January 2,1916 for an example of the column; Haygood, pp. 1-21).
Prohibition played its own role in achieving the same effect. The several Gennan breweries closed down
operations in 1916 with the advent of national prohibition. A third factor was the anti-German stance taken by the two
successive Archbishops, both named Keane. Both opposed Cahenslyism, the pro-GenTIan cultural movement (the
alternative being the pro-assimilation or "Americanism" movement) and worked to Americanize local church services.
Under the first Archbishop this push was combined with temperance campaigns (Lyon, pp. 48-49; Wilging, pp. 23-25).
Property Type Discussion:
The three renamed German bank buildings are the best associated properties under this sub-theme.
Commerce and Banking:
The impact of the Depression on Dubuque's banks is the major story of capital development during these years.
That story is addressed under the Great Depression subtheme (see below).
Union Trust and Savings Bank, formerly German Trust and Savings Bank, offered the first insured savings
system in the city during the 1920s. The Dubuque Clearing House Association, headed by P. J. Lee as of 1921, was a
local banking consortium that attempted to protect its member banks. It is credited with staving offbank failures during
the 1907 panic and was still in operation as of the early 1920s. The First National Bank, dating to 1864, claims to be the
state's oldest surviving bank and was the only Iowa bank to remain open on the national bank holiday March 8, 1933. It
was also Dubuque's flI'st national bank (Lyon, pp. 25-26, 155-56, 174-75,458-59).
Table 12: Banking Houses, 1911-55
Bank Period of Service Officers L-aev
First National Bank I 864,present C. H. Eighmey, J. C. Co1lier, B. F. Nearly closes August 16, 1893, for 95 years
Blockinger on northwest corner Main and Sili (IS67 to
1962, non..xtant.
German Bank/German Savings IS64-1932 N. J. Schmp, Henry Michel Renamed Pioneer Savings Bank and Trust
[State] Bank 1915, Pioneer Trust and Savings Bank
1919, merges with Consolidated National
Bank 1926
Second National Bank IS76-c.1922 W. H. Demi;;;;; J. H. Dav 605 Main Street, non-extant
Iowa Trust & Sav;;;;; 1884-1932 B. W. Lacv, Manrice Brown To 7m & Main, non..xtant
Dubuoue Natioual Bank ISSS-I922 D. D. Mvers, J. G. Bailev
German Trust & SavingslUnion 1S87-1932 Paul Traut, A. F. Heeb Northwest co<uer Clay/Central and 13.,
Trust & Savinos Bank renamed of Union Trust & SavinGs Bank
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1918
Dubuque Clearing House IS91-<;.1927 P. J. Lee, B. F. Blockinger Eight banks organize April '6, '89' (Oldt,
Association p.203).
Citizens State Bank c.1898-1922 P. J. Lee, E. B. Piekenbrock
German American Savings 1901-32 N. J. Shrup A branch of the German Savings Bank,
BanklPioneer Savings Bank & Trust renamed Pioneer Savings Bank & Trust Co.
1918.
Dubuque Savings Bank c.1902-<;.1917 Wm. L. Bradley, J. K. Deming, James M.
Burch
BuildinΠand Loan Association I 924-? lncornorated November 27,1924
Dubuoue Bank and Trust c.1937-present J. M. Burch Jr.,
American Trust and Savings c.1927-vresent C. J. Schrup, O. G. Schrup
By 1929 it was announced that the city was attractive investment capital from the outside. The Dubuque
Business proclaimed "Dubuque business and Dubuque institutions are evidencing their confidence in Dubuque's future
by investing their money in Dubuque. Outside capital has also selected Dubuque as a city promising great future
growth." The same source noted that Dubuque led the state in disposable personal income in 1928. The Dubuque
average was $990. The city population was an estimated 58,262 with a total income of $57,631,000. Some 5,670
residents earned more than $1,000 annually (Dubuque Business, January 1930, pp. 4, 6).
ProPerty Type Discussion:
New bank buildings built after 1911 are the most significant and directly associated properties under this
subtheme. The Union Trust & Savings Bank is an excellent example of a modern replacement bank facility (13th and
Central, 1922) and the bank became one of the casualties of the Depression years. The American Trust and Savings 13-
story skyscraper was a monument to the success of the city's leading bank.
Hard Times, The Great Depression And State And Federal Intervention:
Historian Wilkie found that the Great Depression "hit Dubuque harder and lasted longer than it did in other
places, partly because the fabled prosperity of the 1920s had never settled on the city as a whole." Wealthy Dubuquers
were well represented in stock investments on the nationalleve! but these tended to be conservative investments not made
on margin, so losses were few. It was the average family small-scale bank deposit that was wiped out in the failure of
four of seven city banks within a few months time in early 1932. Successive runs toppled the Federal Deposit and Trust,
Union Trust and Savings, the Iowa Trust and Savings and finally the Consolidated National Bank. The First National and
American Trust and Savings barely survived, as did the Dubuque Savings and Loan Association (Wilkie, p. 419).
The Dubuque Business magazine, a Chamber of Commerce monthly promotional, was a casualty of worsening
hard times. Its last issue came out in July 1931 and it was then heard from no more. In fiTIllS where jobs didn't
evaporate, good wages did and this earnings loss was said by the report to have had a greater impact on families than did
actual job loss (1934 Housing Report, p.18).
Hard times overwhelmed the many charities and social service agencies that, in the past, had met local needs
successfully. The estimated 25 percent unemployment was exacerbated by the plain fact that there was little or no
resulting out-migration, Dubuquer's were as of 1920 92.8 percent "native-born" to the city and the Catholic majority
community was the only home to its members who were out of work. Another factor was the absence in Dubuque of
what was termed "a floating [population] element" This was a city of homeowners, once credited with having a higher
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house-owning percentage than any other city in the nation (July 1934 Housing Report, pp. 23-24; 1934 Housing Report,
p. 19,1935 Housing Report, p. 3). ~
Figure 36: Hooverville at the city dump, 1940, photo by Jolm Vachon (Library of Congress)
Dubuque had always had a strong and varied array of social aid agencies, both private and secular. A
Community Chest was organized in 1929 specifically to provide aid to the rising rolls of unemployed. The church roster
(41 total churches) included four Methodist, three Presbyterian, (and their University of Dubuque), five Lutheran (and
their Wartburg Seminary), three Congregational, two Christ Scientist, individual Baptist, Episcopal, Evangelical,
Spiritualist, Nazarene, Seventh Day Adventist, Jehovah's Witness (500 members, no church building) for a total
Protestant church membership of23,000. There was a 200-member Jewish community (both Orthodox and Refonned).
There were 12 Catholic churches with a combined membership of23,135 or 55.5 percent of the total. The Catholic
churches ran nine parish schools, three academies, Columbia College (now Loras), Clarke College (the only state
women's college offering a B.A. degree). Catholic Charities was organized by 1929. Earlier iTaternal and other
organizations included the Boys Club (1903), YMCA (1866), WYCA (1902), Rotary (1916), Kiwanis (1920), Lions
(1922), Elks (1900), Masonic Lodges (largest with 1,150 members and the oldest), and Knights of Columbus (1900).
Collectively these and a host of other assistance agencies were overwhelmed by the tide of misery that engulfed the city
(1934 Housing Report, pp. 90, 92-93).
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Figure 37: A John Vachon study in contrasts, patriotic advertisement (courthouse tower in background)
and the Great Depression (Library of Congress photo), 1940.
By June 1934 the local relief housing program was in a serious crisis. Landlords were systematically threatening
to evict tenants for nonpayment of rent. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration encouraged the city to request the
Iowa State Planning Board to perfonn a health and housing survey. The sixth such study (the other surveyed cities were
Des Moines, Fort Dodge, Sioux City, Davenport, and Mason City) was carried out during July and August 1934. W. L.
Bierring chaired the study and Leonard Wolf of Ames was project coordinator. Thirteen Dubuquers participated in the
project (1935 Housing Report, pp. 21-22).
Dubuque by 1934 had its "Hoovervilles" on City (Ham's) Island, on the Seventh Street extension. These new
shacks and trailers accounted for 60 percent of the city's renters. There were 729 unfit housing units and another 587
units in need of major improvements. These housed 3,948 residents. Eighty percent of these units were in what were
termed slum areas. Houses without city water numbered 736. Overcrowding, defined as more than one resident per room
in a unit, was found in 800 dwellings, 153 of these being grossly overcrowded. The agricultural crisis, which had its
roots in the early postwar years, contributed to the unemployment and housing crisis as large fann families became
refugees into the city. Some new housing areas such as Fremont Area were beyond the reach of the city sewer system,
while older parts of the city fronted on open sewers. The famous "Canal B" (Sewer" ran down along Kauffinan Avenue
and was enclosed as far as 19th and Elm, but from that point onward, it ran open to the river (1934 Housing Report, pp.
15,33,38-39; July 1934 Housing Report, p. 77; 1935 Housing Report, p. 52).
In keeping with planning theory of the day the report stressed the claim that the slum areas of the city, comprising
ten percent of the total city area, produced 70 percent of juvenile delinquency, 60 percent of major crimes, 30 percent of
all fires, 25 percent of communicable diseases, 52 percent of relief cases (2,000 Dubuque families were on relief) and 80
percent of unfit houses (1935 Housing Report, p. 44).
It is easy to overstate the level of poverty in Dubuque at this time, particularly given the availability of 500+
photos taken in the city c.1940 by photographer John Vachon (1914-75), an employee of the Federal Securities
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Administration (he was a file clerk turned photographer, recruited by Roy Struker to join traveling photo groups who
toured distressed parts of the country). Vachon personified his times by seeking out images that represented the failure of
capitalism to meet the housing and other needs of the many distraught families. Still many of his photos fall short of
depicting levels of absolute distress and the faces of those who posed for him commonly reflect a sense of triumph and
even pride in the humble houses and shacks that they then called home. While Dubuque's experience was likely shared
by other Iowa cities, the situation was exacerbated by the city's previous stagnant growth, the influx of county residence
in response to rural conditions, and the unwillingness ofloyal Dubuquers to leave the city even in the face of
unemployment and distress.
The city offered a range of amenities for those who had the resources to utiÌize them. There were eight theaters,
four ueighborhood skating rinks and a ski jump (opened in 1931), and the Central Fire Station (8th and Iowa, non-extant)
made its third floor gymnasium available for winter basketball and volleyball. Two golf courses catered to the better off,
with Bunker Hill Golf Course being located on the northwest edge of the city, and the Dubuque Golf Club placed on the
west edge. Lacking was a municipal pool and auditorium (July 1934 Housing Report, pp. 85-90).
Increasingly federal assistance found its way to Dubuque. The city was awarded $175,000 by the Works
Progress Administration at the end of 1937 for river improvements, these including barge tenninal and trestle repair, and
harbor and Lake Peosta dredging. A municipal pool, fIrst sought in 1934, was finally built on Hawthorne Street and
opened in June 1937, paid for with $44,000 in WPA funds and $17,000 in local match (Telegraph-Herald, December 10,
1937; WPA, p. 89).
Property Type Discussion:
Associated properties include federal assistance projects such as the Lock & Dam Number 11, the Federal Barge
Terminal, the municipal pool (if extant).
World War II and Dubuque:
Today the World War IT years are rapidly being transformed into myth. It is important to recall that absent the
surprise on Pearl Harbor, there was no American public conserums on joining this second European war. Strong
isolationist and anti-military feelings remained popular in the still recent aftermath of the First World War. Dubuque
wi1nessed the same earnest and well-intended debates about America's proper response to the events of the late 1930s.
The predecessors of the peace rallies of the late 1960s occUlTed on Dubuque college campuses and in other venues even
as America began its pre-war national defense mobilization. At Sacred Heart Parish, the Marguette Young Mens' Club
held a rally to oppose compulsory military service (Telegraph-Herald, July 26, 1940).
Dubuque's wartime involvement, in addition to its military contributions, was primarily reflected in its industrial
commitment. Dubuque's perceived vulnerability due to its river location led to understandable paranoia. Chain link
fence soon encircled the city water reservoirs and other key security points and armed sentries patrolled against the threat
of an assault on the municipal water supply.
The most evident monument to the war was the Julien Dubuque Bridge. Tills pre-war marvel was rapidly
completed by 1943 at a cost of $3, 120,000. Its completion was made possible because it was a national security asset
(Dubuque, The Birthplace of Iowa, Vol. I,p. 119).
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County and State
A second monument to the war's home front industrial mobilization was the Zebulon Pike Lock and Dam #11.
Completed just prior to the war, the lock and darn system and the nine-foot channel facilitated wartime inland shipping
and made it possible to build larger ocean-going vessels at Dubuque. A notable loss to the city was the demolition of the
monumentallllinois Central Passenger Depot (1888-1944). Its miniscule replacement endured into the 1960s
(Telegraph-Herald, June 25, 1944;).'9
The Dubuque Boat and Boiler Works was located along the southern edge of the Ice Harbor when the war began.
A river survey of riverboat building facilities, conducted in late September 1941, determined that the Dubuque works was
the only one in operation on the Mississippi. Democrat Congressman William Jacobsen, of Clinton was interested in
setting up a boat yard at Clinton. The Dubuque company enjoyed a high rating with the federal military departments
given its 100-year history. The federal government sought to utilize inland boat builders to reduce pressure on coastal
boat building facilities. The plan also promised to absorb unemployed persons who lost their jobs to domestic production
cutbacks. The works had launched the Coast Guard cutters Dogwood and Sycamore in the fall of 1940, one of which was
christened by the Congressman's mother. The first wartime contract was to provide seven "distribution box" or mine-
laying boats. The Ice Harbor was deepened in 1944 at a cost of $7,500. Other Dubuque industries produced products for
the war effort. One company was the only state producer of high-powered binoculars (Des Moines Register, September
28, 1941; Lyon, pp. 215-17, 221; Telegraph-Herald, February 6, 1944, p. 5. co!. 3).
Property Type Discussion:
Associated properties under this sub-theme include the Julien Dubuque Bridge (1943), surviving wartime
industrial contracting plants, and the Lock and Dam Number 11 complex for its river-related war service.
The Early Tourism Industry and Dubuque's SeIfImage:
Dubuque's natural beauty was a drawing card for an emerging tourist industry as early as the late 1800s. Colored
postcards enabled visitors to take their visual memories back home with them. Two developments made in the 1920s and
1930s, the construction of hard surface roads and the introduction of color photographic film for the home camera user,
dramatically increased tourism, particularly visitation linked to the fall colored leaves showings. The billboard image
shown above attests to an early recognition of the economic and promotional potential of tourism in the Dubuque area.
The "good roads" movement opened inland communication with Dubuque's eastern hinterlands only by 1930 by
which time it had "a paved road to Chicago" and a hard surface road between Eagle Point and Dickeyville, Wisconsin.
Dubuque-- Past, Present and Future spoke to the topographical disadvantage of the city as it related to road building:
Dubuque is down on the maps of the railway surveyors and the highway engineers s a difficult county,
but the paved highway has destroyed our isolation. A physical or topographical disadvantage from which
we suffered from the date of Dubuque's settlement almost until the dawn of the present decade has all
but vanished. It will have disappeared altogether with the completion of pending improvements in
Dubuque and adjoining counties (Dubuque-- Past, Present and Future, 1930, p. 8).
39 The city as of 1942 was served by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific, the Chicago Great Western, the Chicago,
Bnrlington and Quincy and the Illinois Central railroads. There were also 30 inter-city truck lines and seven inter-city bus lines in
operation. City Island was the site of the municipal airfield, relocated to that flood-prone site ITom Nutwood Flying Field, which dated
ITom 1928. The latter was too far ITom the city and was located between two ridges (WPA History, pp. 53, 89-90).
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Continuation Sheet
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County, Iowa
County and State
Figure 38: Motor to Scenic Dubuque, Iowa, On The Mississippi River
1929 Chamber of Commerce Billboard in Illinois
(Dubuque Business, February 1930, p. II)
Perhaps the meanest description of Dubuque dates to 1964 when a Des Moines Register article "Dubuque: An
Old City With A New Outlook" noted that until a few years previously, Dubuque was "a medieval-like city ruled by the
church, the aristocracy and the merchants." Social change is said to have impacted the city beginning with the end of
World War II. Ethnic rivalries, Irish versus Catholic, had finally faded in the 1920s and were replaced with religious
ones, Protestant versus Catholic. After the war, labor versus management conflicts supplemented these religious
animosities. The city was also geographically divided into two conflicting camps, those who lived atop the bluffs and
those who didn't. Class was further determined by membership in the Dubuque Country Club with a 400-family
membership, or the Shooting Park which was the flatland equivalent, an invitation only social organization with 100
members (Des Moines Register, August 17, 1964).
George Shane, writing in 1954, lauded the city's attributes,.noting Dubuque had "an abundance of tradition,
glamour, the best of the state's nineteenth century architecture, atmosphere, and among many other items a shot tower
and the world's shortest cable car railway." The latter, still charging a nickel for a lift, claimed to have carried seven
million passengers since its 1882 inception (Des Moines Register, June 13, 1954).
The provision of good roads and the growing popularity of seasonal fall tourism made Dubuque a regional
destination point during the pre- and post-war years. The city also drew artists and historians. The Historic American
Engineering Record program visited the city during the late 1930s and documented the Shot Tower and the Edward
Langworthy Octagon House.
ProPerty Type Discussion:
Associated properties would include the range of period tourist attractions, particularly the Shot Tower, Council
Ring, Julien Dubuque Grave, Eagle Point Park (including its Prairie style architecture), and the Fourth Street Elevator.
The Catholic Church iu Dubuque:
The continuing strong spiritual and community role played by the church manifested itself in several ways. First
and foremost was the emergence of a broader community wide parochial school system that replaced the earlier church
parish based schools. Second, community bettennent and relief efforts were increasingly addressed by a range of church-
based ÍÌ'aternal and community bettennent organizations. Third, the existing impressive array of Catholic educational
institutions were further improved and developed. Finally, archdiocese bishops continued to dominate the faithful, most
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa 1833-1955
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County and State
notably in their efforts to suppress the German culture, and during the late 1930s by supporting the America First
movement which favored retaining military resources at home to first arm national forces (Wilke, p. 419).
The fonnal establishment of the modern parochial school system dated to 1922 but non-public schools were
educating the vast majority of children long before that. As of 1916 there were 11,427 children in the city and just 3,152
of these, 27 percent, were in public schools. A diocesan superintendent was appointed and by 1942 there were ten
elementary schools in operation (WPA, pp. 73-74).
By 1934 Dubuque was known as the "Rome of the West" and its Catholic population comprised 55.5 percent of
the city's population (the church and institutional count is given below in the Depression discussion). Three of 12
churches were located in the suburbs (1934 Housing Report, p. 90).
ProPerty Type Discussion:
The several Catholic colleges evolved into their modern forms during these years. These were successively
renamed and expanded, becoming Loras and Clarke colleges. Substantial new buildings built include the armory-like
gymnasium and chapel buildings at Loras, the several additions to Mary of the Angels Home (61b and Bluff), Holy Ghost
Church, the Sacred Heart School, the Michael Hollenfelz House, 1651 White (1891, NRHP) housed the boys parochial
high school prior to the construction of replacement buildings.
Big Storms Strike Dubuque:
Mother Nature redoubled her efforts to wash the city into the Mississippi during this period of time. Tremendous
freshets down the many "hollers" of the city pre-dated the arrival ofhurnankind of any description. Heavy rains (more
than three inches in a 24-hour period) routinely damaged streets and flooded basements. The pattern of these heavy rains
was uneven. Between 1874 and 1881 there were nine such storms. Between 1882 and 1910 there were just six, yet
between 1911 and 1919 there were seven stonns of that magnitude (the records were 5.23 inches on August 18-19, 1912
and 5.22 inches on August 16-17, 1918; the 1876 record was 4.55 inches) (Twentieth Annual Year Book of Agriculture,
1920, pp. 700-703). The following major storms were documented in the issues of the annuallowa Yearbook of
Agriculture:
January 30-February 2, 1915: Everything was coated with solid ice by the end of January ("the brick
buildings...looked like marble"). Five inches of snow and slush buried the downtown car lines and phone and
telegraph poles broke under the weight of the ice. Damage was estimated at $50,000 (Sixteenth Annual Year
Book of Agriculture, 1915, pp. 599-600).
July 9, 1919: This was the worst rains stonn since July 4, 1876 (the year of the Rockdale flood and 40 fatalities,
5.4 inches in 24-hours) in tenns of damage and loss oflife, although the total precipitation was just 3.87 inches
(this stonn delivered the most rain in two-hours time, 3.03 inches in storms since 1911). The death toll in 1919
was seven persons, five of these being picnickers at Union Park. Two more were lost in the Bee Branch sewer.
"Waterway" streets were damaged to a "surprisingly great" degree. Kaufi:nan Avenue was destroyed as was a
large portion of West Locust. Eighth Street lost its brick surface for several blocks, and wood pavers on Couler
above 181b Street were more readily carried off. Total damages were estimated at $125,000, the street damages
alone accounting for four-fifths of this total (Twentieth Annual Year Book of Agriculture, 1920, pp. 700-703).
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa. 1833-1955
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County and State
March.Aprill920 Mississippi River Flood: This was the worst flood since 1888 and the earliest flood of this
magnitude on record. Nine days of warning enabled farmers to remove stock and farm machinery from the
islands. The industries in South Dubuque were hardest hit and the railroads dumped fill for a week to save their tracks,
nmning trains through water which covered them. The Wisconsin approach to the Eagle Point bridge was closed
off and almost washed out. Damages totaled $125,000 (Twenty-first Annual Year Book of Agriculture, 1920, pp.
635-637).
April 12-21, 1922 Mississippi River Flood: Heavy rains and rapid snow melt produced flood levels equaled only
three other times in the previous 50 years (the records were, in descendÌng order, 21.7 feet (1880),21.4 feet
(1888),21 feet (1920, 1922), 19.8 feet (1916). The river opened for navigation in March but remained high up
until the fmal rise. High winds on April 19 increased losses and removed 14 summer houses from the islands.
Losses totaled $154,000 (Twenty-third Annual Year Book of Agriculture, 1922, pp. 576.577).
June 14.15, 1925, Storm and freshets: Four area storms over the period June 11-24 claimed ten lives and caused
$1,888,000 in damages. During the night of the 14-15, 3.15 inches of rain fell during a six-hour period.
Municipal losses to pavements, sewers, and the accumulation of debris were just $15,000 but the real damage
was the loss of Chicago, Great Western Railroad services for two weeks. The lllinois Central Railroad was shut
down for four days (Twenty-sixth Annual Year Book of Agriculture, 1925, pp. 407-409).
September 8-9, 1927 Hailstorms: Two ice storms delivered 5.46 inches of half-inch hail within a five hour, four
minute time period. Flooding destroyed West 8th Street and Central Avenue between 24th and 32nd streets. The
northeast part oftown was most damaged and losses totaled one death and $25,000 (Twenty-eighth Annual Year
Book of Agriculture, 1927, pp. 473-473).
March 3 I-April 1, 1929 Ice storm: Ice damaged trees and isolated the city "so far as wire communication is
concerned" for two-four days. Total damages, largely to telephone facilities, were $100,000 but much business
was lost due to communications interruptions and train delays (Thirtieth Annual Year Book of Agriculture, 1929,
pp. 525-526).
Property Type Discussion:
Associated structures include those built to control the damage caused by these freshets.
Postscript, Dubuque's Recent History, 1956-2000:
While this study is not charged with describing Dubuque's history after 1955, a few words are offered for these
recent years 'if only because Dubuquers require it. Unlike most Iowans, they live lives which are infused with the echoes
of the past and it wouldn't do to simply stop dead, way back in 1955.
Dubuque As A Special Place:
The National Democrat observed in 1876 "An advantage of Dubuque, first noticed when the weather station was
put up, is the fact that the wind here is seldom if at all so strong as elsewhere here about and in the state. That of course
is news to Dubuquers who find their city well ventilated by the winds and as cold as any comparable other place that they
know of." "Dubuque of Today," written in 1887, noted that the city was outside of the wind belt, and was "sheltered by a
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa 1833-1955
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County and State
series of supervening elevations." The city therefore suffered no risk of tornadoes! Even the weather makes an exception
for Dubuque! Rhomberg and Couler Valley residents chuckle upon hearing this marvelous claim. The physical isolation
of the city did have a critical impact on television reception. From the start, all television was delivered through cable
and as of 1968 ten television channels were available, far more than anywhere else in the region (National Democrat,
January 13, 1876; "Dubuque: An Old City With A New Outlook," Des Moines Register, October 25,1964; October 27,
1968; Dubuque of Today, p. 9).
As of the early 1960s, the changes which had their roots in post-World War II American culture, continued to
have their influences in Dubuque, as they did everywhere else. Historic inter-denominational barriers fell when Catholic
priests joined the formerly all-Protestant Dubuque Ministerial Association. A new management class was emerging in
the city. Catholic Charities joined the United Fund in 1960. Catholic-Protestant and labor/management antagonisms had
replaced the German-Irish mutual intolerance of the 19th century. Catholics and Protestants were commercially
segregated, there were two ice companies for example. There was an understanding that the school board would always
include three Catholics and four Protestants. There was a two-tiered upper class, defmed by membership in either the
Dubuque Country Club or the Shooting Park. Republicans were on the rebound. Eisenhower carried city and county in
1952 and 1956, as did Kennedy in 1960, but Republican turnout in the city was higher than the rest of the county in 1950
and 1960. By 1964 the Republicans could offer a full candidate slate for the first time in years and three of five council
seats were claimed by the party. There was even a change in baseball. In 1963 the city briefly had two minor league
teams, placing the city in the same "league" as Chicago, Los Angeles and New York (Des Moines Register, October 25,
1964; October 27, 1968).
Some things of course stayed the same. The city led the state in beer conswnption and the per capita annual beer
conswnption level of34.7 gallons didn't county any drinking across the river in East Dubuquel Dubuque itselfboasted
no nightclubs despite this figure and it remained, commercially, a "town of comer groceries." Four out of every ten
families had lived in their present house for at least 25 years. Parochial schools served 10,259 students while public
schools had 7,007. The city boasted of its low property taxes that were due in large part to the self-funding parochial
school system (Des Moines Register, October 25, 1964; October 27, 1968).
The city boasted 107 manufacturers, a quarter of which had been established after 1945. John Deeres, with 3,500
jobs, was six miles north of the city on the Peru bottoms and paid no city taxes. The first salvo in what would be a series
of economic set backs, was the 1962 closing of the historic sash and millwork firm, Farley & Loetscher, with 600 jobs
lost. The growing popularity of aluminwn doors was credited with its demise. Its counterpart, Carr-Adams became
CARADCO and developed a range of new products. Dubuque had always sought high-paying skilled jobs in its
industrial recruitment. By this time, the city's industrial park was being substantially infilled (Des Moines Register,
October 25, 1964; October 27, 1968).
Urban renewal dominated city planning beginning in early 1967. A single vote council margin accepted the
federal contract and $12,500,000 was expended to relocate 158 businesses and 36 families out of a l5-block area between
4th and 9'" Locust and Center streets. A total of 128 buildings were demolished over a four-year period.. As always, the
need to renew the downtown was driven by the construction of the city's first suburban mall, Kennedy Mall. Kennedy,
opened April 15, 1970, was the state's largest enclosed mall with 60 stores. A political battle royal40 in 1965 had ousted
40 Recall that a hallowed Dubuque tradition is fighting over any major infiastructural change. Be it a four-lane street, a new bridge,
belated need for an Iowa approach to the new Highway 61 bridge, there will be delays due to these mutually well-intentioned
squabbles.
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County and State
two council members when they refused a rezoning request for a west-end shopping center and the new council had
okayed the request a year later. One of the principal justifications in the downtown renewal project was the 1965
downtown survey fmding that many of the downtown firms "didn't need to be there." The same report found just 6.6
percent of downtown buildings to be "sound." Nine wholesale firms in particular could operate outside of the "prime
shopping area" without any difficulty. Seized with the vision of an exclusive downtown retail area, planners ignored the
historical reality that the downtown had always intermixed commercial, jobbing, professional and retail functions.
Curiously, the option of relocating displaced firms to the industrial park was not an option because it was reserved for
new industrial prospects. The 1950s park now boasted 21 firms but still have 50 vacant acres available for development.
Already, the downtown accounted for less than half of the city's retail sales ("A lO-Million Dubuque Plan," Des Moines
Register, March 5, 1967; Des Moines Register, October 27, 1868).
The flood of 1965 redefined the city's relationship to the Mississippi River. The idea had been strongly opposed
in the 1950s and other cities like Davenport had refused to obstruct their riverfronts with a massive dike. In 1953
residents defeated a $2,000,000 bond issue to build a floodwall. Dubuque Packing Company then proceeded to protect
its own interests with a private wall. The 1965 flood set an all-time water level record of26.8 feet. Now convinced,
Senator John Culver led the charge in securing $11,000,000 for a comprehensive floodwall system. Begun in 1968 and
finished in 1971, the system was credited with saving $4,000,000 in damages during the 1973 flood. Additional paybacks
certainly came in other flood years like 1993. One other direct benefit was the complete infilling of the industrial park.
Fear of flooding had retarded its completion and the floodwall eliminated that threat (Lyon, pp. 160-61).
The city was well positioned as of this time to serve as a "cultural, medical, commercial and recreational center"
for its multi-state 50-square mile region. Half of the city's workers commuted from Southwest Wisconsin. Major
infrastructural investments were fmally underway. In addition to the urban renewal project, $15 million was going into
sewage treatment and water system improvements. The floodwall was to be completed by 1971 and a new Mississippi
River bridge and interstate highways were to be finished by 1985. One profound change was an increase in city property
taxes. For years low property taxes had been a featured lure for prospective businesses. Explosive growth in the public
school system changed all this. Mergers and the substantial shift of parochial students into the public school system
resulted in a four-fold budget increase in the public school budget between 1959 and 1968. Hempstead High School was
built 1968-69 along with two new elementary schools and a new junior high school was planned for by the 1980s.
Growth was so explosive that a state of emergency was declared and school contracts were awarded without the usual
bidding procedure. The parochial school system was particularly facing financial pressures and the public school system
shared classroom space with it and for two years the Academy of the Visitation was leased for use as an annex to
Washington Junior High. On the college level, Clarke and Loras colleges and the University of Dubuque, with a total of
3,000 students, had begun to share services to cut rising operational costs. The three city seminaries, Presbyterian,
Catholic and Lutheran, were pooling library resources. The parochial school system experienced its own record growth
under the leadership of Archbishop Leo Binz, who served as the sixth Dubuque Archbishop from 1954-62. During those
eight years parochial emollment jumped from 23,000 to 40,000. A $25,000,000 renovation was expended and eleven
high schools, including Wahlert, were built. Politically Republicans were dominant in the state legislature, representing
Dubuque beginning in 1966. On the presidential level, Democrats again triumphed in 1964 and 1968 ("Dubuque's
Future: A Changing Pattern;" Des Moines Register, October 27, 1968; February 21, 1969; Lyon, pp. 35, 112-13,239).
Three downtown department stores, Younkers, Roshek's and Montgomery Ward, joined in the westward rush as
suburban sprawl was fostered by record house building. The urban renewal record was a mix of success and unrealized
potential. Three blocks of the 38-acre project area remained undeveloped as of 1979. The $5,000,000 Five Flags Civic
Center was opened in early April 1979 and was located next to the restored Five Flags Theater. Downtown retail sales
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County and State
imploded after the big stores left, dropping fTom $50.3 million in 1967 to just $33.1 million in 1971. The city served a
nine-county (three states) retail and services market. Three new motels, all constructed 1974-79, offered 380 rooms for a
developing tourist trade. The downtown boasted an eight-square block pedestrian mall and two parking ramps and the
city was selected to participate in the National Main Streets Center Urban Demonstration Program. Absent still, was
modern highway access to the downtown and even optimistic highway planners anticipated "Highway 561" to be built in
1984-85 ("This is Dubuque" "A Dubuque 'Horse Race' For New Mall," Des Moines Register, November 18, 1979).
The city's industrial jobs were perilously concentrated in two firms, Dubuque Packing (3,000 jobs) and Jolm
Deere (7,000 jobs). Thirty-one other firms accounted for just 1,500 manufacturipgjobs as of 1976. The labor union at
Dubuque Pack made wage concessions in 1980 but 530 jobs disappeared in late 1981. That year the county had the
state's highest unemployment level, 8 percent. Hundreds of homes were up for sale but found no takers. The 1980
recession had been followed by no recover when bad had turned to worse. The Deere workforce was down to 6,500 with
1,700 on long-term layoffs. Celotex announced an eight-month long-term layoff for its 141 workers just before
Christmas 1981. That fall, a major downtown department store, Stampfers, closed its doors. The packing plant, its
workforce reduced to 1,200 jobs, closed in mid-October 1982. The news, accordingly to the Register, struck the
"economically tortured city of62,000.. .like a bombshell." The city already had 4,100 unemployed, 14.7 percent of the
workforce (Des Moines Register, April 13, 1982).
A political revolt took place beginning in 1980. The city returned to the ward system (four wards, two at large
council seats) and the mayor was to be elected at large. Jim Brady, a young motorcycle-riding schoolteacher, was elected
mayor two years later. A year later in 1982 an entirely new council was elected on a "populist" ticket that responded to
record unemployment, a commitment to the "status quo," city budget cuts and what was said to be poor industrial
recruitment efforts and expenditures. Outsiders alleged a "symbiotic relationship" between the city council and the
Chamber of Commerce, which oversaw the economic development campaign. Brady enjoyed a record term of service as
mayor (Dubuque had only single-term mayors between 1927 and 1982, with but three exceptions, all of which were just
two-year terms and just one of which postdated 1935) ("'Outsiders' Get Inside Dubuque City Hall," Des Moines
Register, December 27, 1981; Ibid., April 14, 1982; Know Dubuque).
The downtown anchor stores didn't guarantee survival by moving to the mall. Ward's closed in early 1983 after
50 years of serving Dubuque. Gone were 130 jobs, half of these being full-time. The state's last operating brewery,
Pickett's, also shut down in mid-1983. Founded as Dubuque Star Brewery in 1898, it became Pickett's in 1971.
Competition with trademark labels took its toll in the late 1970s. The downtown lost yet another department store in
1990 with the failure of Armstrong's (Des Moines Register, February 10, May 21, 1983; Lyon, p. 239).
The new council and mayor led the move to establish a west suburban industrial park with generous tax
abatement incentives. Apart fTom relocating two local firms to the new site, little was immediately gained. A loss to
history was the demolition of the A. Y. McDonald factory and office, which was demolished for the new Highway 61. It
was one of the Radford Road Industrial Park accessions with a $9.9 million new facility. This second industrial park,
containing 236 acres, was purchased in 1980 to relocate displaced Highway 61 industries. Worse, federal funding for
bridge access to the new highway/fTeeway 561 was lost as locals debated where best to put the bridge. The state
purchased the old Eagle Poirtt Bridge in 1979 and dismantled it in 1982 in anticipation of the 1982-83 new bridge
construction. The bridge was one of the last privately owned Mississippi River bridges (Des Moines Register, January
10, September 14, 1982; Dubuque, The Birthplace of Iowa, Vol. n, p. 144; Lyon, p. 121).
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City promoters tested various slogans. The "Five Flags" theme was popular during the 1970s and by 1983 the
working theme was "Dubuque, A Place to Live." Ken Pins was the Des Moines Register's Dubuque reporter from 1980-
83. Pins, while not a Dubuquer (he noted one wasn't a true Dubuquer unless your ancestors arrived at the city "in an
oxcart"), he could claim the county as his place of origin. He penned his farewell Register column at the end of 1983.
Pins noted that Dubuque was "one of the largest cities in the Midwest still adrift from the mterstate highway network
[and the] economic development mainstream." Continued isolation was attributable to "local squabbling" over the route
in the early 1970s. Federal funds had dwindled and help wasn't coming from Des Moines given that the "officialdom in
Des Moines treats [Dubuque] like an unwanted stepchild." Historically, in Pins' opinion, Dubuque was and had been
"stable to a fault" failing to capitalize on both its early assets, embodied in its early leading status as the state's largest
city, as well as on later opportunities. East Dubuque made available the bars and strip-joints which were unwelcome
west of the river. The city had a low crime rate, large families who stayed put, and young newlyweds who reduced the
ranks of the local singles crowd. Still the city was "esthetically pleasing.. . [with a] Courier and Ives feeling in new-fallen
snow" and its many differences in sum were Dubuque's "greatest assets" ("Dubuque-It's A Lot More Than 'A Place To
Live," Des Moines Register, December 18, 1983).
By the mid-1980s the city had nowhere to go but up. A 1984 promotional sheet titled "Welcome to Dubuque"
admitted "here in the wake of national economic downturns the City has had to fall back, regroup and begin anew." The
city's "many facets," retail, service and industry and a "budding tourism industry" combined to make Dubuque a key
center. New or recent improvements included "a unique urban shopping street," a library expansion, a new paramutual
racetrack, a first class civic center, new highways, and a modern industrial park. mdustrial employment was not stressed,
and the fact that 70 percent of the city's workforce was not in industry. Durable manufacturing still accounted for two-
thirds of industrial jobs though, a continuing Dubuque tradition. The city owned its water, sewer and transit services
(Welcome To Dubuque, October 1984).
Municipal Growth:
Figure 39 documents the post-World War II population boom that the city belatedly enjoyed. Dubuque broke
through the 50,000-population barrier after 1950, and the 60,000 level prior to 1970. Subsequent job erosion forced even
loyal Dubuquers to go elsewhere and population counts fell to 1960 levels by 1990. The population loss after 1980 was
not unique to Dubuque, it was a statewide pattern.
Dutx.Ique's Population, 1930-1990
eo,OO3
00,003
4{),OO3
'2fJ,OO3
0
"1900" "194(1' "19&1' "1æ::1' "197C1' "100<:r "1æ1'
CeI1$ltS Year
Figure 39: Dubuque's post-1930 population trends (chart, Jacobsen)
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Continuation Sheet
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
New residential construction during 1956 comprised 5 I percent of all construction. Religious building (Greek
Orthodox Church, Holy Ghost School, St. Colwnbkille's School, Maria Josita Hall at Clarke College, totaled $1,945,000)
Accounted for 35 percent. They "for the most part are of conventional design and constructed on definite plans. There
were many imposing and many fine mediwn priced houses constructed with many extras to add to better living." The
new houses no longer had garages behind them and the newer subdivisions lacked alleys. The house plans were "spread
across the lot with a breezeway and attached garage." Panels with intricate designs replaced the "blank look" of the early
side-by-side garages. Three bedrooms predominated with one larger master bedroom (Telegraph-Herald, May 24, 1957).
The 1980 federal Census of Housing docwnented a city with high proportions of both old and new housing.
Table 13 provides a 1980 housing breakdown based on the age of housing units (not single family houses but all units):
Table 13: Dubuque Age of Housing, 1980:
Period Unit Count Percentage of Total
Pre-1939 12,577 33%
1940-59 5,877 16%
1960-69 4,796 13%
1970-74 3,119 8%
1975-80 11.199 30%
37,567 100%
The post-1939 figures are inflated by the inclusion of multi-unit apartments. These were commonly built after 1962. In
more recent years very large apartment complexes were built although these postdate the 1980 figures. As of 1980 renter-
occupied units accounted for just 22 percent of all households. The high annual new house start counts occurred in the
face of population stagnation and decline between 1970 and 1990. The population grew by 63 persons between 1970 and
1980 and then decreased by 4,836 in the next ten years, an eight percent decline (Metropolitan Housing Characteristics,
Dubuque, Iowa, 1980 Census of Housing).
Table 14: Annual Construction Data, 1956-1999:
Year Total Coostroction New Residential Construction
Total Valne Total Non- Nnmber New Total Value New Mnlti-family
Residential SfF Honses Houses Notes: (excludes misc. pennits)
1956 $5,500,000 233 $2,837,500 792 total bldg. permits
1957 $7,496,35S 207 $2,566,000 1/$20,000 695 oermits
1958 $5,709,934 302 $3,714,500 2/$36,000 771 Permits
1959 $7,97S,026 355 $4,351,500 2/$26,000 734 Permits
1960 $7,607,S75 2S8 $3,599,500 5/$S I ,000 919 Permits
1961 $7,123,412 305 $3,S42,500 4/$77,000 975 permits
1962 $6,869,771 ISI $2,431,500 27/$299,000 1249 permits
1963 $6,070,563 237 $2,951,000 5/$IS5,000 1,009 penni's
1964 $12,1l4,746 321 $4,159,500 5/$152,000 928 Permits
1965 $10,323,036 159 $2,1l2,OOO I 1/$220,000 1,076 Permits
1966 $IS,506,645 261 $3,683,000 9/$685,000 1,250 ncrmits
1967 $14,126,416 193 $2,716,000 I 1/$263,000 766 permits
1968 $13,523,058 170 $2,47S,000 12/$32S,OOO 762 pennits
1969 $13,623,656 167 $2,2SS,000 26/$7S4,OOO 712 permits
1970 $S,507,O04 105 $1,624,000 28/$I,724,9S9 7S9 Permits
1971 $13,274,901 123 $1,750,000 28/$3,067,064 841 Permits
1972 $10,096,963 129 $2,llO,OOO 10/$1,231,000 S04 permits
1973 $15,143,139 141 $2,642,000 2/$1,710,000 8S2 permits
ps Fo'm to.9OO.,
1"".8.86'
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMBApP'mINo.l024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page.-!,g
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
1974 $15,111,037 215 $4,796,455 7/$2,240,200 906 permits
1975 $26,306,371 219 $5,167,500 23/$1,492,000 932 permits
1976 $23,427,645 169 $4,755,000 25/$2,021,500 1,116 permits
1977 $22,167,160 219 $8,148,126 26/$2,034,931 1,375 nermits
1975 $26,954,444 176 $7,133,746 4/$1,967,834 1,437 nermits
1979 $29,849,624 167 $9,623,473 Sf? 1,493 permits
(all new residential)
1980 $16,750,OS7 73 ~~;9;;';'0;e~identia1) 2f? 1,160 permits, total of37,5671iving
units as of 1980 census
19S1 $15,425,630 16 $1,361,769 0 913 permits
1982 $14,567,225 8 $470,739 1/$153,216 1,10Spermits
1983 $20,727,955 13 $1,192,399 0 1,141 permits
19S4 $17,969,793 28 $2,221,673 0 Total includes $10.S million dog trnck
1,268 oermits
19S5 $25,158,507 26 $1,716,9S1 2/$45S,I92 1,278 permits
1986 $21,562,784 72 $5,937,51S 2/$427,000 1,486 permits
1987 $23,448,292 80 I 1,498 Permits
1988 $33,137,154 SS 6 1,46S permits
19S9 $25,154,777 9S II 1,35S permits
1990 $56,665,609 llO 7 1,401 permits
1991 $32,S27,288 ll6 15 1,360 nermits
1992 $43,404,890 170 9 1,402nermits
1993 $56,977,536 126 21 1,526 Permits
1994 $50,134,480 105 32 4,133 permits
1995 $59,816,324 S4 23 6,043 permits
1996 $73,200,487 65 22 2,334 permits
1997 $32,985,IS9 57 9 1,440 Permits
1995 $46,851,024 67 6 1,214 Permits
1999 $70,322,883 54 II 1,266nermits
The Historic Preservation and Heritage Tourism Programs in Dubuque:
Dubuque in its totality has always been its own self-conscious historic preservation program. While many
preservation purists despair of local preferences for replacement siding, downsized windows, and the like, the fact
remains that the many generations of residents have preserved much of their built past. Dubuquers are ex1remely loyal to
their community, and are particularly loyal to their neighborhoods and [mally their own family homes. Nowhere else are
houses so commonly retained in the same family generation after generation. This s1rong association with the special
qualities of place is the very essence of historic preservation. A real measure of this collective loyalty to the past is found
in the reuse of properties by successive religious and public institutions as well as in retention of early downtown church
edifices by the main line churches.
Dubuque's sense of history was naturally reflected in a broad range of commemorative preservation efforts which
dated to the late 19th century. The Julien Dubuque monument (1897) is the premier example, as is the removal of the
1833 log house to Eagle Point Park. The Dubuque County Historical Society embodied the movement in its preservation
of the Ham House.
Richard Hemnan (1849-1941) was a cen1ral figure in the early development of Dubuque's historic icons.
Hermann was a German-born immigrant (to the US in 1859) and was the youngest member and last survivor of the Old
Settlers' Association. He led fund raising efforts to build the Julien Dubuque monument and it was he who excavated
Dubuque's grave. He founded and operated the "Museum of Natural History" (2419 Cen1ral Avenue) and authored a
book on Julien Dubuque's life (Lyon, p. 199).
PS 'oem ,a.900.,
[Rev. 8.861
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OM8 App'ml No. >024-0078
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number l- Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County, Iowa
County and State
The virtual rebuilding of downtown Dubuque challenged historic preservationists. The Victor Gruen &
Associates planning study and reconnnendations report, fonnally adopted by the City Council in early 1966, was largely
implemented by 1970. The plan guided urban renewal and laid the groundwork for a new Mississippi River bridge and a
new airport. The same plan, citing a Dubuque tendency to use, discard and abandon older housing, reconnnended the
rehabilitation of older neighborhoods and the creation of new downtown housing (Lyon, p. 186).
Urban Renewal during the late 1960s focused connnunity attention on both the reality of change and the
threatened loss of noted downtown landmarks. The same might be said of the record 1965 flood and the devastation
wrought by the Dutch Elm disease. Efforts to preserve particular buildings and landmarks connnonly reflected the efforts
of concerned individuals rather than a fonnally organized pro-preservation movement. An early example was the
retention of the second Town Clock and its incorporation into Town Clock Plaza in 1971 (the state's first open-air tree
lined pedestrian mall). Now as efforts are underway to reopen Main Street, and an offer was made by the finn that
restored the Town Clock Building (823 Main, NRHP) to move the town clock back to its original rooftop location and to
maintain it as it wasn't being maintained in its new site. Several times earlier in the century citizens had rallied to
prevent the clock's removal, claiming its landmark status. Now, citizens again rallied against bringing the clock home,
because the clock was now a landmark at its new location (Lyon, pp. 130, 139,451).
Wayne Andrew Norman is called the "godfather of historic preservation" in Dubuque. An ISU-trained engineer,
Nonnan saw economic potential in underused or vacant properties. His efforts saved the Orpheum Theater and the Ryan
House and he fonned a corporation that purchased and then resold 18 buildings in what was to become the Cable Car
Square historic district. Norman was also an excellent fundraiser and his efforts financed the Five Flags Center. He
played a leading role in establishing the Fred W. Woodward River Boat Museum and successfully restored the clock
tower to the City Hall (Lyon, p. 331).
J. Bruce Meriwether is credited by Randolph Lyon with pulling the city out of its economic sluinp in the 1970s.
Meriwether also raised the funds to pay for the Welton-Becket economic study of Dubuque and that report reconnnended
both economic diversification and the development of a strong tourism industry. Ham House Director Jerry Enzler
contributed to this emerging tourism movement by successfully securing grant funds to establish the Fred W. Woodward
River Front Museum and the National Rivers Hall of Fame (Lyon, pp. 140,305).
A fonnal municipal planning program dates to late 1962 and a historic preservation sub-section of that program
emerged during the early 1970s. Larry Sonnner was employed in the planning office and was apparently charged with
the historic preservation beat. Historic preservation as a component of local planning became an issue when residents of
the Fourth Street Elevator neighborhood petitioned for the allowance of small-scale connnercial and office uses in an area
that was restricted to residential use. The city zoning program provided for a "professional office zone" overlay that
allowed residents to apply for a special pennit. In this manner, history and architecture were adopted as planning
components within the zoning program. Sonnner reconnnended a broader historical study and the development of a
citywide historic preservation policy. The Fourth Street Elevator area was the first part of the city that was recommended
as being significant and the Five Flags Theater was similarly singled out as an individually important building (Lawrence
J. Sonnner, "Possibilities for Development, Dubuque's West Fourth Street Vicinity;" Dubuque: Dubuque Planning and
Zoning Commission, December 1972; "The Fourth Street Elevator Area: An Infonnal Report, 1973,"Dubuque: Dubuque
Planning and Zoning Commission, February 1973; and "The Heritage of Dubuque: A Preliminary Study of Historic
Preservation Needs and Opportunities," Dubuque: Dubuque Planning and Zoning Connnission, March 1974).
PO F"m ¡D.9OO."
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United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OM8APP'o"'No.1024-oo18
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number --L- Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
Seven "potential preservation areas" or what are now tenned historic districts were identified when the first
survey findings were analyzed. Note that all of these were residential clusters and no commercial or industrial clusters
were identified. District #1, the West 3ro Street Area (the intersection of West 3ro and Alpine), was later enlarged as the
Langworthy District and is now a locally designated historic district. District #2, "Fenelon Place Area" (the junction of
Fenelon Place and Summit) has yet to be designated in any fonn, as is the case with District #6, the "Broadway Street
Area." District #3, the "West 4th Street Area" (just seven buildings to the north of the elevator, and the Cathedral
buildings) was the initial core of what became the Cathedral Historic District (NRHP). District #4, "West 11th Street
Area," (included the easternmost Loras College buildings and was focused on Loras Blvd., Highland and Grove Terrace)
is a locally designated historic district. District #5, the "Jackson Park Area" was listed on the National Register largely
using this same initial boundary. District #7, the "Washington Street Area" was included in a broader district that was
recommended as a result of the Phase III survey in 2003. The Kriviskey survey of 1978 would substantially enlarge the
recommended boundaries for the Cathedral and West Third (now called Langworthy) districts. The seventh district was
not sustained by that survey but it was re-surveyed in 2002-03 by James Jacobsen and Molly Myers Nawnann, as the
"Old Town District" and recommended for National Register listing. That same team also recommended an industrial
district for National Register eligibility.
The first citywide historical and architectural survey was completed during the winter of 1973 and the spring of
1974 and it produced a fairly exhaustive list ofthe best historical buildings and the seven potential districts depicted in
Figure 40. Unlike many early surveys, this one was inclusive of all types of properties, covered the full range of
architectural importance from the vernacular to the best architect's designs, and took into account tailor-made local
-~-
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United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OM8 Appm",¡ No. 1024.0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number -É- Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
historical contexts or themes. A total of500 buildings were included in this first survey list and an impressive 39 of these
were evaluated as being of exceptional (read state or national level) significance. Just 22 were deemed to be critically
deteriorated. Sommer's draft report, later fonnally published as The Heritage of Dubuque, proposed that the local
historic preservation program had to go beyond zoning and land use planning to be effective. It was issued even as the
city was busily debating the wisdom of retaining the City Hall, County Jail and County Courthouse buildings and it came
even as the first apparent shortfalls of the redeveloped downtown center were being appreciated. Historic preservation
was offered as one way to "fully grasp the potential opportunities for creative rehabilitation" in the downtown (Sommer,
1974, p. 42).
Dubuque's many landmarks were featured in innumerable tourism brochures and newspaper articles. The
establishment of the National Register of Historic Places (Historic Preservation Act of 1966) initiated the fonnal
nomination and listing of many of these properties beginning in the early 1970s. Helen Mercer, president of the Dubuque
County Historical Society and Director of the Ham House Museum, single handedly began to nominate Dubuque
candidates. In June 1991 she was honored by the State Historical Society ofIowa for successfully placing a record
number of properties on the National Register. Public landmarks including the courthouse, jail and city hall, the public
library and Washington Park, along with numerous private residences (Ham House, Hollenfelz House, Langworthy
House, McMahon House, were all listed during the 1970s (Lyon, pp. 302-03).
Bruce M. Kriviskey, AlCP, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was contracted in 1978 to survey the architecture ofthe
older portions of the city. He sanctioned six of seven previously identified potential historic districts and added a new
one, the Lower Main Commercial District, three4! of which (Cathedral, Jackson Park, and Old Main) were listed on the
National Register between 1983 and 1986. Kriviskey's assignment was to complete a comprehensive architectural survey
and then to evaluate his findings. He first conducted a "windshield" survey of over 20,000 properties. This literally
meant looking at properties with the trained eye of an architectural historian. The properties were classified into four
categories. The highest was individual significance and eligibility for listing on the National Register. A
"neighborhood" rating indicated that the property contributed to a grouping of properties which merited National Register
listing as a historic district. "Supportive" properties served as a supportive backdrop to districts. They shared the same
materials and massing and time period as did the supportive properties. Finally "non-supportive" actually detracted from
a historic district strength due to irreversible alterations or a recent date of construction. Kriviskey presented his
windshield survey in 1979 in the form of the "Atlas of City-Wide and District Survey Map." Properties in each of 18
districts were coded according to their respective ratings (Kriviskey, pp. 2-3).
The consultant then evaluated the "clusters" of significant properties and identified nine potential historic
districts as noted. He documented each property within these districts with photography and the preparation of a survey
sheet. Kriviskey credits Lawrence Sommer's Heritage of Dubuque as a source but he otherwise made no pretense of
conducting general or property-specific historical research. This was appropriate for an architectural survey of that time.
He estimated construction dates and documented the condition of each property. Kriviskey noted that the nine proposed
districts were not exhaustive but represented the most significant architectural treasures in the best state of integrity and
preservation. The quality of his work is attested by the successful listing of most of his proposed districts. His
evaluations were utilized as a baseline evaluation for the Phase I survey effort. Kriviskey was challenged in his work by
the already prevalent use of replacement metal or synthetic siding and in general he was unable to evaluate these in any
positive manner. He consequently favored brick and concrete block properties (Kriviskey, pp. 4, 7-8).
41 His Third/Alpine District was listed as Langworthy Historic District and his Bluffi'Locust District was combined into Jackson Park
Historic District. The other three were Broadway/Traut, Fenelon Place, and PIospect Street.
oS 'O'm 10.900.a
'Rev. 8.85'
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMB Approv,' No. 1024-001B
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
Kriviskey's work was followed with the establishment of a historic preservation commission in Dubuque.
George Biasi, a local realtor, peTIlled the city's historic preservation ordinance. Additional historic survey work was
accomplished as three alternative rights-of-way for the Northwest Arterial route were surveyed in 1977- 78for their
historical and architectural significance. The actual survey report and environmental impact assessment was finalized in
1986 (Lyon, p. 38; see Till, Hotopp, and Shank).42
Surveys in the Dublin area of southern Dubuque focused both on Irish vernacular properties located along South
Locust and industrial properties located within the Highway 61 project area. The report identified a "Dublin Historic
District" with 75 percent of its 46 properties predating 1880. All ten of the South Locust, the earliest of which dated to
the mid-I 870s, have been demolished (Draft Section 4(f) Statement For Project No. F-561-4...ApriI1981).
A gallant few began to acquire and restore individual historical properties. The "Dubuque Truss and Buttress
Society" was established in 1980 with 17 members, led by Teay and Darryl Mozena. The restoration ranks included Jim
Bainbridge, Rev. Frances Brockman (St. Luke's Church), James J. Byrne, Ted and Marilyn Blanchard, Paul Pekosh, Rob
and Judy McCoy, Frances Menkels and others. The first historic home tour coincided with Dubuque Fest, a celebration
of 150 years of Dubuque history, in mid-May 1983 (Des Moines Register, May I, 1983).
National Register activities during the 1980s focused on nominating the districts identified by Kriviskey's survey.
Considerable effort was made to nominate and list the Catfish Creek and South Dubuque historic lead mining and
prehistoric sites and four archeological districts were listed in 1988. Consultant and Archeologist Dr. Joyce McKay
prepared the nominations and conducted the necessary archeological surveys.
Dubuque's more fonnalized historic preservation movement or program had its roots in the developing tourism
market. Robert Kehl' s many riverfront developments are said to have prompted the development of the tourism industry
in Eastern Iowa beginning in the early 1980s. The 1984 Welton Becket/Peat Marwick Mitchell Study concluded that
tourism offered the best economic development strategy for the city. River-related amenities could be combined with
recreational (the new Greyhound Race Track, which opened June 1, 1985), cultural, artistic and historical ones. There
were two riverboats, the Miss Belle and the Spirit of Dubuque, and the Anny Corps of Engineers steam dredge boat, the
William Black, was a museum attraction in the Ice Harbor. Increasing river recreation led to the more fundamental
redevelopment of the Ice Harbor and the donation of the Burlington and Northern Railroad Freight House to the Dubuque
County Historical Society. The riverboat gambling industry was another byproduct of Kehl's efforts. Tourism naturally
was also a factor in the continuing loss of downtown buildings as new motels arose in anticipation of ever-increasing
numbers of visitors. A welcome center was established in 1991 and the county historical society played a partnering role
in its establishment and operation. By 1991, the tourism industry in Dubuque was at its highpoint. The city was the site
of numerous motion picture projects. The Five Flags Greyhound Park opened on Schmitt Island and there were two bed
and breakfast operations in operation (Lyon, pp. 237, 448-49; Des Moines Register, September 30, 1979).
One measure of Dubuque's special historical richness was its early selection as a filming site for the movie
"FIST" in 1977. "Take This Job And Shove It" was filmed there in 1983. hnage-conscious locals weren't overly pleased
with the depiction of the city and picketers greeted the opening of the latter film (Des Moines Register, July 13, 1983).
42 The Northwest Arterial report, M5037(600)-81-31, issued January 1978 underscores the importance of considering properties
which are just outside of the city limits when Dubuque hiBtory is being considered. This report looked in particular at Union Park, the
homes of Dr. John Goldthorpe, William G. Steward, the S. L. Langworthy farm, and Brewery Cave.
'-'-~'-- .-
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'Rev. 8~86J
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMS App'o~" No. 1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number L- Page-.ill
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa, 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County, Iowa
County and State
Dubuque's belated receipt of arterial and interstate highways and new bridge approaches spawned a series of
historical and archeological corridor surveys. These surveys were necessitated by the use of federal funding. Little
Dublin was the focal point of Consultant Clayton Fraser's documentation of 14 Little Dublin houses along Bluff and
Locust streets in 1986. The widening of Dodge Street and the construction of the Northwest Arterial similarly fostered
studies in north and northwest Dubuque (Lyon, p. 267).
A ten-year hiatus settled upon the local historic preservation movement after 1988, the date for the most recent
National Register listings. Major landmark buildings disappeared and many preservationists were disheartened with
these losses. A demolished historic building is gone forever, while one saved is commonly only temporarily saved. The
current survey and multiple property document project represents a resurgence in the program and a goal to better
preserve and utilize the vast array of surviving historical properties in the city.
Dubuque possesses a truly remarkable array of historical architecture. This architectural treasure chest was duly
noted by Lawrence Sommer, the first architectural historian to comprehensively evaluate the city's buildings. Sommer
noted "Dubuque, perhaps more than any other city in Iowa, maintains the evidence of its past in the architecture of its
neighborhoods, its businesses and industries." The city's long economic hibernation bequeathed to Dubuque a
commiseration prize in the form of historic buildings. Sommer noted
...this long status quo is undoubtedly why so much of Dubuque's nineteenth century architectural
heritage has remained. There was simply no pressure for demolishing many old buildings, but neglect
and decay did take their toll. [modest level domestic architecture dominated during the years 1900-30
and]...even the anonymous vernacular houses of the 1870s and 1880s are more noticeable than the
typical houses of the I nos and 1930s that fill the subdivisions of these later years. Some important
stylistic developments of the early twentieth century do not appear in Dubuque at all.
Specifically, Sommer noted that there are no examples of the late Gothic Revival or Jacobethan Revival styles" (Sommer,
pp. vii, 143),43
James Jacobsen has described the historic architecture of Dubuque as comprising an excellent "historic building
laboratory." The multitude and range of well-preserved historic buildings is accompanied by excellent ranges of
historical photographs as well as other historical documentation. The surviving range of newspapers and the availability
of a one-of-a-kind Works Progress Administration fmanced newspaper card index are the most noteworthy tools for
documenting historic buildings. There are two outstanding historical repositories and research centers, the Dubuque
County Historical Society, and the Center For Dubuque History, located in the new ARC library building at Loras
College.
A relative recent development has been the establislnnent of a demolition review district that includes the
downtown area as well as mixed use areas to the north. Currently building demolition permits must be reviewed and
approved by the Historic Preservation Commission and a number of these permits have been denied.
43 Actually there are examples of the Gothic Revival ÍÌom the I890s. These designs were termed a "modified Gothic" at the time and
they cluster in the north end of Jackson Park, particularly along West 14th Street.
PS 'oem 'O.BOo.,
IR,".8.861
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMBApp,mINo. ,024-001B
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
Context #5, The Architecture And Builders of Dubuque, 1833-1955:
This context examines how architectural type and style were applied and adapted in Dubuque. The best
examples of architectural style and type are presented to íllustrate local architectural trends. The best examples of these
styles and types are individually National Register Eligible under Criterion C for their architectural significance. Local
builders, developers and designers are evaluated for their significance and key surviving examples of their work are
identified in the second part of this context. The most significant of these merit the nomination of their own residences,
workplaces or best works under Criteria A, B or C.
Architectural Types and Styles:
This typology of residential styles and types is based primarily upon Virginia and Lee McAlester's' A Field
Guide To American Houses (New York: Alfred. A. Knopf, Inc., 1984). The complete range of property types is included
in this typology.
Romantic Stvle Houses. 1820-1880:
The romantic styles represented a conscious avoidance of things English following a hard-won independence.
The Greek Revival style was the first of several romantic styles and it enjoyed the most enduring popularity. Beginning
c.I840 other styles with Medieval and Italian origins were introduced and successively rose and fell in popular esteem.
Both the Gothic and Italianate styles persisted beyond the Civil War years and would be reinterpreted as Victorian era
styles during the l880s (McAlester, p. 178).
Adam/Federal Style. 1780-c.1840:
This national style had largely receded in popularity by the time of Dubuque's founding but McAlester
states that it continued to be built as late as 1840. Most commonly this style utilized a two or three-story
rectangular core with a centered entrance on its long dimension, and a side gable/hip roof fonn. A simple fonnal
entryway, usually with elliptical arch and fanlight highlighting and classical sUITound or portico was the only
variation of an otherwise plain and symmetrical façade. McAlester defines four subtypes for this style but all of
the Dubuque examples employ a side gable or parapet roof on a rectangular plan, two or three stories high. Side
gable forms are uniformly closely cropped, often with raised or stepped end walls and end chinmeys (many
chinmeys have been cropped off). The problem in Dubuque is that of distinguishing an Adams example from an
Italianate or vernacular example. Apart from the basic fonn, this style is typically symmetrical in its fenestration
and straight stone lintels are employed. Straight lintels tend to be associated with the earliest masonry buildings
but this is not always the case. Chronology is also a clue for identification, although most of the Dubuque
examples fall within the 1840-1865 timeframe. The Dubuque examples range from shorter three-bay to six bay
facades. This style fits well with a Dubuque architectural preference for side hall rather than center hall plans.
Shorter triple bay side-hall plans include 450 Bluff (1855),474 Bluff (1855),421 Locust (1855), 40
Clarke Drive (Figure 39, no date) and 486 West 4th Street (1856), the last being an unusual center hall example.
Several double bay plans are also found at 56 Bluff (1860), 58 Bluff (1860), 60 Bluff (1860), note that all of
these examples are located in the Cathedral Historic District, and represent some of the earliest surviving city
residences. All of these examples are of brick construction with straight stone lintels.
~--~
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United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMB App,ov,' No. 1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number -É.- Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
Figure 40: 40 Clarke Drive (photo, Sommer,p. 79)
The most recognized four bay example is the J. H. Thedinga house, 340 West 5th Street (1855). It is a
double pen example, has stepped end walls and is also in the Cathedral Historic District. 352-54 Bluff is an even
older fÌame variation, also a duplex or double pen plan (1850). Another brick example is 103 Bluff (1855) also
with stepped end walls.
Figure 41: 1204 Mount Loretta, cottage example (photo, Sommer, p. 50)
1204 Mount Loretta Avenue (Figure 41) is a single-story five bay example with central hall plan. This
example has been classed as a Greek Revival one given the returned eaves but there is no formal entry porch
(Sommer, p. 50-51).
Two-story five bay examples include 371-73 Bluff(1860), 1222-40 Locust (1855), a duplex with high
stepped end walls, 710 Fenelon Place (see Figure 42), and the Cunningham House (690 Fenelon Place, c.1865) is
a five bay hip roof subtype with a straight cornice, features a notable cut stone lintel above its entryway and
rectangular transom lights (photo, Sommer, p. 135). The Cox House is a pure example of the style with hip roof,
straight cornice, transom and sidelights (photo, Sommer, p. 135).
Figure 42: 710 Fenelon Place (photo, Sommer, p. 135)
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Six bay examples include 625 Bluff (c.1868, Cathedral District), 1353-55 Bluff (pre-l 872, Jackson Park
District), 583 Jefferson (pre-l 872), and 559-61 Chestnut (pre-l 889). The latter two examples are in the West 11th
Street District.
Figure 43: 1108-34 Locust Street, 1856 (photo, Downtown Walking Tour)
The three-story plan 1108-34 Locust Street (Figure 43) represents the row house type of this style.
Another example, of three townhouses, is located at 432-48 Bluff (1 857). 1215 Washington Street contains three
houses in a single row house massing. Only the center unit retains its twin donners.
Figure 44: 2327 Central Avenue (1855) (photo by Jim Jacobsen, March 7, 2000)
This example (Figure 44) is a commercial variation of this style, with a hip roof and end chinmeys. This
very early brewery beer-tasting hall exhibits an early cast iron storefront and a row of closely spaced second floor
windows with flat plain stone lintels.
GTeek Revival Style. 1825-60:44
The GTeek Revival style was nationally dominant from 1830-50 and it was also called the "National
Style" accordingly. It persists as late as 1860 in areas that enjoyed rapid development in the pre-Civil War years.
It died out with the economic downturn of the late 1850s and the coming of the war (Sommer, p. 182).
44 Sommer offers other style examples including 2452 Broadway, 713 Lincoln, 1323-25 Bluff and 1163 Highland. The first two
appear to be Italianate examples. A review of the other examples will categorize them.
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This style employed a low-pitched gable or hip roof in either a side gable or front gable orientation.
Greek temple design is reflected in a two-part broad band, which runs beneath the eaves line and substantial
round or square columns, which support a centered entry or full-width front porch. The trim band consists of a
ftieze (top) and an architrave (lower). Columns are usually Doric in style. The front door is commonly
highlighted by flanking sidelights and a transom light. Transoms are rectangular (not in the Georgian fanlight
fonn).
The truest example ofthis style is Solon Langworthy House (Figure 45) (1856) given its full height entry
porch. The brick house originally fronted east towards the Mississippi River. It is now addressed to Alpine
Street, a later street that now runs behind and west of the house. It is deemed to be individually eligible for the
National Register on the basis of its architectural merit.
Figure 45: Solon Langworthy House, 264 Alpine Street (1856)
(photo by Jim Jacobsen, 2003
The Joseph A. Rhomberg House (508 West 7th Street, 1856) originally featured a hip roof rectangular
core surrounded by a full-height wrap-around double-decker porch a roof top belvedere. The house was
colonialized probably prior to World War I and four full-height tapered round columns and a bracketed eaves line
were substituted for its Greek Revival elements. Consequently this prominent bluff top residence no longer
represents its original style. The Welbas House, 2615 Hillcrest Road and the house at 3035 Pennsylvania
Avenue offer similar porch replacements (no images) (Sommer, pp. 46, 51).
Gothic Revival Style, 1840-1880/ Late Gothic Revival, 1880-1900:45
This picturesque style had its origins in England in 1749 and was a reinterpretation of Medieval
architectural themes. The first American example dates to 1832 and was the work of architect Alexander Jackson
Davis, the initial promoter of the style. He published the first known plan book in 1837 which he used to present
three-dimensional examples of his work. Architect Andrew Jackson Downing carried the promotional effort on a
broader scale beginning in 1850. The Gothic Revival was particularly appropriate for a picturesque rural cottage
45 McAlester does not distinguish between these two Gothic Revival periods but the National Register nomination guidelines,
classifying the latter period as a subtype of Late 19th and 20th Century Revival styles. Accordingly, post-1880 examples should be
considered as representing the second Gothic Revival era, but the whole style is addressed in this section.
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setting and it was ill-adapted to construction on a narrow town lot. The style persisted in popularity through
1865 and it was commonly employed during the Civil War years in military chapels, hospitals, officers quarters,
as well as in fairgrounds, parks and cemeteries. It was also popular for public settings such as parks, cemeteries
and fairground. It had two distinct manifestations in Dubuque, in its original fol1ll prior to 1880 and in a
"Modified Gothic" fol1ll during the 1890s. The latter phase added centered through cornice dol1llers, pointed
upper level windows (this phase also used straight headed windows) and open truss work in gable or dol1ller
apexes. Also common in Dubuque examples was the use of polychromatic horizontal bandings fol1lled by the use
of contrasting materials and colors in the building exterior finish. Most of the examples of the latter designs
occUlTed in the northern part of the Jackson Park District, particularly along West 17th Street. A third and very
important subset comprises church and institutional architecture (McAlester, pp 196-97,200).
The pre-eminent example of the style in Dubuque, classified as "steamboat Gothic" by some, is the
Benton M. Harger House, 1207 Grove Teaace, which dates to 1854. Most notable is the bargeboard and pendant
detailing, applied to a symmetrical rectangular core (West II th Street District).
Figure 46: 1207 Grove Terrace, 1854 (photo by J. Jacobsen, 2003)
The Dubuque Female College (Heeb Street, 1854) (Figure 46) is an altered example ofa local landmark. Despite
the changes to be noted it is deemed to be individually eligible for the National Register on the basis of its architectural
merit. The building is an amazing survivor and it has successively housed the college (founded as a result of funding by
the noted Beecher family of New England), a public high school (1862+), the Episcopalian Lee Female Seminary
(1864+), the Presbyterian Theological School (1872+), Catholic Immaculate Conception School (1907+) and Lady of
Lourdes Nursing Horne. The towers lost their onion domes and the pointed windows were infilled and Romanized. The
castleated parapet walls have also been lost. Originally the side wings were single story in height so the overall massing
stepped up from the ends to the center of the plan (Sommer, pp. 54-55).
An early (pre-I 872) cottage example is located at 1206 Prairie (West II th Street District). It originally featured
decorative bargeboards with geometric cutouts and projecting window hoods. These features on the present building are
over-scaled reproductions and the house has been resided. The frame cottage at 1212 Locust, (Jackson Park District,
NRHP) pre-1891, has had its bargeboard detailing and other elements recently restored.
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Figure 47: Dubuque Female College Building (1854) (photo, Sonuner, p. 54)
Figure 48: Cathedral of Saint Raphael (1857-59,1878) (photo, Tourist Guide of Dubuque, p. 31)
Cathedral of San Raphael (231 Bluff Street, 1857-59, 1878, architect John Mullany) (Figure 48) is in
Lawrence Sonuner's opinion, one of the state's best Gothic Revival examples and the most important Dubuque
building constructed during the 1850s. The tower was originally intended to stand 300 feet above ground but
these plans were scaled down when construction began, the finished tower being completed in 1876. The stone-
faced front also dates to that era. David Gebhard noted the lancet window at the tower base as being a most
unusual component. The stain glass windows were installed in 1866 and were imported from England. The
cathedral occupies a special location at the west end of the broad 2nd Street. It is deemed to be individually
eligible for the National Register on the basis of its architectural merit (Sonuner, pp. 51-52; Gebhard, p. 84).
Dubuque is replete with large-scale and well-designed examples of Gothic Revival parish-level church
buildings. The first seven might be classified as representing the early stylistic period. The fITSt two named are
very early examples.
First Congregational Church. 255 West 10th, 1857, David Jones architect (Jackson Park District, NRHP)
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St. Mary's Catholic Church, 1584 White, 1864-67, John Mullany architect (recommended as being
individually eligible for NRHP listing, also a part of a recommended Old Town Historic District). It is an
example of the "High Victorian Gothic. Its design is more vertical and employs a variety of colors and
materials (Sommer, p. 84; Gebhard, p. 88).
St. John's Episcopal Church, 1410 Main, 1875, John Mullany architect, cruciform plan, English Gothic
with rusticated stone exterior, broad square corner tower, rose window, (Jackson Park District, NRHP).
St. Patrick's Catholic Church. 1875-78, John Keenan architect, centered square tower with dome cap
(Jackson Park District, NRHP)
Sacred Heart Catholic Church. 1879, 2215 Windsor Avenue,
German Methodist Episcopal Church, 1699 Iowa, 1887 Frame (Jackson Park District, NRHP), brick base
and shingled gable ftonts, unusllill row of four separate lancet windows on each wing.
German Methodist Episcopal Church Rectorv. 140 West 17"', 1887 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), board
and batten on upper level, brick below, bargeboard.
St. Peter Evangelical Lutheran Church, 21" & Elm streets, c.1890
First [German 1 Presbyterian Church, 1684 Iowa, 1896, cruciform plan, late Gothic Revival, unusual
angled comer square tower (Jackson Park District, NRHP)
St. John's Lutheran Church, 1294 White, 1885
Holv Ghost Catholic Church, 2921 Central Avenue, 1895 (SHPO DOE)
hnmanuel Congregational United Church of Christ, 1795 Jackson, 1887-88, altered?
St. Columbkille's Catholic Church, 1240 Rush Street, 1904
St. Mathew's Lutheran Church, 1780 White Street, c.1907
The later Gothic Revival examples include row houses, duplexes, and houses. The Howie Block, 260-80
West 17" (1884) is a six-unit row house example. Like many designs in this style a Mansard (ftont roof plane
only) is incorporated into the style mix. There are three steeply pitched dormers, each with twin pointed
windows. This design likely initiated the resurgence of this style in the city and many later examples cluster
around it (Jackson Park District, NRHP). Other triplex brick examples include 1025-37 Locust, c.1885-90,
(paired Gothic windows with projecting hoods set on a bracketed Mansard roof plane, also Jackson Park District,
NRHP), 483-95 Loras, c.1890 (similar attic treatment to the previous example, but with a triple window set and
centered gablet in middle, Wes II" District), and 1014-22 Bluff, 1895 (triple three-sided bays each with pointed
gablet dormer caps, Cathedral District, NRHP). There are three brick duplex examples, all of which are in the
Jackson Park District; 1552-54 Locust, 1890, 1428-30 Iowa, c.1885-91, and 375-77 West 17th Street, c.1892. The
second example has a single through cornice centered ftont dormer with twin pointed windows on a side gable
plan. The others are identical designs with an enlarged centered through-cornice dormer with flanking side
dormers on a Mansard roof plane. They are distinguished by the decorative truss work and the polychromatic
brickwork. There are four ftame side gable duplex examples, all of which are in the West II th Street District;
663-75 West II ", c.1889 (twin pointed windows in a centered through cornice dormer), 655-57 Jefferson, c.1889
(same with single square-cut window), 1125-35 Walnut, c.1890s (rounded double window set in centered dormer
and split lunette windows on gable ends), 641-49 West II th, c.1895 (paired square cut windows in large centered
through-cornice dormer).
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The house 863 West 5th Street (Figure 49) is an excellent later example of this style. The image as shown
matches a historic image in its detailing. The frame cottage at 1212 Locust, c.1890-91 (Jackson Park District,
NRHP) is of particular interest because its design includes a square tower and its through cornice/roof dormers
with ornamental truss work are quite striking. The house has been restored recently. Altered frame house
examples include 169 St. Mary Street, pre-l 889 (Cathedral District, NRHP), and 280 Bluff (moved into
Cathedral District, no date).
Italianate Style. 1840-85:
The popularity of this style coincided with the explosive new growth of Midwestern urban centers and
the style is consequently well represented in that region. Like the Gothic Revival, this picturesque style was
developed first in England and was an attempt to emulate the rambling Italian farmhouse/villa. The earliest
American examples date to the late l830s. Architect Andrew Downing also promoted this style nationally and
the Italianate was dominant over the Gothic Revival by 1860. It reigned nationally until the fmancial panic of
1873. Two sub-phases have been distinguished. A simpler plain phase lasted until the late l850s and what is
termed "High Victorian Italianate," a much more elaborated range of designs, closed out the style (McAlester, p.
212).
This style was rarely a single story in height, but commonly had two or three stories. The usually hipped
roof has a low profile and broad overhanging eaves and the eaves are supported by exaggerated and ornate
brackets. Windows are narrow and are commonly arched with stylized hoods. Two over two lights are also
typical of this style. Cupolas or square towers are also frequently incorporated. The fact that all six subtypes of
this style are found in Dubuque attests to the style's popularity and longevity. This style, often reduced to
brackets and windows, is commonly combined with vernacular forms, particularly side gable cores, or the Second
Empire, Queen Anne, and Gothic Revival styles. This is the most common historical stylistic category and the
city and McAlester's subtypes will be used in order to make sense of the many examples (McAlester, p. 211).
Subtype #1: Square or rectangular box shape with uninterrupted hip roof with optional cupola (half of examples)
and a centered front entrance (usually three or five bays). This is the most common subtype form. With the
belvedere or cupola, these are termed "Italianate Villa" designs. This subset includes the majority of the best
stylistic examples in Dubuque. All but one (597 Loras) of the examples are of brick construction.
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Figure 50: 325 Alpine Street (1854/1900+) (photo, Sommer, p. 65)
The General Warner Lewis House, (Figure 50) (Langworthy District) is the earliest Italianate example
(c.1854) although in its present form, it better represents a Colonial Revival style makeover (c.1904). The
original design lacked the centered through cornice, porch and had a low-profile belvedere). The next example,
1192 Locust Street, represents a c.1860 makeover of an earlier one, this being a front addition. The Frederick
Weigel House, 1854-55, (Jackson Park District, NRHP) (Figure 49) represents the re-fronting of an earlier
residence (Sommer, pp. 63, 65-66; Gebhard, p. 91).
Figure 51: 1192 Locust (1854-55, 1860)(photo, Sommer, p. 66).
Yet another front-addition stylistic makeover 1455 Main (Figure 52) (Jackson Park District, NRHP), a
brick duplex, a re-fronting of a c.1856 brick house. A belvedere might have originally capped this design, bays
and porch are possible additions, the bays more likely being original. It is of interest that in each of these
instances, this style was employed as earlier substantial homes were enlarged and urbanized.
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Figure 52: 1455 Main Street, c.1860s, (photo, Sonnner, p. 90)
The Scott-Wilson House (732 Fenelon, 1857) combines a broader Georgian façade with Italianate
brackets and a belvedere. The house at 389 Hill Street (no date) is classified by Sonnner as Georgian Revival but
it combines Georgian symmetry with Italianate features including a belvedere atop a hip roof. Another undated
example is 2441 Broadway, also termed Georgian Revival by Sonnner, but it likely had a belvedere and its
window hoods are Italianate in style (Sonnner, p. 137).
The best early Italianate hip roof example is the St. Raphael Rectory, 23 I Bluff (Cathedral District,
NRHP), 1863, an impressive three-story rectangular block with cast iron lintels. Like 1455 Main, 1433 Main
(Jackson Park District, NRHP), 1870 likely had a belvedere originally. Its five bay ftont isolates a centered
window with entry below on the façade and the lintels have engaged spring stones, likely of cast meta!. The Co!.
D. E. Lyon house, 1005 Bluff (Jackson P'ark District, NRHP), pre-dates 1872 because he added a Mansard roofto
an Italianate hip roof plan in 1877. This is a broad side hall plan. The stone duplex at 1335-57 Bluff (Jackson
Park District, NRHP) also pre-dates 1872. It is of special interest given its stone construction. It retains its
belvedere but its eaves lines were likely extended as part of a Craftsman style makeover.
An excellent example of this subtype is the Crawford House, 1209 Prairie, pre-1872 (West II th Street
District). The core house is a five-bay wide rectangular plan with belvedere. It too features cast metal flat lintels
and sills. The house has been elongated but still occupies its full-blockparce!. It is one of the best-preserved
examples of the Italianate Villa style in Dubuque. Another excellent example, dating to 1875, is 431 Alpine
(Langworthy District), a rectangular five-bay hip roof plan with belvedere and symmetrical fenestration. The
house at 1170 Highland is a six-bay example set atop a walkout stone basement. Its belvedere is unusual in that it
is a narrow rectangle set with its short dimension forwards.
The diminutive cubic frame plan at 597 Loras/1401 Henion is an early (pre-1872) and well-preserved
ftame variation of this subset. The side hall plan has a square belvedere, early porch and bracketed eaves rw est
11th Street District). A single-story brick cottage example is the duplex at 592 Jefferson (1889+). It is actually a
two-story plan given its walkout basement rwest 11 th Street District).
A later example is 1501-03 Bluff, pre-1889, (Jackson Park District, NRHP) a six-bay brick duplex with
parapet fÌ'Ont and twin gablet dormers set behind the cornice. The façade is unusual because the centered
stairways left the innermost upper wall plane blank.
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Subtype #2: The centered gable subtype is based upon a hip or side gable core. Commonly the cross gable is
incorporated into a shallow central wing or a through-cornice dormer is centered on the facade.
Figure 53: Mathias Ham House (1839, 1857) (Carl Johnson drawing, Sommer, p. 64)
The Mathias Ham House, 2241 Lincoln Avenue, 1856-57 (NRHP)(Figure 53), is the best example of this
subtype, and it represents a the earliest surviving residential design work of noted local architect John F. Rague,
architect). It is also an unusual all-stone example. A special feature is the octagonal belvedere (Sommer, p. 63;
Gebhard, pp. 88-89).
The Jacob K. Rich-Spahn House, 890 West Third (c.late 1860s) combines an unusual gambrel through-
cornice dormer with a centered shallow pavilion base. It originally had a full-width ITont verandah (A Walking
Tour.. . South Dubuque). Another brick example is found at 375 Alpine, 1875 (Langworthy District). In this
design, a gable roofthrough-cornice dormer is centered atop a broad eaves line and a returned eaves line effect is
created beneath the dormer. The example has a broad frieze without brackets. There is a lunette window in the
dormer and the plan is that of a side hall. The James Forrester House, 970 Olive, pre-1872, was originally one of
the city's most visible examples of this subset, given its prominent bluff ITont location above West 8th Street. The
rectangular core with hip roof is still apparent, with simple centered triangular through-cornice dormers on the
two long sides of the plan (West 11th Street District). .
Subtype #3: Asymmetrical L or U plan with hip or cross gable roof form with no towers. The Dubuque examples
of this subset are all executed in brick, are clustered on the bluffs to the north of University Avenue, and all date
to the 1860s and early 1870s.
Figure 54: 76: 1163 Highland Place (photo, Sommer, p. 83)
Three excellent examples cluster on Highland Place, a prominent bluff ITont terrace located in the West
11th Street District. All ITont east with a commanding view of the city and river. These are 1295 (1871), 1245
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(1860-70) and 1163 (c.1865) Highland Place. Each has a visually dominant gable front façade wing but each also
has a south-facing full-height wing. The example shown (Figure 54) has the most elaborate eaves line and
bracket pattern. Note the returned eaves effect (Sommer, pp. 79, 83).
The most elaborate design, 1295 Prairie, the Lawrence House, 1871, has a similar footprint and massing,
but adds oculus windows in the gable ends, as well as a denticulated frieze beneath the eaves lines. The brick
two-story L-plan example at 480 Arlington dates to 1875. Two simple two~story brick L-plans are located on
Loras Blvd. at 459 (pre-1872) and 445 (1875). The latter example has a hip roof and offset pedimented gable
front donner that balances is opposing side hall plan. The 459 Loras design. features a front oculus window.
These seven examples are all found in the West 11'" Street District. The final example, 1084 West 3"',1872, is in
the Langworthy District. It is a two-story T -plan with its wing set paraIlel to the street and its entrance on the
front of that wing. This house design features a gable end oculus attic lights, a very fme Italianate ground level
front bay, and elaborate brackets.
A rare institutional survivor of this subset is the Third Ward School, 12'h and Central streets, 1857.
Again this is a rare fonn and yet another early example of the design work of John Rague, architect. Despite
window reductions and loss of minor corner entry porches, the school retains its crucifonn footprint and overaIl
massing. It too features oculus attic lights in its gable fronts. The building has been recommended as being
NRHP eligible given its sheer rarity and the fact that it stilI conveys its original appearance.
Four other brick Jackson Park District (NRHP) examples read like gable front Italianate examples, yet
they have smaIl-scale side wings that might be original. These are 1357 Main (pre-1872), 175 West 17th (1867-
68),1397 Main (pre-1872), and 1471 Main (1872-73). All of these are side haIl plans, three off our feature
rounded attic lights in their gable ends. 175 West 17'" is possibly a front addition on an earlier side gable core.
All of these four examples are notable for their highly ornamental brackets and friezes. The two Main Street
examples are nearly identical with matching entry canopies, although 1397 Main has returned eaves.
Subtype #4: This ltalianate style subset adds a front tower to an asymmetrical massing. There are just four
Dubuque examples but two of these comprise some of the most weIl known and significant designs in Dubuque.
The examples cluster geographicaIly, with three residing on the same block in Jackson Park District (NRHP), the
fourth, 1057 West 3"', is in the Langworthy District. Two more are south of University, on the bluffs, and in
North Dubuque, near Clarke CoIlege. All of the examples are tightly clustered in year of construction as well.
The William Ryan House, 1389 Locust (1871-72) is an exceIlent ltalianate style design, with a square hip
roof core, gable front wing and centered square front tower. It too has a Mansard roof cap, both examples
illustrate the wiIlfuI internrixing of two then popular styles (Sommer, pp. 71-72; Gebhard, p. 85).
The plan at 1057 West 3'" Street, c.1880, is the latest example of the subset. The tower with Mansard
roof cap is set in front of an iITegular T ~shaped two-story brick plan. The third Jackson Park District (NRHP)
example, 1330 Locust, 1872, is an elongated L-plan with a side wing, and a square tower inset into the junction
of side wing and front wing. The upper level oriole might be of later date. The tower combines belvedere and
tower forms.
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Figure 55: 581 Clarke Drive (1872-75) (photo Sommer, p. 102)
Dr. Ernest M. Porter House (Figure 55) is of some historical interest because its completion was delayed
by the financial panic of 1873. It represents a combination of Second Empire and Italianate influences. Note the
paired windows with rounded hoods and the elaborate attic dormers. The hexagonal tower is surely one of the
most elaborate to be found in the city (Sommer, pp. 102-03).
Joseph J. Steil House, 541 West Third Street, (1870s) was constructed to house the Ladies' Episcopal
Seminary. The plan has a gabled roof, L-shaped plan and a comer tower. The bluff front location offers an
overview of river and city. It was built for use as the Ladies Episcopal Seminary. Another example is found at
333 Villa Street (Sommer, pp. 71-72). The Italianate example at 1871 Main (Figure 56) combines an Italianate
square tower with an L-plan vernacular brick house.
Figure 56: 1871 Main, c.1870s (1973 survey photo)
Subtype #5: Front gable with detailing. Fenestration is symmetrical, all are side hall plans.
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Figure 57: 1815 Jackson Street (1884-91) (photo by Jim Jacobsen, March 7, 2000)
Figure 57 depicts a classic brick side hall example ofthis subset. 1815 Jackson Street (1884-91) (see
above) presents a vernacular Italianate design. Only the paired black stone brackets classifY it as Italianate. The
double door has rounded transom lights set above it.
Brick examples, organized in chronological fashion:
596 West 11th, 1851, (West 11th Street District).
54 Bluff, c.1865 (Cathedral District, NRHP) oculus attic light
658 Chestnut, 1870 (West 11th Street District), possibly a parapet front with added frame gable
roof. Cast iron lintels and sills.
1404 Iowa, pre-I 872 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), side oculus, returned eaves
1449 Bluff, pre-I 872 (Jackson Park District, NRHP)
1534 Iowa, pre-I 872 (Jackson Park District, NRHP
1301 Main, pre-I 872 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), cast iron lintels, sills, double round topped
attic light.
632 Chestnut, pre-I 872, notable for its large yard and prominent terrace setting (West II th Street
District).
604 Chestnut, pre-I 872 (West II th Street District), returned eaves, broad frieze, paired square cut
attic lights.
552 Chestnut, pre-I 872 (West 11th Street District).
314 Jones, pre-I 884 (Cathedral District, NRHP), oculus attic light, paired brackets.
412 Loras, pre-I 889 (West 11th Street District).
1678 Iowa, 1886 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), rectory, finial and bargeboard in gable apex,
elaborate incised stone lintels.
571 Jefferson, pre-I 889 (West 11th Street District), denticulated frieze, wrap-around stone lintels.
1146 Grove Terrace, pre-I 889 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), cottage fonn on bluff front, notable
twin side donners.
Frame Gable Front Examples (note that the construction dates tend to be later than those of brick examples.
Fewer of these houses are representative of the original designs due to residing. These too, are side hall plans:
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636 West II'" c.1848, (West 11th Street District) cottage example, paired round-topped attic
window set, original elongated lower front windows.
683 West 11 th, pre-l 872 (West 11th Street District), good example despite asbestos siding, original
round window arches, side lights and transom, elongated lower front windows.
480 Emmett, 1885-88, (Cathedral District, NRHP), original windows, corner boards, pediment
window arches, transom.
517 Loras Blvd., pre-l 889 (West 11th Street District), being restored, key feature is Palladian-like
round-topped attic triple window set.
Governmental Example:
Figure 58: City Hall (1857-58) original appearance (photo, Sommer, p. 59)
The Dubuque City Hall (Figure 58), southwest corner Iowa and 13th streets, 1857-58, is a very early
market hall example of the ltalianate style with a square tower capped with a Mansard roof. The attic front
features an oculus window. Architect J. N. Moody did the design, architect John F. Rague prepared the
specifications and supervised construction. This building is a rare survivor and it is a miracle that the city has not
only saved it but still uses it for the city hall.
Town house Subtype: Has a straight bracketed pediment, flat or low pitched roof fonn. Window treatments
identify this subset. In the town house or row house type in Dubuque, styles are ruthlessly intenningled.
Because light is needed, only bays serve the function of drawing in light through the façade, and most later
examples have bays, becoming associated thereby with the Queen Anne style. Bracketed eaves lines are almost
always present, representing the ltalianate and 200 Empire Mansard elements can also be present. Most Dubuque
examples consequently are best classed with those other styles. What might be tenned Italianate style examples
consists of a number of brick parapet front duplexes and triplexes and these tend to be later in date than other
stylistic examples. All have bracketed eaves lines. Curiously all but two of the examples are found in the
Cathedral District, (NRHP). Figure 59 depicts a brick parapet front duplex example with a centered pedimented
through-cornice donner.
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Figure 59: 2255-57 Jackson Street (1891-92) (photo by Jim Jacobsen, March 7, 2000)
The brick duplex at 50-52 Bluff, 1870 is a simple design with a metal cornice. 206-08-10 Bluff(1878) is
a brick triplex plan with matching cut-corners and unusual raised gablets atop each of these. 335 West Second,
1885-91 is an excellent example of a single row house segment, with side hall plan and a bracketed metal
cornice. 432-36 Emmett, 1886 is another triplex example. 445 Bluff (1892-1908) is an unusual L-p1an with
parapet front, and corbelled parapet front in lieu of a cornice. 125 Bluff, 1900, is another single side hall plan,
with a corbelled front parapet. 590-98 Loras, pre-1909 rw est II th Street District) is a brick duplex with metal
cornice and a façade design with pilasters and three recessed wall panels. The brick four-plex at 1659-77 Iowa,
1883 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), is an early example of a corbelled brick parapet front. 433-35 and 464-66
West 3'" both pre-date 1872 and are identical plans with 590-98 Loras. A simple unusual concave cornice is
supported by a small number of brackets. 461-65 West 3"', pre-1872, has the same façade plan and a straight
bracketed cornice.
Figure 60: Fire Engine House #2, 411 Locust, 1884 (Cathedral District, NRHP)
(photo by J. Jacobsen, 2003)
Figure 60 depicts a combination parapet front Italianate commercial block with the Italianate Villa fonn
(the belfry). The upper level and overall profile are intact, the storefront necessarily has evolved.
Side Gable Plans:
McAiester allows for no side gable examples apart from those having centered donners or gabled wings.
Dubuque is replete with Italianate style examples of this fonn, of varied length, ranging from side hall single
house plans to multi-unit row houses. The best examples will be organized by length and date of construction.
All are brick unless otherwise identified as of frame construction.
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Three-bay single family house examples:
961 Bluff, pre-1872 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), one of the best examples, side hall plan,
original canopy, side lights and transom.
1209 Highland Place, c.1865 (West II th Street District), modillion-like brackets.
Four and five-bay duplex examples:
Figure 61: 51-53 Bluff, 1860 (photo by J. Jacobsen, 2003).
51-53 Bluff, 1860 (Cathedral District, NRHP), (Figure 61) paired brackets, raised end walls, end
chinmeys. Most unusual central open arched pass-through to back yard, a vernacular
detail. Five bay plan.
460 Loras, pre-1889 (West 11 th Street District), stucco on frame, pedimented metal lintels. Five-
bay plan.
1229 Bluff, pre-1891 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), five-bay plan with unusual placement of
entrances on outer front corners, returned eaves.
464 Loras, pre-I 889 (West 11 th Street District), pedimented metal lintels, centered double door
entry and excellent original porch.
888 Yale Court, no date, an excellent example with an unusual belvedere and widow's walk
Six-bay and longer examples (all are of brick construction):
426-28 West 5th, 1856-57 (Cathedral District, NRHP), has gained a large Neo-Classical style
centered donner.
156-58 Bluff, 1860 (Cathedral District, NRHP), duplex, the north half has lost its brackets.
164-66 Bluff, 1860 (Cathedral District, NRHP).
372-74 Bluff, 1860 (Cathedral District, NRHP), original Italianate windows, early porch.
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392-94 Bluff, 1860 (Cathedral District, NRHP), straight stone lintels.
729-31 Bluff, 1860 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), rounded metal lintels
743-45 Bluff, 1860 (Jackson Park District, NRHP).
1590-92 Locust, 1869 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), deep vernacular plan.
331-33 Bluff, 1870 (Cathedral District, NRHP).
653-55 Bluff, 1870 (Cathedral District, NRHP), end wall chinmeys, paired brackets, sidelights and
transoms on entries.
465-69 Loras, pre-I 872 rw est II '" Street District), ornate incised stone lintels with engaged spring
stones.
508-10 Chestnut, pre-I 872 rw est II '" Street District), vertically aligned but unevenly spaced
fenestration, original bracketed entry canopy. Has lost its brackets.
1323-25 Bluff, pre-I 872 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), cast metal lintels, twin miniature dormers.
315-21 Bluff, 1872, (Cathedral District, NRHP), excellent example despite two frame dormers.
471-73 West 4th, pre-I 872 (Cathedral District, NRHP), unusual façade brick rowlock window
arches.
107-15 West 13"', pre-I 872 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), tri-plex with 12 bays.
489-91 West 4"', pre-1872 (Cathedral District, NRHP), same arches as noted above.
452-54 West 4"', pre-1872 (Cathedral District, NRHP), same arches as noted above.
1015-17 Bluff, pre-1884 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), very elaborate cornice, returned eaves
and broad rounded double entries, unfortunate shed roof dormer.
441-43 Locust, pre-1884 (Cathedral District, NRHP).
492 Hayden Lane, pre-1884 (Cathedral District, NRHP), rowlock brick window arches, original
2/2 ltalianate windows, rounded attic end lights.
442-44 West 5th, 1885-88 (Cathedral District, NRHP), ornate incised stone lintels with engaged
spring stones, original porch.
418-20 Emmett, 1885-88 (Cathedral District, NRHP), entrances placed on outer !Tont corners,
upper row of windows lacks end windows due to presence of stairways on outer walls,
very unusual original centered chinmey.
454-58 Emmett, 1884-89 (Cathedral District, NRHP), entries on outside !Tont corners but full
fenestration, centered chinmey.
320-22 Jones, 1884-91 (Cathedral District, NRHP), likely originally Gothic Revival given
centered through cornice dormer and altered paired dormer attic lights (probably
originally pointed).
414-16 Loras, pre-I 889 (Cathedral District, NRHP), exact twin to 442-44 West 5th, same stone
lintels.
1589-91 Bluff (Jackson Park District, NRHP), denticulated cornice, ornate lintels with prominent
keystones, spring stones, sills with brackets, had centered upper walkout doors.
1491-93 Bluff, pre-1889 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), broad eaves and high attic.
575-83 Loras, pre-I 889 rwest II'" Street District), denticulated cornice, half of original porch,
raised end walls.
1344 Locust, pre-I 889 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), likely earlier in date given stepped end
walls, pedimented metal lintels. Might be Adams style example if early enough.
1272-74 Locust, c.1890 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), raised end walls, unfortunate small
dormer.
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Commercial Italianate Examples:
Figure 62: 1626 Central Avenue, 1880 (photo by Jacobsen, 2002)
Later date example of the solid stone lintel element.
This Italianate example (Figure 62) is typical of many Dubuque storeÍÌ'ont designs. The wall plane is
plain and the only elaborations are a pressed metal cornice with dentils and brackets, and the window lintels or
hoods.
Figure 63: Three buildings, southeast corner, Main and 11
(Two-part commercial block types)
Three early 1866-70 multiple storeÍÌ'ont blocks on Main Street (Figure 63) are representative of the very
plain commercial designs that persisted after the Civil War. Two of these examples evolved either ÍÌ'om earlier
single storeÍÌ'onts or brick double houses. The window treatments are simple, with semi-circular brick arches or
plain stone sills and lintels, and the facades are all unelaborated in their brickwork. Each building sports a
pressed metal cornice.
A notable Italianate style subset in Dubuque is comprised by buildings that feature a semi-circular
pediment that is centered on the parapet ÍÌ'ont. The pediment is formed by an upwards continuation of the cornice
line itself and commonly, the pediment ÍÌ'ont is emblazoned with the name of the block and the year of
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construction. This subtype likely emerges in the 1870s and at first, the pediment form is a simple circular overlay
on a flat parapet front (see 1603 Central Avenue, 1882). A variant form is the addition of a distinctly separate
triangular or rounded pediment atop the parapet front. The 578-98 Main Street example is illustrative of a truer
Italianate style design, with a considerably richer ornamentation. The storefront is elevated (still no separate
transom level) and is of cast iron construction. The design is elaborate with corner quoins, separated and
bracketed lintels with semi-circular forms, a semi-circular pediment and a massive and most unusual parapet and
cornice.
Figure 64: J. Simones Block, 1570-98 Central Avenue, 1884, view southeast
(photo by J. Jacobsen, November 2002)
The Simones Block (Figure 64) design is a wonderfully creative one with a playful very broad bracketed
cornice and twin ornamental pediments. The first small oriole (bay) is centered on an otherwise plain front.
Note the presence of a transom window line, apparently a c.1890s addition. Note also the well preserved side
entry to the upper level, accessed by an exterior stairway. 169-85 Main Street (no image) comprises several
separate buildings which retain ornate cornice lines and window hoods (A Walking Tour...South Dubuque).
Exotic Revivals. Egyptian. 1830-50:
This relatively rare style is found in Dubuque and that is a presence denied most comparable cities. The style
derived its popularity from Napoleon's late 18th century invasion of Egypt. It was very rarely applied to domestic designs
but is more common in public building design. The style is most commonly reflected in the use of massive flared
"bundled" colunms and in the use of flared corners and elaborate window surrounds.
The former Dubuque County Jail (Figures 65) was designed by local architect John F. Rague and it is
said to be the last example of this style built in the nation. The construction of this public building coincides
with the national financial panic of 1857-58 so this design and the building represent the highest aspirations for
the city's growth during what suddenly became a period of fmancial retrenchment. Its rarity of style makes this
the city's most significant building design overall. This is Iowa's only example of this style in a jail form
(Sommer, p. 58; Gephard, pp. 81-2).
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Figure 66: County Jail Door Detail (photo, Horton, Ibid.)
The other example of this style is the Shot Tower, 96 East 4"' Street (1856, NRHP) which takes the form
of an Egyptian obelisk. This monumental form was being used throughout the Mississippi River Valley to
landmark aspiring riverITont developments. In Dubuque, the Shot Tower was the symbol of efforts to develop
and relocate the downtown to the riverbank (Jacobsen, George W. Rogers Company Shot Tower, 2003).
Octagon Type/Style. 1850-1870:
This style employed an eight-sided form and most commonly a two-story core with centered cupola. The form
utilized all of the contemporary stylistic influences in its omamèI1tation. New Yorker Gren S. Fowler single-handedly
promoted the type in a series of plan books beginning in 1849. He advocated the form for its additional living space,
improved light and ventilation. He also promoted pounded earth or concrete construction in conjunction with his house
form. Dubuque is fortunate to have an excellent example of this most rare house style (McAlester, pp. 235-37).
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Figure 67: Edward Langworthy Octagon House, 1095 Third Street (1857)
(photo, HABS-HAERDocumentation, c.1934)
The Edward Langworthy Octagon House (1857, Figure 67) was designed by local architect John Rague
and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is one ora handful of surviving Iowa examples of this
rare house type. It is unusual in that is built oflocally produced soft red brick. This was Dubuque's second
octagon, the oldest one fell to the wrecking ball in 1932 (Sommer, p. 60; Gebhard, pp. 91-92).
The Mathias Ham house at Eagle Point (1857) employed an octagonal belvedere. Another unusual,
though much later, octagonal structure is the octagonal tower base found on the First United Presbyterian Church,
l7'h and Iowa streets, l880s, which is otherwise a later Gothic design (Sommer, pp. 63, 87, 89).
Victorian-Era House, 1860-1900; The Second Empire, Victorian Gothic, Queen Anne, and Richardsonian
Romanesque styles.
This architectural era was largely based upon Medieval designs but classical influences were also strongly
represented. Designs celebrated textural and color variations and asymmetry of fonn. Stylistic influences were freely
intermixed and consequently stylistic categories are less meaningful than they were for the Romantic era. After 1876
there was a resurgence of interest in the Federal/Adams and Georgian styles and these would set the stage for the
successor styles which appeared c.1900 (McAlester, p 239).
Second Empire Style, 1855-1885:
This style enjoys the visual dominance of the Mansard roof fonn, a French-derived attic treatment which
allowed for livable upper level space. No other Victorian style has so singular a component. The roof fonn is
accompanied by molded cornice lines and decorative brackets set beneath the eaves. In Dubuque the fonn was
reduced to a nearly vertical attic front treatment. Often the roof fonn is limited to the façade roof plane only.
Invariably the mansard donners feature pedimented gables and classical side colunm elaborations. What is most
remarkable is the late persistence of the use of the Mansard attic fonn in Dubuque. It is still in use as late as
1896 (1913-17 Jackson Street).
This largely urban style was particularly popular during the l870s and leant itself to row house and multi
unit residential buildings. Hotels and other commercial buildings greatly favored the style during these years.
Simply defmed, this style placed a mansard roof on an Italianate base, effectively adding a full floor. The style
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appears along the Mississippi River by the early 1850s but reached its greatest popularity during the middle
1870s in the Midwest.
The first Victorian era style, the Second Empire found its inspiration in the rebuilding of Paris which
followed the restoration of the French monarchy. McAlester notes that in America it coincided with the first
post-Civil War adnllnistration and was known as the "General Grant" style. The style is purported to have
developed in Paris as a tax avoidance practice, the Mansard attic space not being counted as livable and therefore
taxable space. Accordingly this mansard level is usually well lighted with richly ornamented windows. The style
was a victim ofthe economic panic of 1873 although it appears to have persisted as a domestic style into the next
decade (McAlester, p. 241).
Subtype #1: Simple uninterrupted mansard roof fonn on a rectangular or square core fonn. Fenestration is
symmetrical and utilizes a three or five-bay cadence with centered openings. Centered cupolas also appear in
some examples.
Figure 68: 652 Needham Place, no date (Photo Sommer, p. 99)
652 Needham Place(Figure 68) is a ftame cottage example ofthe style and of this subtype. Its narrow
rectangular plan is ftonted to the street. There is a separate full-width front porch and a bay/donner wing on the
south side wall (Sommer, p. 99). The house at 970-72 Grove Terrace, 1860s (West II'" Street District) is an
unusual two-part Second Empire example. The southern part, a 1.5-story stone cottage, is the better preserved,
features a south bay and an unusual Mansardlhip rooffonn. The plan of982 Grove Terrace, c.1886 is another
brick example, immediately north, but its plan orients east and cannot be viewed.
There are three brick two-story single-family side hall examples. These are 1394 Locust (1867) with its
exaggerated concave Mansard roof plane; 1450 Iowa, pre-l 884, with a pronounced flat cornice and steep high
Mansard with unusual shed roof dormers; and 584 West 11'" (pre-1889). The first two are located in Jackson
Park District (NRHP), the latter in West II'" Street District. There are two foUT"bay wide rectangular plans.
1005 Bluff, a three-story plan with Mansard, was previously discussed as an Italianate style example given the
addition of the roof in 1877. The example at 1025 Bluff, 1882, is a two-story example with a slightly concave
Mansard roof profile. It has a pronounced upper cornice. It is oriented sideways to the street. Both of these
plans are in the Jackson Park District (NRHP).
John King-Banneier House, 1850, 755-57 West Third Street, is a five-bay wide two-story brick plan with
a true Mansard roof and four gable roof donners on the main roof plane. The house has a centered double-decker
ftont porch and a centered upstairs walkout. It is a center hall plan (A Walking Tour...South Dubuque).
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409 Bluff, 1873, is an excellent example of a corner Second Empire side hall single-family plan with a
pronounced concave Mansard roof profile (Cathedral District, NRHP). There are three larger rectangular plan
two-story brick examples: these are 467-69 Bluff, 1860, a duplex; 345-47 Bluff, 1870, also a duplex; and 469
Emmett, 1883, St. Mary Catholic Œrl's School, all of which are located in the Cathedral District (NRHP).
Subtype #2: Asymmetrical plan without a tower. There are numerous examples of this subtype and a number of
smaller plans read like individual row house sections, albeit with a front wing or bay. Examples are arranged in
chronological order and all are of brick construction.
1655 Main, 1860 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), true Mansard with prominent dormers, two bays.
1392 Main, 1871 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), concave Mansard profile on L-plan.
Alfred Tredway House, 182 Locust, 1872 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), another concave
Mansard example.
John Bell House, 563 West 11"', 1875 rNest II'" Street District, Figure 69), concave Mansard profile on
L-plan. 1491 Main, 1878 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), one of the best examples of the
style, stone veneer, twin full height front bays, elaborate side wall chimneys, prominent
dormers.
Robinson-Lacy House, 1640 Main Street, 1878, has an irregular plan, marred by substantial
side additions, the survival of metal roof crestings is noteworthy, as is the use of oculus
windows on the Mansard, a good and faithful example (Sommer, p. 92; Gebhard, p. 86).
Jesse P. Farley House, 605 Bluff Street, 1879 (Jackson Park District, NRHP) is a rectangular plan
with a front bay/wing, its expansion northward while occupied by the Mary of the Angels
Home is a testament to local loyalty to the original style. The wing has only a front roof
plane Mansard treatment.
1735 Madison, 1878-79 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), rectangular plan with unusual angled
corner bay/tower, originally prominently located at north end of Main Street, now
obscured.
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Figure 70: 1611 Main Street (photo, Sommer, p. 99)
1611 Main, 1879 (Figure 70) (Jackson Park District, NRHP), plan virtually identical to 1655 Main,
excellent example of a narrower townhouse-like plan, rear wing Of same style, well
preserved.
Hattie Scott House, 788 Fenelon, 1880, L-plan with dormer/tower base, !Tont bay.
1425 Iowa, pre-1884 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), this would be a broad first subtype example
save for the presence of an offset bay, unusual dormers with diminutive rounded
pediments.
2133 Central Avenue (1884-1890), the projecting shed roof dormer hoods are of
interest as is the rear wing with side gallery porch.
1596 Iowa, 1885-88 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), cottage version, marred by loss oflower
cornice.
1638 Iowa, 1890 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), shallow front pavilion, side wing.
Subtype #3: Any ofthe above with a centered or offset square tower. Dubuque has just four examples of a
towered Second Empire design.
The best Second Empire example is Dubuque is the John Thompson House, 1375 Locust, pre-1872
(Jackson Park District, NRHP, Figure 71). In defiance of the McAlester typology, the tower is centered on the
plan ala an Italianate Villa design.
Figure 71: 1375 Locust (photo by J. Jacobsen, 2003)
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Figure 72: 1651 White Street (photo Sommer, p. 97)
The Hollenfelz House, 1651 White Street (Figure 72) (NRHP) is another example of a fusing of the
Italianate belvedere form with the Second Empire tower. One bellcast Second Empire tower example survives
apart from its building. The second city town clock (1873, architect Fridolin Heer Sr.) was originally set atop
823 Main (NRHP). .The clock and tower offer the only example of a standing seam metal mansard tower roof
with round windows in the city. fu. 1970 it was moved to Clock Tower Plaza and placed atop a three-story
concrete pedestal (Sommer, p. 99, 107; Gebhard, p. 84).
1025 Walnut Street, 1872-89 offers an unusual Second Empire design (West 11th Street District), one that
incorporates an angled comer tower base into a rectangular plan. The design is notable for its delicate porch and
brickwork detailing and it is probable that there was originally a tower (Sommer, p. 107).
Subtype #4: The townhouse subtype with mansard roof in lieu ofa pediment front. Dubuque's Second Empire
row house examples are usually more Queen Anne in style, due to the use of full-height bays across their facades.
These tend to date from the mid-I 880s through the 1890s and coincide with the Queen Anne style. These
examples unifonnly employ just the single front Mansard roof plane. Other row house examples, which are best
categorized as Second Empire in style, have the same limited Mansard superimposed on a rectangular plan.
Figure 73: 1025-37 Locust Street, 1885-90, (photo, J. Jacobsen, 2003).
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1025-37 Locust Street (Figure 73) combines three row houses in a single unified frontage with vertical
differentiations present only at the Mansard base cornice level. The paired doI1llers have Gothic Revival or
Shingle style truss work. The block at 1913-17 Jackson Street (1886) combines storefronts with residences
above. It presents a very plain Mansard with pedimented doI1llers (single roof plane). The single plane Mansard
is reduced to an absolutely vertical plane on a similar block at 1902 White Street. Another apartment block
example is 2095 Central Avenue.
Numerous institutional block examples employ a Mansard roof foI1ll on a rectangular core. Examples
include the original portion of St. Columbkille's School, on Rush Street, St. Francis Convent and the Immaculate
Conception School, two very large-scale examples located on Davis Street (Sommer, p. 97).
Subtype #5: Dubuque has one subset of this style that McAlester fails to identify. This is a twin-full-height bay
plan without a tower. These examples employ a true Mansard roof and are of an appropriate early date range.
The subset is particularly favored for the townhouse variant. A large row house example is found at 1100-1150
Main, 1876 (Upper Main District) and 1631-33 Main, 1895 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), really more Queen
Anne but the single-plane Mansard is elevated above the twin front bays. The best single-family !Tee-standing
house example is found at 1491 Main Street, (Figure 74). The Alexander Young House has a Jndiana limestone
façade and a splendidly carved 15th Street !Tontage (photo, Sommer, p. 97; Gebhard, p. 86).
Figure 74: 1491 Main Street., c.1875 (photo, J. Jacobsen, 2003).
Queen Anne (1880-1910):
The Queen Anne style sought out and utilized any structural or decorative trick to achieve exterior
variety. Over time the style utilized any asymmetrical foI1ll and this asymmetry was greatly facilitated by balloon
!Tame construction. Over half of all Queen Anne houses used the hip rooffoI1ll nationally. Porches were thin
and delicate in their ornamentation and the wrap-around porch, commonly with rounded corner or turret, is a
certain indicator of the style. Few original porches survive however, and Classical Revival era replacements are
usually in place.
Four decorative treatments further distinguish Queen Anne houses. Spindle work encompasses Eastlake
or detailing classes of turned decorative posts and !Tiezes. Free Classic ornament substitutes classical columns,
Palladian windows, dentils, and bay windows. Half-timbered examples use early Tudor derived half timbering
and window groupings. Patterned masonry elaborates stone and brickwork and can use terra cotta inserts and
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decorative panels. The "Stick" style" and "Shingle" style decorative motifs are not treated as styles in this
typology but are regarded as subsets of the broader Queen Anne style.
Subtype #1: Hipped Roof With Lower Cross Gables: Half of all Queen Anne houses present a dominant front
gable with one or more subordinated cross gables. Most common is an L-shaped plan with front facing and side
facing gable ends. Towers occur at a front comer.
Figure 75: 1105 Grove Terrace (photo, J. Jacobsen, 2003)
This Queen Anne subset includes all of the "best of show" Dubuque examples. The best frame example
is the Charles T. Hancock House, 1105 Grove Terrace, 1887-88 (West 11th Street District, individually listed
NRHP) (Figure 75), with its distinctive centered round tower and gable roof wings that project from a squarish
hip roof core. Details evoke the Shingle and Stick styles. The house is sited on the most distinctive bluff front
location in Dubuque.
Figure 76: 504 Bluff, 1894 (photo, J. Jacobsen, 2003)
The Queen Anne/Romanesque brick example, the Daniel A. Sullivan-Elizabeth Cooper duplex, 504
Bluff, 1894 (Cathedral District, NRHP, Figure 76), also called the "Redstone," is the best brick and stone
example of the Queen Anne style.
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Figure 77: 1145 Locust Sheet (1884-87) (photo, J. Jacobsen, 2003)
The Fannie Stout House (Figure 77) (Jackson Park Dishict, NRHP) is the most ornate example ofthe
Queen Anne style in the city and it represents the conscious intermixing of exotic stylistic influences, the
Romanesque, Oriental, Byzantine being the most obvious (Sommer, pp. 101-02; Gebhard, p. 85).
Other excellent examples are 408 West 5th, 1894-96, a brick twin-tower design with centered high gable
roof dormer, which reflects a Neo-Classical influence (Cathedral District, NRHP). Another twin-tower example
was the Charles H. Eighmey House, 1337 Main Street, c.1892, later largely remodeled as a Neo-Classical plan
with the addition of a massive temple front porch. The Lester C. Bissell House, 900 West Third Street, 1891 is a
massive Shingle-style influenced example. The Charles Stampfer House, 195 West 17th, 1890, features an
unusual gambrel roof front wing and Neo-Classical influences. Three excellent examples of hip roof cores with
massive corner round towers are 1752 Main, 1894 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), with the broadest frame tower
in the city; 1045 West 3"', 1896 (Langworthy District), a brick example with Neo-Classical influences; and 510
West 11th, pre-1897 (West 11 th Street District), a prominent frame example with a rounded wrap-around porch.
One outstanding although unusual early frame example that appears to blend equally the Italianate and
Queen Anne styles is the William H. Day House, 1203 Grove Terrace, 1883-86 (West 11th Street District, Figure
78). It has a hip roof core but it is essentially an elongated side gable in profile. The nearby James E. Conchar
House at 1295 Grove Terrace, 1889, is another tower-less example, with a squarer core hip roof plan. The
adjacent house, that of Marshal M. Walker, 1155 Grove Terrace, 1881, is a comparable and just restored
example, differing only in its use of jerkinhead dormers.
Figure 78: 1203 Grove Terrace (photo, J. Jacobsen, 2003)
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An excellent and representative example of more moderate scale towered hip roof Queen Anne designs is
1921 Madison Street, c.1890 (Figure 79).
Figure 79: 1921 Madison Street (photo, Sommer, p. 106)
A number of Queen Anne hip roof examples feature angled comer towers, as does that at 300 Central
Avenue, c.1895, shown in Figure 80. It also has a Romanesque influence in its upper window arch. Another
brick example is 1175 Bluff, 1892+, (Jackson Park District, NRHP), which balances the tower with a round
comer entry porch set opposite it. Another brick Jackson Park District example is 945 Bluff, pre-I 884, which
adds a distinctive onion dome as well as Neo-Classical influences to the design mix.
Figure 80: 300 Central Avenue (photo, Sommer, p. 102)
A number of hip roof plans lack towers. Those of particular interest include 1449 Locust, 1896-97
(Jackson Park District, NRHP), an excellent Shingle style design with a broadly rounded front bay and a rounded
or half dome cap; 1576 Locust, 1885 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), an excellent polychrome brick design with a
rounded front comer; 346-48 West Locust, pre-1889 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), is an elongated hip roof
duplex plan with a central gambrel roof front wing and flanking raised turret dormers; the Shingle-style example
at 315 West Locust, 1888 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), is a very well preserved and easily ignored frame
example with its elaborately round-framed gable fronts; 1035 West 3" , 1895, (Langworthy District) is a rare
local example ofa tile roof in Dubuque; the Harry Tredway House (565 Fenelon Street, 1880s) features a
Romanesque style comer tower; 491 Alpine, 1906 (Langworthy District) is a well preserved example of a hip
roof core with front and side wings and a centered round comer porch; and 1783 Heeb, c.1893 (Jackson Park
District, NRHP) is a prominent example of a polychromatic brick and stone design with a three-sided bay. Two
Shingle style examples, ofinterestfor their detailing, are 263 Hill, c.1910 (Langworthy District) and 395 West
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17th, pre-1891 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), the latter example combines an eyebrow donner, jerkinhead roof
fonn, half timbering and Neo-Classical influences. Figure 81 illustrates the common use of a front gablet on a
hip roof core. An offset gable uont wing or bay creates a repeating gable profile. This uame Queen Anne
example retains its porch and other detailing.
Figure 81: 2568 Jackson Street (1900) (photo by Jim Jacobsen, March 7, 2000)
Subtype #2: Cross Gabled Roof: This is the gabled variation of the style and towers occur on a uont comer.
There is just one Dubuque towered example and only a few true examples of cross-gable plans.
Figure 82: 1492 Locust (photo, J. Jacobsen, 2003).
The pre-eminent cross gable uame Queen Anne example is 1492 Locust, the Benjamin B. Richards
House, 1883 (Figure 82) (Jackson Park District, NRHP). Impressive even in its drab unifonn brown paint, the
house is being restored and will be recognized for its unmatched Stick style trim work.
The Ephraim M. Woodworth House, 1320 Locust (Jackson Park District, NRHP) is another exceptional
and significant example with its steeply pitched bell cast combination hip and gable roof, a striking tall uont
dormer, paired thin Italianate window sets, and an original porch, all set on an irregular brick core.
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Another excellent example, one in which the hexagonal tower squares off the plan, is 175 Alpine
(c.1901) (Langworthy District). The tower arises from the second floor base, surmounting a broad rounded
corner porch. The design is heavily influenced by the Neo-Classical style.
Figure 83: 2735 Windsor Avenue (photo, Sommer, p. 103)
The Linwood Cemetery Office, c.1880s, (Figure 83) offers the only local towered example of the subset,
combining multiple design influences (Sommer, p. 106).
McAlester allows for no side gable Queen Anne subset, of which there are a munber of examples, with
front corner towers, in Dubuque. Two significant Shingle style examples are 1072 West 3'" with its combination
ofNeo-Classical and Shingle influences, of particular interest is the open upper level corner porch, an oriole and
a contrasting concrete block porch, and 265 Alpine, c.1899-1906. The latter example also has a rounded front
bay, projecting side gable fronts, strongly influenced by the Shingle style. Both examples are in the Langworthy
District. A slightly less imposing and smaller example is found at 437Lorns Blvd, c.1893 (IN est II th Street
District).
Figure 84: 1897-1901 (photo, J. Jacobsen, 2003)
Another important Dubuque side gable Queen Anne subset entails the application of matching twin front
wings, bays or simply donners which flank paired and centered duplex entrances. This is a chronological list, all
being brick save for one exception as noted. Except for gable front applications, the front wings or bays
tenninate at the cornice line:
407-09 Lorns, pre-I 872 (IN est II th Street District), ornate cornice, side gable roof.
1687-91 Main, 1879, (Jackson Park District, NRHP). possibly a remodeled earlier side gable
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duplex, Shingle style.
1658-60 Iowa, 1885-88 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), twin dormers with Neo-Classical porch.
Figure 85: 701-03 Bluff, 1888 (Photo by J. Jacobsen, 2003)
701-03 Bluff, 1888 (Cathedral District, NRHP) (Figure 85), Mansard roof (tront wall plane only),
pedimented central dormer, twin orioles with turret caps that rise above the roof.
1535-37,1551-53, 1571-73 Bluff, all pre-1889 and all located in the Jackson Park District, NRHP,
identical twin bay, parapet front designs with walkout front basements.
1255-57 Locust, pre-I 889 (Jackson Park District, NRHP) side gable with twin bays, connecting
front centered porch.
1509-11 Bluff, pre-I 889 (Jackson Park District, NRHP) an unusual design with square cut orioles,
likely a hip roof with a centered raised pedimented dormer.
484-86 West 3nJ, post-1889 (Cathedral District, NRHP), frame side gable with high roof pitch,
gablets cap two three-sided bays.
324-26 West Locust, pre-1891 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), side gable plan with three sided
bays, Italianate elongated 2/2 windows survive.
265-67 West 17th, pre-1891 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), large Stick style example with gable
roof dormers and a centered shed roof dormer, broad hip roof.
121-23 Bluff, 1895 (Cathedral District, NRHP), arrangement like the above, hip roofhas a flat
top, rounded dormer window lintels, hip roof centered dormer.
1631-33 Main, 1895 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), Mansard roof (single front roof plane only)
with vertical profile, matching diminutive three-sided bays. polychrome brick and stone.
1560-1568 Iowa, 1898 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), Neo-Classical stone veneer façade with
parapet front, matching three-sided bays, and square-cut central porch with side
entrances, excellent example.
574-76 Chestnut, c.1900 ('Nest 11 th Street District), contains shallow gable roof pavilions on a hip
roof plan, there are matching three-sided bays on the ground floor front.
363-65 West Locust, 1902, this is the premier example of this subset, features strong Neo-
Classical influences, a broad eaves line with modillions caps a polychromatic brick base
with twin three-sided bays, Neo-Classical porch.
Two similar side gable brick duplex plans feature Stick style dormers, both with Palladian-like window
sets. 364-66 West Locust, pre-I 889, has centered stairways with no windows in the upper center of the façade.
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396 West Locust, pre-1891, is fully fenestrated and retains its original ornate ITont porch (both examples are in
the Jackson Park District (NRHP).
Subtype #3: Front Gabled Roof: In this subset a single dominant full-width ITont gable caps the fairly
symmetrical rectangular plan. Towers, if present, are placed on a ITont comer.
Figure 86: 199 Loras Blvd. (photo, Sommer, p. 107)
The pre-eminent example of this subset is the Nicholas J. Schrup House, 199 Loras, 1908 (Figure 89) is a
massive polychromatic example of the Queen Anne with Neoclassical Revival style influences, massive wrap-
around porch, polychromatic brickwork and green tile roof. The plan of3087 Central Avenue, not dated, is a
smal1er-scale example (Sommer, pp. 103, 107).
The best Shingle-style example is 116 Alpine, 1908 (Langworthy District) with its gambrel roofITont
profile and its completely wood shingled upper floor and gable ITont. It is heavily influenced by the Neo-
Classical. Another fme example is 189 Hi11, c.1900 (Langworthy District), a frame side gable plan.
4. Town House: Dubuque row house examples combine flat or partial Mansard roofs, Italianate style cornices
and Queen Anne full-height bays. All have walk-out ITont basements. These examples tend to be later in date.
1100-1150 Main, 1876, brick six-plex with single-plane ITont Mansard and Mansard caps on two
of six three-sided bays.
915-25 Bluff, pre-1884 (Jackson Park District, NRHP), brick tri-plex.
186-90-96 Bluff, 1886 (Cathedral District, NRHP), brick tri-plex combines an angled comer turret
With a gable roof dormer that tops the main entrance, Romanesque brick arches.
530-560 Loras, c.1895 (West 11th Street District), very unusual brick tri-plex with unusual
Flemish stepped and onion dormers, and distinctive stone entry and window surrounds.
331 West 4th, 1899-1900 (Cathedral District, NRHP), brick plan with two three-sided bays and
an onion dome on a hexagonal comer tower, single-plane Mansard roof.
There are two isolated row house buildings, neither ever a part of a broader row of similar buildings. 348
Main, 1878, (Jackson Park District, NRHP) has a three-sided bay on its outside comer and a round oriole/tower
with onion dome cap set atop a rounded wrap-around porch set opposite to it. 1072 Locust, 1878 (Jackson Park
District, NRHP), is a side hall plan with parapet ITont and a single three-sided bay. It has a walkout ITont
basement.
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Queen Anne Style Commercial Examples:
The Queen Anne style emerges in the mid-1880s and is translated into commercial block design in the
form of asynnnetry (particularly the addition of pavilions, bays and orioles), a busier extemal wall surface in
terms of mixed materials and finishes (terra cotta, stone, pilasters, belt courses) and a richer parapet level
ornamentation.
Figure 87: Rider & Lacy Block, 1702-22 Central Avenue, 1891, view northeast
(photo by J. Jacobsen, November 2002)
This large block design features a square-cut tower, an ornate stone entry surround, and a shift between
the upper floors from stone lintels to brick arches. Note too that transoms are set above the display windows
(covered in this example).
Figure 88: Fred A. Nesler Block, 1732-36 Central Avenue, 1892,
view southeast (photo by J. Jacobsen, November 2002)
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This singular example has a broadened oriole that fills almost the entire façade. The stone trim on the
façade is rusticated and projects boldly from the wall plane. The surfaces on the oriole are highly textured with
ornamentation. The oriole parapet carries the main parapet line forward.
Figure 89: H. Richter Block, 1543 Central Avenue, c.1894, view southwest
view southwest (photo by J. Jacobsen, November 2002
This example represents an important subtype of this example, a single storefront commercial façade that
is vertically divided between an oriole and a special window treatment. In taller buildings, the windows on two
floors are interlinked with a unifYing stone surround and the oriole is elongated. The oriole can continue up to
the parapet level or it can terminate as it does in this example. When these buildings have corner locations the
oriole most commonly becomes a corner turret (see 504 Central, 1101 White).
Queen Anne Single-StoreITont Commercial Facades with Orioles and Verticallv Integrated Window Sets: (in
rough chronological order}
1130 Iowa, 1885-90, three stories
1713-15 Central, 1888, three stories
504 Central, N. Jungles Block, 1891, three stories with corner turret.
1497 Central, 1892-1908, three stories (see Figure 59)
1763 Central, c.1892-1908, four stories
1543 Central, H. Richter Block, c.1894, two stories (see Figure 58)
1101 White, c.1900, two stories
Queen Anne/Italianate Single-StoreITont Commercial Facades With Centered Raised Pediments: (in rough
chronological order}
This is a single-storeITont subset of the larger set of double storeITonts that have centered rounded or
triangular pediments set atop or integrated into the cornice line.
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957 Main, 1886, three stories (triangular pediment)
1365 Jackson, C. Hafuer Block, 1891, three stories (semi-circular pediment that appears like it was
simply raised up out of the cornice line).
Richardsonian Romanesque Style (1880-1900):
The subtypes of this style are based not upon basic form, but rather on roof type. Three components
identify the style. These are the use of round-topped arches, rough faced stonework and the presence of round
conical capped towers (75% of properties according to McAlester). Dark red brick with thin colored mortar lines
and rubbed brick arches, as well as the application of decorative terra cotta panel inserts, are also associated with
this style. While the brickwork seeks to minimize surface texturing, stone walls seek a varied and rusticated
visual surface effect but avoided applied ornament.
This style being ill suited to smaller residences and restricted to brick ones, there is but one fairly pure
example to be found in Dubuque although numerous Queen Anne residential designs betray a Rornanesque
influence. Two-thirds of all residential examples employ a hipped roof with cross gable form. It was this style
that coincided with another intense church building phase and numerous religious properties represent its
influence and this is strongly reflected in Dubuque's architecture of this period.
Unlike other Victorian era styles, this one, while still evocative of the Rornanesque era, was uniquely
American in its inception, being largely credited to Boston Architect Henry H. Richardson. His work directly
influenced the forthcoming Sullivanesque and Prairie styles, also American generated styles and a conscious
result of an architectural search for an American derived style that did not come ÍÌ'om European sources
(Blumenson, p. 47).
Figure 90: 1105 Locust (photo, J. Jacobsen, 2003)
The Frank D. Stout House, 1890-91 (Figure 90) (Jackson Park District, NRHP) is Dubuque's only pure
Romanesque residential design. The rectangular plan incorporates a hexagonal corner tower and the broad low
stone upper level arch is particularly impressive. It is constructed ofred sandstone. There is a matching carriage
house on the property (Sommer, p. 124; Gebhard, p. 84).
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Figure 91: 509 Loras (photo, J. Jacobsen, 2003)
A second smaller residential example is pictured in Figure 91. The Michael Hardie House pre-dates
1889 and is located in the West II th Street District. This is a very early example, being combined with the Queen
Anne. The rusticated stone lintels in the triple attic window set and the rounded stone straight lintels hint at the
emerging style. The Thomas Connolly House, 1637 Iowa, 1891, was another example but a fire removed its
rooftop. The core house remains however (Jackson Park Historic District, non-contributing building). Isolated
heavy Romanesque style rusticated stone entry arches appear on a number of duplexes, that at 2070-72 Jackson
Street (1891-1909) being an excellent example.
Historian Lawrence Sommer considers Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 635 East 22nd Street, 1885-87, to
be the city's earliest Romanesque edifice. It is principally a Gothic Revival design and is treated as such in this
document. Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Rhomberg Avenue, 1910, features a number of Romanesque arches in
its design (Sommer, pp. 113, 115-16).
With regard to commercial buildings, the best examples are the Grand Opera House, 135 8th Street, 1889
(NRHP, national level of significance), designed by Chicago architect Willoughby J. Edbrooke, and the Bishop's
Block, 90 Main, 1890 (NRHP). The fonner is a faithful example of the style while the latter features a distinctive
comer round tower.
Saint Luke's United Methodist Church and Rectory, 1199 Main, 1896-97 (NRHP), is the pre-eminent
church example of the style with its rusticated Bedford fudiana limestone and massive square comer tower. Two
religious institutional buildings are significant examples, these being the Villa Raphael Motherhouse, 1235 Mt.
Loretta, 1909, and the Mount Carmel Motherhouse, south end Grandview Avenue, 1893-94.
The best industrial example of the style is the massive Dubuque Brewing and Malting Company, 3000
Jackson Street, 1894-95). It is arguably one of the best Romanesque examples in the state. The Dubuque Star
Brewery Company, East 4th Street, 1898 (SHPO Detennination of Eligibility) is a later, smaller scale example.
The Sullivanesque seven-story Bank and fusurance Building (1894) was a landmark terra cotta design but it has
lost ita distinctive attic level exterior and cornice, rendering it ineligible for National Register listing. The other
Sullivanesque design, the Security Building. Collectively these largest buildings represented continued Dubuque
expansion despite a national depression during the early 1890s. fu terms of design, this style in particular, marks
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a departure from employing local architects, securing Chicago designers instead (Sommer, pp. 120- 122;
Gebhard, p. 88).
Figure 92: 1497 Central, c.late 1890s, (photo by Jacobsen, 2002)
Eclectic House Styles, 1880-1940: Anglo-American, English and French Period Houses:
McAlester groups these styles under three general sub-categories, the Anglo-American, English and French
Period Houses (includes the Colonial Revival, Neoclassical, Tudor, Chateauesque, Beaux Arts and French Eclectic
styles), Meditemmean Period Houses (includes the Italian Renaissance, Mission, and Spanish Eclectic styles) and
Modern Houses (includes the Prairie, Craftsman, Modernistic, and International styles). Until the end of World War I,
eclectic influences were largely limited to the larger house. After the war, economical brick and stone veneers extended
these styles to the small tract house as well. This subgroup of the numerous eclectic styles can be distinguished by the
common effort of its several styles to more accurately replicate various European and New World building traditions.
Colonial RevivallDutch Colonial Revival (1880-1955):46
The first twenty years of the Colonial Revival saw the emergence of an amalgam of Queen Anne basic
forms with so-called Colonial and even Classical ornamentation. It wasn't until c.191O that the style first clearly
focused on faithfully replicating original American Colonial house plans. The Colonial, even in its earliest
expressions, represented the emergence of the first American-generated architectural style (Labine, McAlester,
pp.321-341).
This style is particularly problematic in Dubuque where the Queen Anne Free Classic design continued
to be built after 1900. The Neo-Classical style appears to have been dominant and few pure Colonial Revival
examples are to be found, even in the later years. It is also a challenge to sharply distinguish the Colonial
Revival from the Neo-Classical. The style was also a popular influence in the evolution ofthe locally dominant
gable front vernacular house type. McAlester's typology does not allow for a gable front subset of this style.
Accordingly this style section will organize Dubuque examples under three categories, early and late examples,
46 No "Garrison Colonial" examples are identified and the Cape Cod cottage type, encompassing examples with no dormers, twin
dormers, or a centered dormer, is relegated to tract house examples.
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Dutch Colonial Revival examples, and gable ftont vernacular interpretations. Finally, because most examples are
of ftarne construction, this style suffers ftom loss of integrity resulting ftom remodeling and re-siding.
Two early examples are 1038 Bluff, 1895 (Jackson Park Dis1rict, NRHP), distinctive for its ftame
solarium-like ftont porch on a brick L-plan, and 542 West II"', 1900 rNest 11th Street Dis1rict), an eclectic two-
story ftame side gable design. The following side gable plans feature central hall entrances and syrnrne1rical
fenestration, they are arranged in chronological fashion.
490 Wilbur, 1919-20 (West 11'" Street Dis1rict), this is the best archetypal example, an elongated
brick Georgian design with 1riple donners.
1080 Melrose, 1918-21 (Langworthy District), hip roof brick plan with solarium wing, round
arched entry canopy.
239 Alpine, 1923 (Langworthy Dis1rict), brick Georgian plan with unusual jerkinhead roof treat-
ment at the gable ends, elongated lower ftont window sets, vaulted entry canopy.
1080 Grove Terrace, 1927 rNest II'" Street Dis1rict), a ftarne tract house example built on a pre-
existing stone stable foundation.
1083 West 3"', 1930 (Langworthy Dis1rict), brick plan with Neo-Classical influence (gabled
through-cornice donner, porch), returned eaves and lunette attic lights.
Note that all of these examples were being built on top of the bluffs, given their later construction.
Two noteworthy gambrel roof Dutch Colonial designs are 1090 Melrose, 1921 (Langworthy Dis1rict),
and 1148 Langworthy, pre-I 92 I (Langworthy Dis1rict). The fonner is the more interesting example because
typical of a number of Shingle style designs, wood shingles substitute as an upper level wall covering for areas
nonnally treated as roof surfaces.
The Vernacular Colonial Revival is the dominant Dubuque vernacular house fonn of the late 19'" and
early 20'" centuries. The fonn was ideal for narrow older town lots and it leant itself to meeting the housing
needs oflaborers as well as the middle class. The type or style comprises a dominant ftont gable (often with
returned eaves or pedimented, the gable ftont being shingles often with a Palladian window set), 1riple-window
sets on one or both levels, bays if present are balanced with a half-wide ftont porch, usually of full height.
Shallow centered side bays with gable donner caps are also common. The type coincides with the popularity of
rusticated or decorative concrete block. Builder/developer Chris A. Voelker was responsible for building
hundreds of these houses, offtarne and block construction ftom the l890s until the First World War. These
houses are vernacular inasmuch as they continue the local tradition of side hall plans, commonly employ a locally
produced building material, and represent custom built designs. The concrete block examples have a very high
level of integrity given their building material and they, along with brick examples, are found to be collectively
architecturally significant when they comprise groupings (Figure 93). Their ftarne counterparts tend to suffer
alterations, particularly of porches, windows and siding materials. An excellent brick gable ftont, narrow plan
example is 940 Bluff (Jackson Park Dis1rict, NRHP).
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Figure 93: 2590, 2586-88, 2582, 2578 Central Avenue (1915-25)
(photo by Jim Jacobsen, March 7, 2000)
Figure 94: 2545 Jackson (1910) (photo by Jim Jacobsen, March 7, 2000)
Dubuque house builder Willy U1rich built the elegant concrete block house shown above. It too
combines the gable front vernacular two-story with classical design elements. This is a larger and more complex
example of the style and the concrete block medium. A comparable Voekler-built example, with cruciform plan
and a corner porch is found at 339 Jones, 1913 (Cathedral District, NRHP).
Figure 958: 2044 Jackson Street (1900) (Photo by Jim Jacobsen, March 7, 2000)
This is an excellent and well-preserved frame example shown above combines a narrower core gable
front rectangular plan with a Neo-Classical porch, broken pediment, and a side bay. Other outstanding broader
frame examples are found at 1045 Melrose, 1915 (Langworthy District), and 1075 Melrose, 1915 (Langworthy
District). The latter is a side gable frame example, while the former example has a pedimented gable front with
Palladian window set, and a recessed Neo-Classical half-full width corner porch.
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Figure 96: 1075 Melrose (photo, J. Jacobsen, 2003)
Classical Revival/Neo-Classical Style (1895-1950):
This style reinterpreted the Early Classical Revival and Greek Revival homes of America. The style was
fITst applied to monumental governmental buildings. The new style's appearance coincided with the United
States emergence as a world naval and colonial power, and the resulting Spanish American War. The hallmark of
the Neo-Classical style is an ornately fonnal two story front porch. Otherwise the Classical Revival employs a
one and two- story porch that is centered on or covers the front of a hipped or side gabled rectangular core form.
The style focused attention on a central entryway and a synnnetrical facade composition was mandatory.
Dubuque examples have a hip roof core. Neo-Classical detailing, particularly the use of diamond window lights
in attic or upper sash was very popular and most late 19th century houses, particularly Queen Anne designs,
received replacement Neo-Classical style porches beginning with the early 20th Century. Some Neo-Classical
complete makeovers obliterated original designs.
The best Dubuque residential examples employ a full-height entry porch, albeit often in double-decker
fashion. The best examples are the Joseph Garland House, 1090 Langworthy, 1905 (Figure, 97) (Langworthy
District, individually listed on the NRHP), and the Dr. James Guthrie House, 1005 Locust, c.1900 (Jackson Park
District, NRHP). The latter combines rusticated concrete block with a complex and innovative design. The
latter, like the Garland House design, exhibits all of the Neo-Classical forms and components in its varied
dormers and gables, and even retains a rounded Queen Anne style comer. The best award for complete Neo-
Classical makeover is the Charles H. Eighmey House, 1337 Main (Jackson Park District, NRHP), an 1875
ltalianate plan that gained contrasting round front towers in an 1888 Queen Anne redesign, and a splendid and
faithful temple front with full-height columns (but with an intervening balcony). The resulting mix satisfies no
single style but it is a collective testimonial to changing architectural tastes.
Figure 97: 1090 Langworthy Avenue (photo, J. Jacobsen, 2003)
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Figure 98: 1005 Locust Street (photo, J. Jacobsen, 2003)
The house at 1595 Montrose Terrace, undated, (Figure 99) is an excellent example ofa full height entry
porch with a full width lower level porch. Another good example is the Peter J. Seippel House, 541 Fenelon
Street, c.1909. Its porches are simply stacked and lack the impressive colunms found on the Montrose TeITace
example.
Figure 99: 1595 Montrose Terrace (photo, Sommer, p. 136)
The First Church of Christ Scientist, 359 West 9th Street, 1911, is a good church example of the style
with its Roman temple front with an unusual recessed broken pediment, rising up behind it. The Carnegie-Stout
Public Library, 190 I, 360 West II th (Jackson Park District, NRHP) is an excellent Beaux Arts/Neo-Classical
example with its full height temple front and Corinthian columns. (Sommer, p. 134; Downtown Walking Tour;
Gebhard, p. 8).
The Gennan Bank, 1901-02,342 Main Street (Old Main District, NRHP) is a commercial example of the
full facade porch subtype with its four engaged Corinthian columns. A more diminutive example, with engaged
flat Ionic colunms at each outer side of the upper storefront is the Henry H. Mehlhop Company building, 372
Main Street, c.I910, (Old Main District, NRHP).
Tudor Revival 0890-1940):
This style loosely evoked late medieval English houses rather than anything specifically Tudor. Unlike
the Colonial Revival, earlier fonnal Tudor designs tended to be more accurate while later ones were more
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generalized. The style found popular acceptance for both more modest and tract house applications beginning in
the middle 1920s and this popularity, rivaling the Colonial Revival, persisted until World War II when it abruptly
vanished. Like the earliest bungalow fonn, the Tudor Revival house was dominated by a steeply pitched roof. A
massive and elaborate chimney was also central to the type. The style could also be incorporated onto a
simplified Queen Anne foundation. These transitional house plans tended to have central haIls and entrances,
and elaborate applications of donners, oriels and bays. The houses ranged from the smaIl house to the great
country house (Bruce Lynch, "The Popular English Revival Style," The Old-House Journal, July 1983, pp. I 17-
20).
The vast majority of area examples have brick veneered exteriors, commonly accented with decorative
stone inlays around the entrance, at comers, and in the chimney construction. A random intermixing of stone or
other inserted materials is frequently found. Late-1930s examples commonly use a polychrome brick. Two large
and loyal designs, that blend half timbering and stuccoed gable ends or donner fronts with predominantly brick
cores are found at 1090 West 3"\ pre-I921, and 1004 West 3"', 1925 (both Langworthy District examples). Other
examples of brick and stone construction are 1130 South Grandview Avenue, c.I928, ant the University of
Dubuque Chapel, University Avenue past Algona Street, 1907. The John G. Kuehnle House, northwest comer
Kirkwood and Alta Vista streets, 1924 (Figure 100) is an unusuaIly authentic Cotswold cottage stone example
(Gebhard, pp. 90-91; Sommer, p. 138).
Figure 100: John G. Kuehnle House, (1924) (photo, Sommer, p. 138)
David Gebhard tenns the Wartburg Theological Seminary, 333 Wartburg Street, 1914-16, an example of
"English medieval" or "modernized Gothic." The building has a U-plan and a six-story creneIlated tower
(Gebhard, pp. 90-91).
A faithful stucco example, in reality a steeply pitched side gable plan oriented sideways to its street, is
found at 1O87West 3'" and pre-dates 1921 (Langworthy District). An eclectic example, intennixed with other
influences including the Oriental, is 1036 West 3"', 1916 (Langworthy District, Figure 101). Dubuque has
relatively few tract house style examples, but 630 West 1 I th, a 195 I brick side gable cottage, with decorative
stone inserts, is a good and very late example r:w est I I th Street District).
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Figure 101: 1036 West 3'd (photo, J. Jacobsen, 2003)
Vernacular experimentation in this style is evidenced in a number of Langworthy District concrete block
residences, 1033 and 1025 Melrose Terrace (Figure 102), both of which date to 1915. Both are Chris Voelker-
built designs and these represent the higher end of his experimentation, both in tenns of scale and style.
Figure 102: 1025 (left) and 1033 Melrose Terrace(photo, J. Jacobsen, 2003)
Beaux Arts StYle (1885-1930):
This style was employed in public buildings and great house designs. Symmetrical stone-faced plans
featured rusticated fIrst floor exteriors and smoothed stone on the upper levels. The exteriors were richly
adorned with Ionic or Corinthian columns, quoins, decorative garlands, floral patterns, and pilasters. There were
two very different subtypes
Pure examples of the style are rare in Dubuque. The most faithful example is the Majestic or Orpheum
Theater, 405 Main, 1910 (NRHP). Contemporary accounts termed it "Flemish Renaissance" in style, while
David Gebhard classified it as Second Empire with a Beaux Arts façade. The (Third) Dubuque County
Courthouse, 720 Central, 1891-93, is similarly credited to various styles. Sonuner assigned it to the Beaux Arts
Style he also recognized Romanesque and Neo-Classical influences. Gephard labeled it French Classicism.
(Sonuner, p. 116; Gephard, p. 81).
The Federal Trust and Savings Bank, Central and 14th, 1921 is an excellent example of the simplified
Beaux Arts, executed in a vault form (Longstreth's conunercial typology). A good apartment house example,
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with triple ITont bays, Neo-Classical parapet and frieze, and Romanesque entry arch, is found at 2130-34 Central
Avenue, and dates to c.1900 (Gebhard, p. 87).
French Eclectic Style (1915-1945):
The visual hallmark of this style is the steeply pitched hipped roof or roof combination on a rectangular
or asymmetrical core. Exterior cladding is in stone, brick, stucco (or half timbering). As loosely defined as the
Tudor Revival, this style offers endless variety of form and detailing, given that it mimics no particular era in
French domestic architecture. There is but a single identified Dubuque example, the McCoy House, 1160 S.
Grandview Avenue, 1928-30,which is a French Provincial revival design according to Gebhard. The brickwork
combines dark and a light tan brick (Gebhard, p. 90).
Eclectic House Styles, 1880-1940: Mediterranean Period Houses:
Italian Renaissance Revival Style (1890-1935):
This late Victorian-era style sought to represent the original inspirations for the ltalianate style in a more
accurate manner. It retained the basic square or rectangular core form, the low-pitched hipped roof, and the
horizontal differentiation between base (the foundation), column (the walls) and the capital (the attic/roof). The
first floor dominates the facade with its column flanked or arcaded central entryway and the longer, ITequently
arched windows. The second floor is often distinguished by a stringcourse that runs along the sill level of the
upper floor. Two school designs, those of St. Raphael School, 223 Bluff, 1904, and Franklin School, 39 Bluff,
1906, both of which are located in the Cathedral District (NRHP) are attributed to this style. Both plans have
square hip roof cores, with raised centered entry wings and subordinate side wings.
Mission (I 890-1 920)/Spanish Colonial Revival SMe (1915-1940):
The presence of a Mission shaped dormer or roof parapet places a Mediterranean influenced house
design within this stylistic camp. Other secondary signature elements are a red tile roof, white stucco exterior,
heavy porch support piers or an arcade. Like the bungalow and later the ranch house, the Mission style was
perfected in California and accepted nationally. Like the bungalow, its popularity had waned by the end of
World War I.
Two excellent symmetrical examples are found in the West 11th Street District, 555 West 11th, 1925 (the
north half is an addition), and 1105 Highland Place, 1909 (Figure 103). The former is an example of the Spanish
Eclectic style, while the latter would be classed by McAlester as Spanish Mission. It is noteworthy that these
examples are within a block of each other, and both occupy prominent northwest corners with a prominent bluff
top setting.
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Figure 103: 555 West 11th (left) and 1105 Highland Place (photos, J. Jacobsen, 2003)
Figure 104: 999 Kirkwood Su-eet (photo, Sommer, p. 140)
The smaller house example at 999 Kirkwood Su-eet, 1920s, (Figure 104) is an unusual Spanish Eclectic
u-act house design (Sommer, p. 140).
Eclectic House Styles, 1880-1940: Modern Houses:
Prairie Style 0900-1920):
The Prairie School of design is both an American as well as a Midwestern architectural style. It enjoyed
a comparatively brief popularity, losing out to period designs, and never achieved broad public acceptance in its
purest fonns.Its influences left their long-range IllilIk on a broad range of houses, most commonly in the fonn of
window u-eatments and Prairie style ornamentation.
The pre-eminent example is the Eagle Point Park Pavilion (Figure 105) (SHPO Detennination of
Eligibility). Landscape architect AlÍÌed Caldwell produced this relatively late design for the pavilion and other
park buildings and structures (Sommer, p. 142; Gebhard, pp. 89-90).
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Figure 105: Eagle Point Park Pavilion (1934-36) (photo, Tourist Guide of Dubuque, p. 25).
The elongated example at 230 Alpine (Figure 106) (Langworthy District) is actually an amalgam of the
Tudor, Craftsman and Prairie styles.
Figure 107: 1761 Plymouth Court (photo, Sommer, p. 142)
1761 Plymouth Court, c.1940 (Figure 107) is another excellent and faithful example, as is the Ward Donovan House,
1721 Plymouth Court, 1941, which was also designed by Alfred Caldwell. Here again, Dubuque was building in this style
right up to the beginning of World War II.
Arts and Crafts/Craftsman (1905-1930);
The Craftsman Style is a fairly recently generated stylistic category. Today the term embodies the more
stylized range ofbWlgalow and foursquare designs. In its own time, this style was best represented by the house
and interior furnishing designs of Gustav Stickley, foWlder of the Craftsman movement. Stickley's house' designs
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were substantial in size and were uniformly executed in concrete, stucco, and wood, and used Arts and Crafts
detailing. Schweitzer and Davis distinguish between a Craftsman house type and the bungalow type. They
define the fonner as a two-story house being either more substantial in their massing or more complex in their
design than the bungalow. They identify three regional subtypes of the Craftsman style, the Colonial/Adirondack
(East Coast), the Prairie (Midwest), and the Oriental (West Coast). Stickley considered the bungalow house fonn
to be appropriate only for seasonal occupation, as a summerhouse, and his year round designs were rarely
bungalows. He was strongly influenced by the Mission, Spanish Colonial and his own "Craftsman" values. A
good house exterior included sloping roofs, verandahs, pergolas, the use of rough timbers, overhanging eaves,
and exposed construction (Craftsman, June 1908).
This style had its roots in the Arts and Crafts movement, which in turn derived largely from the writings
of Englishmen John Ruskin (1819-1900) and designer William Morris (1834-96). It was both a reaction against
industrialized society and an effort to unify art and architecture with morality, politics and science. The
movement celebrated individual craftsmanship over mass produced repetition and sought to achieve societal
improvement through its design concepts and it's teaching of the basic crafts. Stickley was one of the leading
American adherents of the Arts and Crafts movement. By the early 20th century the architectural and design
aspects of the movement focused upon integrating the house with nature and the particular house setting, as well
as celebrating the exposed usage of minimally processed natural building materials. Thus structural columns and
beams are prominently displayed and cladding materials favored the use stucco, cobblestone, shingles and wood.
Asymmetry of design was celebrated, favoring complex roofing schemes and visual variety in fenestration,
patterns of materials, porch lines, and the overall house plan. Favored structural expressions include the exposed
knee brace and rafter tails, extra stick work, and the common use of battered or sloped porch columns, of varying
lengths, in combination with heavy pier bases.
The Craftsman style in Dubuque is largely restricted to the greater houses of the western bluff top and
hilly outskirts of the city. Isolated examples are scattered across the city as well. The onset of both the
Craftsman and the bungalow type coincided with the slowing down of house building in the city. The two best
residential examples are found at 430 Alpine, 1909 (Langworthy District) and at 257 Hill, 1915 (Langworthy
District, Figure 108). Both are side gable stucco house plans with solarium extensions with battered corner
columns.
Figure 108: 257 Hill (left) and 430 Alpine (photo, J. Jacobsen, 2003)
Most Dubuque examples simply exhibit Craftsman type upper window sash (four vertical lights),
exposed rafter tails, or Craftsman porch detailing. All-stucco examples are rare, but stucco is often present on an
upper level or on gable or bay exteriors. The style is commonly associated with foursquare plans, and
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particularly enlarged examples such as that at 2006 Jackson Street (1909). One apartment house example, the
Stone Ridge Apartments, 2555-65 Central Avenue (1923), features a low-profile Mansard-like front parapet,with
broad overhanging eaves. TIris feature is combined with window bands on both levels.
Art Moderne/Modernistic (1925-1940):
The style encompasses two subtypes, the Art Moderne and the Art Deco. Both subtypes employ the
same basic flat roofed (less commonly gable or hip) square or rectangular core. The Art Moderne rounded
comers and streamlined the whole through the use of horizontal lines and patterns. Art Deco imparted a largely
vertical emphasis by adding towers and other vertical elements, and ornate detailing. Both styles disappeared
with the coming of World War II.
Figure 109: 120 South Grandview Avenue (photo, Sommer, p. 141)
There are four residential Grandview Avenue examples that exemplify this style. They are 120 South
Grandview Avenue, c.1939 (Figure 109), 155 South Grandview Avenue, 1144 South Grandview Avenue (Figure
110), c.1935, and 535 South Grandview Avenue, 1939.
Figure 110: 1144 South Grandview Avenue (photo, Sommer, p. 141)
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Figure Ill: United States Post Office and Federal Building (photo, J. Jacobsen, 2003)
The city's best Art Deco example is the United States Post Office and Federal Building (Figure I I I) 350
West 6" Street, 1932-34, a product the Public Works Administration. The design is centered on a four story
central pavilion. A second notable landmark example is the Masonic Temple, 1155 Locust, 1931, which David
Gebhard describes as an example of "abstracted medievalism" with an Art Deco overlay (Gebhard, pp. 83, 85).
Roshek's department store, built in two phases between 1929-31, is a simplified Art Deco design (Figure 112).
Figure 112: Roshek's Department Store, Locust and 8" streets, 1929-1931
Popular Cottage/House Types:
The Bungalow Cottage Type(1910-1930):
The bungalow emerged as a popular house type c.1908 in Iowa and by 1916 was the house of choice
across the country for the middle and working class. The type however defies ready definition because it
includes subtypes with diametrically conflicting characteristics. There are three generally accepted bungalow
subtypes: (1) the sing1e- story front gable (or hip roof); (2) the aeroplane and (3) the side gable. A fourth
subtype, (4) the Chicago Bungalow, is also defined in this study. The aeroplane subtype might be considered a
variant of the first one, given that it simply adds an extra room or rooms on top of a single story plan. The side
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gable subtype can be more than two stories high, but that fact is hidden beneath the broad roof planes that
descend to the sireet front. Few hard and fast design rules can encompass these three varied subtypes but it can
be generally said that the bungalow form is either a single-story small form or if it is higher, the roof form is used
to disguise the presence of additional floors. In the Midwest the bungalow most commonly has a basement, a
steeper roof, reduced overhanging eaves, and a reduced amount of porch and exterior exposure, in conirast with
its West Coast precursors. In its iract house form it occupies a narrow urban lot with front and rear porch, and a
rear lot garage. The majority of local bungalows have few if any Craftsman affectations to speak of and only
rarely employ very exotic building materials such as cobblestones. It is the general finding that bungalows as a
subtype are for whatever reason fairly underrepresented in this area. At the same time, the term bungalow
endured well into the 1950s and early 1960s here and many a cottage and ranch house was marketed as a
bungaiow well after World War II. Especially rare is the straightforward front gable subtype. A front gabled
cottage is more likely a bungalow if the porch is not separate from the house core, and forms an extension of the
core roof plane (a good example of a cottage-like bungalow, with porch subsumed beneath a hip roof, is 950
Spruce, c.1910 (West 11 th Sireet). Dubuque's embrace of the bungalow type was somewhat delayed, beginning
in 1909, and was conservative in terms of quantity and ostentation. It is likely that the localiradition of a
preference for two-story houses weighed against the acceptance of this cottage type.
Subtype #1. Gable Front/Narrow Front Bungalow:
This group of bungalows, primarily consisting of gable front variations, includes bungalow plans that
present their narrow dimension to the sireet. Hip roofed bungalows are included in this type. Dubuque's
preference for taller gable front homes worked against this bungalow type. There are two examples of story and
a half concrete block gable fronts in the Couler Valley (2429 and 2485 White Sireet) which might best be termed
bungalows despite their height and the telltale presence of second story gable front windows. A classic brick hip
roof example is 1020 Melrose, 1925 (Langworthy District). Two gable front examples are 301 Jones, 1913; and
309 Jones, 1913, both located in the Cathedral District (NRHP). The latter example has a jerkinhead roof and
was built by builder Chris Voelker using his Peer-Amid concrete block. 313 Jones, 1913, is a second district
Voekler example, one with a hip roof and offset gable roof front porch.
Subtype #2. Aeroplane/Airplane Bungalow:
This bungalow type is a variant of the gable front/narrow front type. The aeroplane plan simply adds
another room as a second floor. This level is then separately roofed with matching projecting eaves and
detailing.
Figure 113: 95 South Grandview Avenue (photo, Sommer, p. 139)
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Figure 113 depicts the only known Dubuque example of this bungalow type. The design is unusual in
that it is placed atop a side gable bungalow plan. The design is heavily Craftsman influenced and the large
solarium gabled bay centered on the second floor is particularly interesting (Sommer, p. 139).
Subtype #3. Side Gable Bungalow:
This general type (Figure 114) insludes side gable plans, most of which present their broader dimension
to the street front. The roof form can have a single roof plane that continues folWard to cover a recessed porch,
or it can have two roof pitches, and the lower reduced pitch roof plane projects above the porch. Dormers
commonly are set into the front roof plane and these can be very large relative to the volume of the roof plane.
This type can be further categorized in terms of the use of a full width or partial width porch.
Figure 114: 2319 Washington Street (1910) (photo by Jim Jacobsen, March 7, 2000)
Figure lIS: 1781 Plymouth Street (photo, Sommer, p. 139)
Figure lIS depicts a complex and high-end example ofthe side gable subtype. The house has matching
end chimneys which is very unusual. The façade is a careful balance of a shed roof bay and dormer on the left
side with ajerkinhead roof cross gable and an offset entry porch on the right side. The tile roof features
decorative finials on its peaks and the front porch roof is wrapped around projecting pilaster tops (photo,
Sommer, p. 138).
Another example is 125 South Grandview Avenue, undated, a diminutive brick bungalow with a tile roof
and multiple chimneys (Sommer, p. 138-39). Two very narrow side gable frame examples are 1051 Walnut,
1924 (West 11th Street District) and 155 Alpine, 1915 (Langworthy District). The former has a very enlarged
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County and State
jerkinhead front donner and reads like a gable front plan. The latter has a centered gable roof wing. Larger side
gable frame bungalow examples include 391 West 12'b (Jackson Park Dis1rict, NRHP) with a large raise shed
roof donner; 705 Rose, 1915 (West 11th S1reet Dis1rict) has a recessed front porch and large front donner; 1055
Melrose, 1915 (Langworthy Dis1rict) has the same plan but a shed roof donner; 305 Jones, 1913 (Cathedral
Dis1rict, NRHP) is another Voelker-built concrete block plan with an unusual full-width front gable roof donner
and a separate front porch. Finally, 390 Alpine, post-I926, is a later brick Colonial style bungalow example.
Foursquare House Type (1904-1940):
The foursquare tenn is a recently crafted one, coined to identifY a standardized two-story house, eight-
room square or cubic plan with a hip roof. The type has an interior floor plan of four rooms on each of the two
floors with no cen1ral hall. A side stair, centered on one side wall became the standard feature. This house type
appears to have almost instantly appeared on the national building scene in the years 1904-06. While squarish
foTITIS of similar scale preceded the foursquare, it was the simplification of both exterior fonn and the interior
layout that resulted in the foursquare. The shell divested itself of bays, side wings, equal-height rear extensions,
resulting in the square or very near square footprint. Inside, the floor plan eliminated the cen1ral hall and
stairway, and embraced the living room concept. The foursquare was a very popular house type, particularly
during the years 1904-1925. Its rise to popularity paralleled that of the bungalow. The foursquare persisted in
popularity after that ofthe bungalow waned, but after the mid-1920s it appears to have been used mostly to add a
vertical variety to housing developments. Whole developments consisting on only foursquare houses are not
common but they do occur.
Figure 116: John Wimmer foursquare, 1616 Lincoln (1925)
There are very few Dubuque examples and those that were built had fairly late construction dates. There
is less of a sense that there was any graduállocal1ransition from other cubic fonns into the foursquare. Instead,
the type appears to have arrived in its accepted national fonn. Many examples appear to be exaggerated in scale.
The following list of well-preserved examples is arranged in chronological order (the Melrose and West 3"
listings are in the Langworthy Dis1rict, the others are in the West 11th S1reet Dis1rict):
1030 Melrose, 1915, is a singular example ofa gable front cubic plan with Craftsman features.
1075 West 3"', 1915, is stuccoed with an offset front entry porch.
570 West 11th, 1915, broad frame plan, Neo-Classical donner sash, minimal upper fenestration.
1025 Grove Terrace, 1915-16, brick plan with offset brick single-story solarium and canopy entry.
1087 Melrose, 1919-20, three donners, window bands in upper front corners, excellent example.
1050 MeJrose, 1920, excellent Craftsman example with single-story solarium, centered porch.
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1063 Melrose, 1920, unusual side gable cubic frame shingled plan with shed roof doIDler.
1011 Melrose, 1920, concrete block porch on frame plan, exposed rafter tails.
1010 Melrose, 1920, unusual vaulted front gable roof porch, frame example.
1028 West 3", 1921, brick and stucco plan, unusual pedimented doIDler and vaulted entry porch.
586 Loras, 1923-24, frame duplex L-plan.
1040 Melrose, 1924-25, frame side gable plan with shingled exterior.
647 Ches1nut, 1925, bracketed corners, offset entry porch, single-story solarium.
694 West 11 th, 1935-36, diminutive frame example.
Minimal Traditional Cottage Type (c.1931-55):
This title, coined by Virginia and Lee McAlester, is thought to represent a dilution of the Tudor Revival
cottage. They date the onset of the subtype to c.1935. The type was produced by minimizing the size,
complexity and style of the then popular eclectic house or cottage. It was a sort of pre-ranch cottage foIDl.
Architectural historian Mary Mix Foley teIDls the type the "builder's economic house." A very broad range of
single story cottage foIDls fall under the minimal traditional heading in field surveys and this is no surprise given
that the minimal traditional was the dominant cottage foIDl for a 25 year period. Three subtypes are defmed for
the purpose of this survey project. These are the (1) square, (2) linear, and (3) L-plan. The Lustron pre-
fabricated all steel house is the preeminent example of the minimal traditional Four Dubuque examples are
found, one of which is located at 887 West Locust Street (Biays Bowerman). The minimal traditional type
coincides with the revival of house building in Dubuque in the late 1930s. While there are no tracts of war
workers' housing in the city, the John Deere workers housing, consisting of Colonial Revival style red brick
duplex cottages, exemplifies this general type. These houses are worthy of a survey and study. Frame examples
are located at 154 Alpine, 1940 and 393 Alpine (post-1955), both of which are in the Langworthy District.
The Ranch (1 938-present):
The ranch type is another California derived house. All call it the "ranch house" but it technically is a
cottage, being just one story high. It first manifests itself in the very late 1930s but it took another decade before
the type is built in any numbers and its name has public recognition, Its origins are linked by some to the Spanish
Colonial. The ranch shares many attributes with its bungalow antecedent. Both types originated in California
and both were in their own time associated with a modern popular lifestyle. The ranch also offered a non-
traditional form. and plan, one disassociated from war and the Depression. Both were low profile types and the
ranch, originally lacking a raised basement/foundation was particularly low in profile. Both utilized a broad
projecting eaves line although the ranch exhibited no structural supports. Both types were strongly oriented to
the nature and the out-of-doors. Later ranches utilized rear patios and sliding door access points just as the
bungalow used porches, side gardens and terraces accessed by multiple exit points. The ranch is defmed as a
plan of at least six rooms, exclusive of the bathroom, generally resulting in a length of 70 feet including an
attached garage.
Dubuque's wartime and postwar industrial revival produced a house-building revival that coincided with
the emergence of the true ranch house type. By defmition, this type could only be constructed on larger building
lots located on the bluff tops or the outskirts of the city. Examples are inteIDlixed with earlier houses. A survey
and study can investigate the early emergence (with particular emphasis on pre-World War II late '30s examples)
of the type and the foIDls in which it was locally expressed. No examples of this type have been surveyed.
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Dubuque's Vernacular Architecture:
Lawrence Sommer (The Heritage of Dubuque) lauded the city's vernacular residences when he studied the city's
architecture in the mid-I 970s, and generally described these as follows:
They are, to a large extent, the anonymous architecture of the working classes and were not noted by the
newspapers when built or tom down. They are not fully understood by architects and little appreciated
by historians. Nevertheless, they are the most representative type of Dubuque architecture
Sommer's work still stands the test of time and plans are underway for a reprinting of this book. Sommer was
particularly sensitive to the importance of Dubuque's vernacular architecture at a time when such an interest was fairly in
its infancy. Sommer in fact noted "Perhaps more important than different styles in establishing the city's character, were
the unifYing elements of similar scale, mass, color and materials found on hundreds oflocal buildings" (Sommer, pp. 75-
76, 113).
David C. Anderson completed a county wide historical survey in 1991. In his report he noted Sommer's
"Dubuque Vernacular" type and also categorized county vernacular architecture as "Dubuque County Red Brick
Vernacular." Unfortunately he developed no typology or characteristics. He simply stated that examples were "unique
local imitations." and he felt that the examples could be organized into representative fish, Luxembourgian and Gennan
ethnic categories, in addition to materials-defmed limestone, brick and log construction techniques. He stated that
Luxembourgians vernacular favored stone arched basements and stone in general over brick as a building material, and
that they and Gennans favored brick and limestone over frame or log construction. It is indeed curious that all-stone
construction was never common in Dubuque, despite the ready availability of material and skilled artisans. For the most
part stone buildings were industrial plants or outbuildings. Dubuque did develop a long-enduring commitment to using
stone in foundations and retaining walls (Anderson, pp.16, 38, liD-Ill).
Figure 117: Brick houses step down a hillside, and Hill streets, view east
(Housing and Health Survey, 1934)
Gennan vernacular construction predominates in the surviving buildings and certainly did so from the start.
Brick construction was similarly dominant in Dubuque's 19th century construction. This preference combined with scale,
was seemingly a Gennan trait. An 1858 reference to local building observed that "among [the new buildings] are several
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to note with pleasure, built by our German fellow artisans.. .buildings notable for size and solidity" !.;National Democrat
July 26,1858).
Figure 118: Monitor roof vernacular variation, 1220s block of Bluff
(John Vachon, 1940, Library of Congress)
Much of the earliest frame vernacular and particularly that built and occupied by the Irish of Dubuque has been
lost over time. David Anderson found the same void on a county level and concluded that the Irish had "left the most
meager material remains in rural areas." Also gone is much of the contextual fabric of the vernacular neighborhoods.
This included the intensive land use patterns of the yards with gardens, innumerable types and varieties of outbuildings,
an intermixing of small shops and businesses along alleyways, functional porches and the like. Also lost in many cases
are the external details which made these houses functional, shutters, dormers and decorative elements (Anderson, p. 17).
The literature clearly indicates that houses commonly clustered along alleys, and occasionally intruded into
public right-of-ways. Many vernacular arrangements became targets of advocates for safer and more sanitary housing in
the years following World War I. The several 1934-35 Dubuque housing surveys gave particular attention to what is now
termed vernacular housing and the photographs in those reports hint at what has been lost since then.
Figure 119: Internrixed brick and frame houses, stone foundations, likely Central Avenue
(Housing and Health Survey, 1934)
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Figure 120: Closely placed houses along an alleyway, unidentified location in the Couler Valley
(Housing and Health Survey, 1934)
Figure 121: Unusual stone/frame vernacular house, Little Dublin, photo c.I925-32,
300s South Locust, non-extant (Housing and Health Survey, 1934)47
Figure 122: Stone double house, East 14 d Maple, view northwest
(photo by James Jacobsen, April 21, 2000)
The rear wing might be of log construction.
Vernacular Cottage!House/Commerciai Types:
Vernacular architecture is defined in this typology as "nonacademic architecture." This range ofrecognized
house types was most strongly influenced in its design by the realities of regional climates, the availability of (or the
47 The Collis Company incorporated April 16, 1907, and as ofI9Il was located at 301 S. Locust.
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processing of) building materials, and by ethnic or other cultural/traditional values. Certain house types emerged to
dominate regional and even national architecture and examples of these commonly accepted types are found in most
communities. These local applications of type are commonly reinterpreted by those who built them. As a class or type,
these house/cottage forms largely address the working class spectrum of residences although this is not exclusively the
case.
Most of the nationally accepted vernacular types defmed below have little application to Dubuque's urban
vernacular architecture. Dubuque vernacular types are therefore appended to this section. The architectural context
speaks broadly to the long-term dominance of this vernacular architecture and its significance in light of that dominance.
Dubuque's vernacular architecture represents an intermixing of Southern Upland (particularly Mississippi Valley
architecture) (David Anderson terms it Midland American Backwoods Culture") and Continental European, principally
German, Swiss and Luxembourgian building traditions. The Southern Upland is fITst dominant in fairly pure forms (log
houses in particular) but then found expression in the more permanent early brick houses and business blocks,
representing a localized interpretation of urban commercial design and the various national architectural styles
(Anderson, p. 13).
Little is known about Irish influences on vernacular architecture in Dubuque and very little has survived, an
exception being a single frame I.-plan cottage located behind 480 Emmett Street in the Cathedral District (NRHP).
Further study is strongly recommended, minimally with regard to linking non-religious Jrish cultural organizations with
surviving properties. German influence on the local vernacular also lacks any fonnal investigation and the Phase I survey
is perhaps the first fonnal study of the German vernacular.
Dubuque's vernacular properties can be divided into two classes, residential and commercial/industrial. The
latter is expressed in the forms of corner commercial storefronts and combination residential/workshop/storefront
properties. The residential properties can be divided into two groups, the earlier examples that pre-date 1870 and those
that post-date that year. The cutoff is arbitrary but the survey results hint at distinctively different vernacular
characteristics. One difference is in scale with earlier buildings being a single story high. Numerous buildings in the
northern part of the original town represent the adding of another floor to an earlier building, an indication that this was
the intention. Similarly numerous buildings in the Jackson Park District (NRHP) represent the construction of larger
front yard additions to earlier residences.
The following general characteristics describe almost all of the surviving vernacular buildings in Dubuque:
0 raised limestone foundations, probably the best material to ward off subsurface moisture, but also to allow,
frequently for walkout front basements or large basement windows, dominant through World War 1.
0 the front gable type is absolutely predominant, side gable plans commonly involve two cooperative parties
working across lot lines, front gable preference is due in large measure to the narrow building lots in Dubuque
0 the use of a rear comer recessed and elongated side porch, nonnally south-fronting, paired on double houses,
as high as the building. Double-decker full-width rear porches also very common.
0 the use of broad clapboard on earlier examples, narrower clapboard in pre-World War I examples.
0 the use of a transom above entryway, especially common between 1890s and World War 1.
0 the predominance of the side-hall ground plan, as opposed to central hall, with right-hand entryway strongly
favored over the left-hand side.
0 double-wall brick construction, dates to 1870s-80s, apparently a hollow-wall building technique for insulation
purposes, indicated by lack of rowlock courses in exterior brickwork.
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. the use of rounded upper window sash-either upper sash have been uniformly replaced or a rounded blank
infilled the space between the sash and lintel.
. elongated narrow plans are popular
. an apparent avoidance of the hip roof fonn in residential plans
. a decided preference for two-story plans in lieu of single-story or story and a half high plans
. the absence of ITont porches of any size or shape on gable ITont plans, houses are ITonted to the sidewalk in
many areas.
. steeply pitched gable roofs, usually without ITont or side donners
. preference for decorative finials above porch en1ryWays
. preference for double houses with centered pair of en1ryWays, en1ryWays never on exterior walls
. preference for centered cross gables and single or paired attic lights in all gable end walls.
. in ITame construction, the ground level beams are carried beneath and support the wall plates.
These characteristics incorporate those developed by Lawrence Sommer. He listed a nearly universal preference
for brick, rectangular plans, symmetrical/classical proportions (of Greek Revival derivation, focusing principally on gable
treatments and dentils along eaves lines), a dominance of single and story and a half plans, entrances on gable ends or
sides, rear additions or L-shaped cores, a preference for gable roofs, plain chimneys, two story corner recessed porches.
He proposed the same window lintel/arch evolution as is defmed below. Sommer remained stylistically focused even
when he looked for vernacular attributes, but he did detennine that "perhaps more important than different styles in
establishing the city's character, were the unifying elements of similar scale, mass, color and materials found on hundreds
oflocal buildings. Sommer also saw materials, as well as technological and physical influences, which favored the
persistence of the local vernacular
... the nature of available materials, construction technology, economies and the size of most city lots
produced constraints that resulted in similarity of building scale. This was particularly true in so far as
height was concerned. A four or five story structure was about as high as could be effectively served
using only stairways (Sommer, pp. 75, 80).
Window Arch and Lintel Treatments:
Figure 123: Detail, 2329 Washington, early lintel fonn (photo, J. Jacobsen, 2002)
Window lintel forms can be used to date vernacular buildings. The earliest window cap is the semi-elliptical
brick arch (either rubbed soldier course or doubled rowlock courses) without a stone lintel, and these in rare instances
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appear even on facades. Virtually all sidewall window arches use the double rowlock arch fonn regardless of building
date. The straight carved stone lintel is the earliest to appear, being used from the earliest years into the 1880s. It fITst
takes the fonn of a plain stone lintel set flush to the exterior wall plane. Dubuque's stone lintels nearly always emphasize
and directly incorporate the spring stone portion of the arches, and occasionally the keystone as well, and these examples
have a wrap-around appearance. The next lintel fonn, after the straight version, is a slightly rounded lintel with flattened
ends (Figure 126). During the 1880s and 1890s there was a rich array of elaborate oflintel designs (termed Baroque by
Sommer).
Most lintels appear to be a single piece of stone despite elaborate surface divisions. Cast stone is probably more
common, rather than carved stone, but distinguishing the two is difficult. Generally the more elaborately ornamented
"stonework" is a cast product, while plain or rusticated surfaces are carved stone. Flat stone lintels, often in enlarged
rusticated fonn, found in the very earliest vernacular buildings, reappear in the late 1880s and are prevalent up to World
War 1. The earliest basement window openings have wooden beams (Figure 127) or straight stone lintels, stone voussoir
arches (Figure 128) are likely the next oldest, and brick arches are both the most recent and most common. The latter can
interrupt and even project above the water table level.
Figure 124: Wooden lintel, stone foundation window (photo, J. Jacobsen, 2002)
Window lintels can date a house as being of very early origin. Wooden lintels are rare survivors from the earliest
surviving buildings. Solid plain curved stone lintels predate 1891. Curved lintels with straight "spring stone" ends date
from 1870 through 1900. Flat stone lintels date from the 1880s through the turn of the century. Flat lintels with a
centered pediment and side brackets date to the mid-1880s. A triangular pediment arch with end brackets dates from the
early 1890s.
Brick arches also changed over time. Sidewall semi-elliptical consist of two or more rows of arched rowlock
bricks and these are plainly executed. The same arches were built over the entire range of brick load-bearing
construction. Semi-circular arches with keystone and spring stone block inserts date from the mid-1870s. A brick arch
that mimics the rounded stone arch, with a flat base and a projecting brick cap or raised molding, dates from 1870. A flat
brick jack arch with rubbed bricks dates from the late 1890s. A highly decorated flat brick arch with projecting brick
tracery work dates from 1900.
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Figure 125: Stone voussoir basement arch (photo, J. Jacobsen, 2002)
Figure 126: 2311 Windsor, stone lintel line, storefront (photo, J. Jacobsen, 2002)
Early storefronts commonly employ a solid stone lintel line (Figure 129) set atop cast iron columns. This use of
materials is not necessarily of early elate, examples are to be found along Central Avenue, below West 18'" Street, iliat
elate to the 1880s. Nationally this represents the gradual evolution of the all-metal storefront, wherein the development of
supportive columns outpaced that of beam development. Identical examples can be found in the earliest commercial
fronts of Boston and New York.
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.
Figure 127: Original double doors, transom and carved stone lintel and porch detailing
(photo, J, Jacobsen, 2002)
Figure 127 illustrates a common double door entrance with transom. Sidelights are fairly common but transoms
are fairly universal. In a few instances (see 2531 Windsor and 393 Alpine, pre-l 92 I original street numbers remain
etched or gilded in the transom glasses).
Hall and Parlor/Double Pen (c.1817-c.1870):
This double pen cottage form is basically a two-room side gabled single-story plan. . There is no hall but one
larger room (the "hall") is the more public room on the ground level and this larger room has the only ITont entryway.
John Jakle terms this form the "Pre Classic" I House or the "Early I House") (Jakle, Common Houses, p. 216).
Figure 128: William Newman Log House (1833), Eagle Point Park (Horton, Palimpsest, Sept/Oct. 1974, p. 133)
This log example first stood at West 2nd and Locust, where it was discovered in 1915. Its building date establishes
the beginning date for this multiple property document. In its second location it moved in 1967 to the Ham House
property by the Dubuque County Historical Society. Gebhard terms this the Louis Arriandeau "log cabin." It directly
represents the vernacular influence of the Southern Upland culture. At least one other early building, the J. H. Thedinga
House, 340 West 5th, 1855 (Cathedral District, NRHP) appears to be a two-story double pen plan (Anderson, p. 12;
Sommer, p. 33; Gebhard, p. 89).
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Gable Front (pre-1850-1930+):
Also termed the "Open Gable," or "Gambrel Front." The two derIDing characteristics are a front gable roof (as
opposed to a side gable) and a gable end house entrance. The type ranges from one room and a side hall in width to two
rooms and a central hall (three to five bays). Generally the overall plan is a rectangle with its shorter dimension fronted
to the street. Dubuque gable fronts can be divided on the basis of their height and their hreadth of plan. Single story and
story and a half plans are few in number and surviving examples are mostly of brick construction. Many were enlarged
into full houses.
Figure 129: 2304 Jackson Street (pre-I 884) (photo by Jim Jacobsen, March 7, 2000)
The example shown above typifies the single story gable front brick cottage type in Dubuque. Wooden lintels are
incorporated into the brick walls. Originally the cottage had a side entrance, the present entry wing is of later date. The
plan is extremely narrow. At least some single story brick cottages were built with the intention of adding a second floor.
One example of this incremental plan is found at 2310 Jackson Street, where the brick color difference on the sidewall
clearly marks the addition. Figure 130 illustrates a frame example. Figure 131 depicts a 1.5-story brick cottage example.
Figure 130: One-story front gable cottage, 2552 Jackson Street
(Photo by Jim Jacobsen, March 7, 2000)
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Figure 131: 2461 Central Avenue (1890) (photo by Jim Jacobsen, March 7, 2000)
Figure 132: 2082 White Street (1863) (photo by Jim Jacobsen, March 7,2000)
Figure 132 shows a very early all stone side hall gable front house. Note the use of flat stone lintels. Figure 136
depicts a brick version of the same type, and illustrates the use of recessed gallery side porches. Other good brick
examples are 490 Emmett (1889), 391 Bluff (pre-1884), 721 Bluff (pre-1872), 472 West 4th (pre-l 872) (all of these being
located in the Cathedral District, NRHP). 945 Spruce (pre-1889) is a particularly nice example with its original ornate
porch. 649 Arlington (pre-1872) is a good example (these latter two examples are located in the West 11 th Street
District). 1670 Iowa, pre-1872, is a hip-roof example (Jackson Park District, NRHP).
Figure 133: 2401 Queen Street (1880) (photo by Jim Jacobsen, March 7,2000)
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
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Figure 134: 2510 Washington Street (1900) (photo by Jim Jacobsen, March 7, 2000)
Figure 134 shows a later narrow frame version of the same two-story gable front house type. Few similar
examples retain their original clapboard exteriors. This is a very common vernacular type in Dubuque.
Figure 135: 2525 Jackson (c.1910) (photo by Jim Jacobsen, March 7,2000)
This example of the type íIlustrates the commonplace eIímínation of one upper level façade window above and in
front of the stairway and hall. The fenestration is otherwise symmetrical and true to the vernacular tradition. The porch
and rear side wing postdate the original construction.
Figure 136: 2226 Jackson Street (pre-I 884) (photo by Jim Jacobsen, March 7, 2000)
Figure 136 íIlustrates the largest scale achieved by the broad two-story gable front in Dubuque. The dimensions
ofthís duplex are of the scale that is commonly associated with German vernacular buíIding, broad and deep. Good
representative brick examples of the type are found at 673-75 Jefferson, pre-I 889 (West 11th Street District); 1006-08
Walnut, post-1889 (same district); and 466-68 Emmett, 1884-88 (Cathedral District, NRHP).
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County aud State
Side Hall Plan (c.1830-1880):
This subtype provides a category for side gable and hip roofhouses/cottages that are not ftont gables. The plan is
usually two rooms deep and a single room wide and has a side hall. These cottages are mostly a single story or story and
a half in height. In Dubuque the two story side gable house plan also almost always uses a side hall plan and the vast
majority of these occur in a double house arrangement. The double house could be built incrementally and one excellent
example of a half-double house that failed to gain its mate is found at 308 East 22"d Street. Two story house examples are
not nonnally included under this vernacular category but Dubuque's vernacular types require a section for side gable
house plans.
Figure 137: 2307 White Street (pre-I 884) (Photo by Jim Jacobsen, March 7, 2000)
Figure 137 shows a single-story side brick gable cottage form (hall and parlor room arrangement) was originally
constructed as a cooper's shop, and placed perpendicular to the street. The use of brick window arches indicates a very
early building date. 2052 Jackson Street (pre-I 884) is an excellent example of 1.5-story cottage side gable type, that one
being set parallel with the street. 504 22"d Street, undated, is a broader single-story brick example. The example at 2509
Broadway Street is turned away from the street like the first example. 1243 Walnut, pre-1889 (West 11th Street District),
is an unusual two-story stuccoed stone plan with a hip roof.
Figure 138: 2255-57 Central Avenue (1884) (photo by Jim Jacobsen, March 7,2000)
This ftame duplex house (Figure 138) example of the side gable house type offers a rare instance where the
original clapboard remains visible. Frame double houses are far less common than are their brick counterparts.
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COWlty and State
Figure 139: 2339-43 Washington Street (1880) (photo by Jim Jacobsen, March 7, 2000)
Figure 139 shows the more common brick duplex with an original porch profile and scale. Note the "wrap
around" stone lintels which incorporate the arch and the rectangular spring stones. Note also the in-wall end chimneys,
the raised stone foundation and the paired entryways with transoms.
Figure 140: 2523 Central Avenue (1892-1909) (photo by Jim Jacobsen, March 7, 2000)
Gennan vernacular surveys in Ohio have linked that culture with large squarish building plans. Figure 140
depicts a very immense frame double house plan with a centered cross gable.
Figure 141: 2058-62 White Street (1875) (photo by Jim Jacobsen, March 7, 2000)
Figure 141 shows the best approximation of the frame tenement that was commonly being built in the city after
the Civil War. This tri-plex plan has been resided and the porch canopies replaced but it is a rare surviving ftame
example of a common Dubuque type.
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The "courtyard house" is a special vernacular side gabled house type in Dubuque. Two examples survive today
and it is probable that other examples, particularly of frame construction, have been lost. This unusual vernacular feature
appears to have distinct European roots. Other examples are found at 1989-1915 Central Street and 51-53 Bluff(c.1860).
I-House (c.1850-1890):
This two-story type is derIDed as a side gabled house although it does occur as a story and a half. Associated
particularly with the states oflllinois, Indiana and Iowa, the plan is two rooms and a central hall across and a single room
in depth, so it is basically two rooms over two rooms. The type can range from three to five bays, substituting a side front
entry for the central one in the shorter versions. Another example is found at 2244 White Street (pre-1884).
Figure 143: 2108 Jackson Street (c.1900?) (photo by Jim Jacobsen, March 7,2000)
T-Plan (c.1860-1920):
This type is defined by the "T" footprint rather than its roof elevations. The roof ridges of its parts can be
uneven. The "T" is sometimes symmetrical with a wrap around porch on the three exposed sides of the stem of the "T"
infill the plan, or it is asymmetrical with a L-shaped porch along the front and one side of the projecting wing. The plan
càn orient with its projecting wing being set either towards or parallel to the street.
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County and State
Figure 144: 2531 Washington Street (photo by Jim Jacobsen, March 7, 2000)
Figure 144 depicts a rare instance of this type in the Phase I survey area, and even this design might represent a
turned L-plan. The side entrance on the "upright" or front portion identifies this as being other than a side gable plan.
Architects, Builders and Developers:
This portion of the context treats those personages who designed and built the buildings, structures and objects
that are celebrated in this docwnent. An attempt has been made to be as inclusive as reasonably possible to include
potentially significant individuals. A further effort has been made to distinguish known or probably significant
individuals from the less important or less researched ones. Because this process of docwnentation and evaluation must
necessarily be a difficult and on-going one, the inclusive approach is used here. It is a challenge to link even the most
notable designers with all, let along most or many of their works. Also included are developers, those individuals who
platted and often financed house building. Frequently builders served as designers and developers. Realtors particularly
played a comprehensiverole, especially in the post-First World War years.
Dubuque Architects:
Allardvce. W. S. (mid-19th Century). Architect. Engineer. Builder:
He advertised in the Times in 1857 offering "plans, designs, plans, estimates and specifications for "Public
buildings, Stores, Town and Country Villas, Cottages, &c." He also promised to provide "detailed drawings and
superintendence (Times, June 20, 1857)." The Daily National Demokrat reported that the architect had fallen 50 feet and
that his recovery was doubtful, July 30, 1858.
Aubrv. John D. (mid-19th Century). Architect:
He designed the Second Empire style tower on City Hall, 13th and Central
Bawner. V. or William. (mid-19th Century). Architect:
Works:
Beeker-Rheinfeld triple storeftont, three-story block, Main between 5th & 6th, 1856
Merchants Hotel, White between 5th & 6th, four stories, 1856
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa, 1833-1955
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County and State
Beck Guido (1853-19361. Architect:
As of 1911 it was judged that Beck "has had much to do with the beauty and thoroughness of architecture of
Dubuque." Beck was born in Gennany and carne to America in 1882. He worked first as a stone cutter at the Rock
Island Arsenal, Rock Island, lllinois, In Dubuque he turned to architectural design and by the mid-1880s was specializing
in church design. By 1911 he had designed 100 of these ranging from the "small to the cathedral." He first practiced
with (probably) Fridolin J. Heer as Beck & Heer in 1886, practiced alone until he partnered with Martin Heer c.1889-
1895. After 1899 he practiced by himself. Beck is clearly one of Dubuque' s most significant architects, one whose
works were close associated with the emerging Catholic institutions in the city (Oldt, pp. 651-52; Lyon, p. 33; Shank, p.
20).
Works:
205 Bluff, 1904-05, St. Raphael Catholic School (CathedIal Historic District, NRHP)
Mary of the Angels Home Addition, 599 Bluff, 1929-30 (Cathedral Historic District, NRHP)
St. Josephs College Chapel and Auditorium
West Hill Roman Catholic Church
West Dubuque Roman Catholic Church
Apartment house, Julien, Hill and 8th, 1897 (replaced the landmark "Diamond House")
Bowen, J. H. (mid-19th Century). Architect:
Works:
Bissell & Co., four story block, Main and 11th, 1856 (extant, doubled, northernmost early four-story commercial
block)
Brandt. F. G. (1832-1905), Architect:
Brandt was born in Frankfort, Germany and carne to Dubuque in 1854. He served in the federal engineer corps
during the Civil War under General John Fremont. After the war he "followed the profession of an architect for a
number of years" in Dubuque. He served six years as city auditor and was in the insurance business thereafter. An 1858
Times notice indicates that Brandt was doing design work at that time. The editors examined some of his work "and were
much pleased with the beauty of the design and the skill with which they are executed." The account added "Mr. B. has
furnished plans for some of the best buildings in this city, and has few superiors in his profession (Times, February 4,
1858)." That same source again directed local attention to Brandt, who had his office at Main and 7'"' streets, upstairs,
two months later. He was "fully competent, experienced and intelligent in all the branches of his profession. He is the
author of some of the best designs in this city, and can built as handsome, cheap and substantial a house as anyone need
want (Times, April14, 1858; obituary, Herald, April 1, 1905)."
Caldwell, Alfred (early 20'"' Century), Landscape Architect:
Caldwell was not an architect but he was the designer of Dubuque's purest and most notable Prairie style designs.
His early works are all in Eagle Point Park but he later did seyeral residential designs.
Works:
Eagle Point Park, Pavilion, other buildings, park landscaping, 1934-36
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1721 Plymouth Court, residence, 1941
Carkeek. Harvev T. (?-?). Architect:
Shank lists only for 1897 and places both Carkeek's in the same office building. Their relationship is not known
and Carkeek was never affiliated with Iowa Chapter AlA (Shank, p. 38).
Carkeek. Thomas T. (1843-1927), Architect:
Carkeek was English-born. He was the son of a stonemason and Carkeek learned that trade and cmpentty prior to
immigrating to America. He came to Dubuque from Wisconsin in 1882. He first worked as an architect for Carr, Ryder
and Wheeler Company until 1891 at which time he started his own architectural practice in the Lincoln Building. He was
"an entirely self-made architect." He was prolific with over 200 local designs credited to his hand during his 20-year
practice. A prominent Romanesque design, the Odd Fellows Building (9th and Locust streets) was recently demolished.
Carkeek is clearly one of Dubuque's most significant architects. Unfortunately nearly all of his notable work has been
lost (Sommer, pp. 160-61; Oldt, pp. 708-09; Lyon, p. 57; Shank, p. 38; Dubuque Today, 1897 includes a lengthy list of
designs as well as architect's elevation sketches and plans, photographs).
Works:
701-03 Bluff Street, George W. Healey duplex, Queen Anne style (Cathedral Historic District)
Odd Fellows Temple, 9th and Locust (1892, razed 1970, non-extant)
YMCA Auditorium and Gymnasium, Iowa and 9th streets (c. 1894) (extant, NRHP, Cathedral Historic District)
August A. CooperID. A. Sullivan House ("Redstone") (1894, 504 Bluff Street) (Cathedral Historic District)
LincoJn Building (8th and Locust Streets) (non-extant)
Central Engine House (9th and Iowa streets) (demolished 1970, non-extant)
Rider, Burden and Rider Building (10th & Main) (proposed Upper Main Historic District)
Bell Bros. Building (4th and Locust streets) (non-extant)
John EmsdorffSons Company (Main and Jones streets) (non-extant)
Norwegian Plow Works, Main Street (non-extant)
James Forrester's Building, 4th & Iowa (non-extant)
Bradley & Sullivan Building, Main Street
B. W. Lacy Building, 15th & Clay (extant, proposed Central A venue historic district)
Hotel Paris, 4th and Clay
Elberon Flats, 11th & Iowa (proposed 1100's Iowa Historic District)
Arno Flats, 11 tb & Iowa (proposed I 1O00s Iowa Historic District)
M. M. Walker Building, Main & Jones streets (extant)
Schroeder & Klein Building, Main & Jones streets (extant)
C. H. Gregorie's Honse, West 3"' Street
C. H. Gregorie's House (109 Alpine Street) (non-extant due to Dodge Street improvements)
Fred Bell House (968 W. 3" Street)
Daniel J. Lenehan House (41 Cornell Street)
Isaac Harris House (349 Hill Street)
Isaac J. Cushing House, two miles north of city
I. Harris House
I. Clemenson House (575 W. 3" Street)
Collier House (1072 West 3,d, c.1897) (Langworthy District)
W. H. Day Jr. House (66 Highland Place) (c.1897, non-extant, Shingle style)
Christ. Mathis House (118 Broadway Street)
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John D. Sullivan Estate, block of three residences, 32 West 5th (non-extant)
James Lenihan Double House (5th and Hill streets, 486 West 5th)
Second National Bank, Main Street (non-extant)
William Lawther Building, 123 Main, 1907 (candy factory, later known as Weber Paper Company) (extant, being
restored, Old Main Historic District)
Presbyterian Convent
Finley Hospital, West Dubuque, 1897 (non-extant)
Fenelon Place Elevator, building, 1893
Dibol & Plack Architects (mid-19th Century):
These men were for the most part successful builders but certainly also designed many of the buildings that they
constructed. See Dubuque builders below.
Works:
Bradley-Brown Block, 7th street, three stories, 1857
Geis. Joseph (mid-19th Century). Architect:
Works:
Strobel & Ratb, Clay between 4th and 5th, three stories, 1856
Guilbert & Littlefield. architects:
They designed the Queen Anne/Shingle style house at 265 Alpine (1899-1900), Langworthy District.
Harris. E.. and Kavanaugh. Thomas. Architects (mid-19th Century):
Works:
First Presbyterian Church, 12th and Locust streets, 1856 (non-extant)
Heer. Fridolin Joseph Sr. (1834-1910) Fridolin J. Heef & Son:
Like many European architects, Heer started as a stonecutter in Switzerland. His father was a builder. He came to the United
States in 1865 and Dubuque three years later. He started his architectural firm in 1870 and was joined in the practice by his son in
1887. By 1880 he had "built up a large business and [was] the architect of many of the best buildings in the city." He fust practiced
with Edward Naescher as Heer & Naescher c.1874-76+. By 1875 Heer designed buildings, monuments, furniture and did fresco
paintings. He also designed bridges, viaducts and tunnels. Beginning in 1886 he partnered with Guido Beck, but a year later was in
partnership with his son. Beginning in 1889 church design let their list of advertised specialties. Heer joined the Architectural
Association ofIowa in 1885 and was elected into the American Institute of Architects a year later. He was a charter member of the
newly organized (1903) Iowa Chapter of AlA. The son practiced until 1934. Fridolin Heer Sr. is rated as being one of the city's
leading architects and it is important that the city was the point where he opened his practice and received the majority of his design
efforts. The Heer design team, father and son, were significant as Dubuque's pre-eminent early architects (Sommer, pp. 159-60; Oldt,
pp. 597-601; Lyon, p. 195; ]880 County History, p. 803; Shank, pp. 79-80).
Works:
Second City Clock and tower (1873, Clock Tower Plaza)
Jesse P. Farley House (1879, 6th and Bluff streets)
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County and State
W. J. Knight House (1397 Main)
William Bradley House (1268 Locust Street)
Co!. /Congressman David Brenmer House (1433 Main)
J. Van Duzee House (1471 Main)
Alex. Young House (1879, now Bebr Funeral Home, 1491 Main)
William Andrew House (1135 Locust Street)
A. Tredway House (1182 Locust Street)
Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church and School (1885,635 West 22nd Street)
Dubuque County Courthouse (1891-93, 7'"' and Central streets)
Mt. St. Joseph AcadernyBuilding (Clarke College)
First Security Building (1901, 8th and Main streets)
M. M. Hoffman Funeral Home (1890, 15th and Clay streets)
H. L. Stout House (1145 Locust Street)
L. Gonner House (1295 Alta Vista Street)
N. J. Scbrup House (14th and Main streets)
W. S. Malo House (16th and Main streets)
F. A. Rumpf House (West I Ith Street)
Alphouse Matthews House (1335 Locust Street)
A. F. Heeb House (IS Jefferson Street)
Telegraph-Herald building (7th and Main streets)
St. Joseph Academy (1894, 13th and Main streets) (Heer & Son)
J. L. Hancock House (I I HigWand Place)
Dubnque Brewing & Malting Company (supervising architect)
Levi Residence
Baptist, Zion and Lutheran churches
Central High School, 15th & Locust, 1893
Frank Breda, 10th and Clay, store/flats, 1888 (Heer & Son)
Firehouse, 4th & Locust, 1884
Jos. Wittmer Block, 527 Clay, 1886
Peter Klauer Block, 1236 Iowa, 1886 (extant)
W. Watson, store, 1885
Henry Hoffman, 1604 Clay, saloon/store, 1885
Koch Store/offices, c.1889
St. Marys Orphanage, addition, Sheridan Road, 1882
H. L. Stont House, 1645 Locust, c.1892 (Heer & Son)
Alex Young House, 1496 Main, 1879
Heer. Fridolin Joseph. Jr. (]864-l940). Architect:
Fridolin, who was trained in architecture in the School of Architecture in Stuttgart, Gennany, was the only
descendant ofFridolin Heer Sr. who carried on the family architectural tradition (a daughter Pauline did work in her
father's office but not as a designer). In 1879 he first worked as a draftsman for Dankmar Adler in Chicago (Adler
partnered later with Louis Sullivan). Beginning in 1881 he studied as noted above in Stuttgart, receiving his degree in
1886. He was elected to the national AIA the same year as his father and a year later partnered with his father in
Dubuque. He was also a charter member of the Iowa Chapter AIA in 1903 and he served as chapter president in 1906.
He succeeded his father upon his death in 1910 and worked on his own until retiring in 1937. He was also registered in
lllinois and Wisconsin. Three children were born to Heer and his wife but it is not known whether any of these worked
in architecture (Shank, p. 81).
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Works:
Swmycrest Sanatorium (1919, Roosevelt Avenue)
AnthonyF. Heeb House, 561 Jefferson, 1903, Neo-Classical (West 11th Street District)
St. Mary of the Angels Addition, 1911,621 Bluff (Cathedral Historic District, NRHP)
HeeL Martin (7-1915). Architect:
Heer was German born and came to Dubuque at an undetennined date. His family emigrated to America in 1843.
He practiced along c.1884-88, and partnered with Guido Beck c.1892-95. He was working on his own as of 1897 being
officed at 824 8th Street. He is documented as still working in Dubuque through 1899 although family history states he
did so through c.1912 when he returned to Germany. He died there. His design work was regional in scope (petersburg,
Clinton, Fort Atkinson, Dubuque) (Shank, p. 82).
Works:
Eichhorn Building (1889) (Beck & Heer)
Holy Ghost Church and School (1896)
Chris Voelker Block, 13th & Clay, 1885 (non-extant)
Hollnagle, 2164 Clay, double storeftont, 1885
Luck, double store, 1885
Heer rFridolin S.. Sr.1 & Beck [Guido], Architects:
Shank dates this partnership to 1886. Both architects were significant Dubuque designers.
Works:
P. Specht, Couler Avenue, two-story store, 1886
Heer rFrido1in S.. Sr.1 & Nascher [Edward], Architects:
The partners of several years past, were credited with a "noteworthy and tasteful fonn of building" in 1876.
Most of their commissions were located outside of the city: Wes Shank dates this partnership to 1874-76+ (Herald,
November 2,1876; Shank, p. 79).
Works:
Herald Building, three stories, Locust & West 6th, 1873 (non-extant)
Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1698 Jackson, 1873 (extant, converted to apartments)
Eagle Building, 9th & Main, Lamoni stone façade, Renaissance style, 1873 (non-extant)
Western House, Iowa, brick bam, 1875
Hannony Hall, Iowa, brick bam, 1875
A. Stolz, 659 Clay, brick bam, 1876
Blumenauer, 1876
Cooley, 1876
Peaslee, 1876
B. Kistler Store, Main, 9th to 10th, three-stories with hall, $7,000, 1876
Baptist Church, 12th & Main (non-extant) Dubuque, $14,000,1876
Kruse House, Dubuque, $2,500, 1876
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa, 1833-1955
Name of Property
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COW1ty and State
Dubuque [County?] Poorhouse, $10,500,1876
West Dubuque Couvalescent House, $1,400, 1876
New front and tower, St. Raphael Cathedral, 1876
First pagoda structures, Washington and Jackson parks, 1876
Henderson & Brandt. Architects (mid-19th Century):
Works:
Wm. L. Bradley Block, Main & 7th, three stories, six stores, 1868 (non-extant)
High School, Clay & 12th, 1868 (non-extant)
H. Hollack & Zehtner, 8th & Clay, 1868
H. Brinkman, 8th between Main and Iowa, packing house addition, 1868
Levi Block, Main & 4th, three story double storefront, 1869
Oglesby Block, Main between 6th & 7th, tlris was the first entire iron storefront in the city, 1869
Hill. F. E.. (late 19th Century). Architect:
Works:
New convention haIl, 13th & ?, 1900.
Howie. James (late 19th Century). Architect:
Works:
Sanford Bnilding remodeling, Main & 8th streets, 1885
Hyde. Franklin D. (I 849-?). Architect:
Hyde was born in Maine but grew to adulthood in Wisconsin and Minnesota. He came to Dubuque in 1878,
having been trained as an architect in St. Paul, Chicago and Boston. By 1880 it was reported that Hyde "is taking a
leading position in his profession." A lO-page inventory of his designs covers Iowa and includes a few commissions in
Wisconsin, Minnesota and Montana. The projects date ÍÌ'om 1879-1892. He was a charter (1885) member of the
Architectural Association ofIowa, the Western Association of Architects (1884) and the Architectural Association of
Des Moines. He was professionally committed to the education of architects and served as secretary of the national AIA.
He first (1881) specialized in school designs and later (1880) advertised a specialty in remodeling existing buildings.
Hyde briefly (1891-92) partnered with William H. Castner ofSt. Paul until the latter's untimely death. Hyde departed
Dubuque in 1893 apparently response to the panic of 1893-94 although there is no indication that large architectural
commissions in the city were impacted by that downturn. Architect Hyde was one of Dubuque's most notable and
prolific designers during the late 19th Century (Wilkie, p. 319; 1880 County History, p. 814; Shank, pp. 86-87).
Works:
Waller, Eighmey & Bradley/St. Cloud Block, Main near 9th, three stories, triple storefront, 1882 (non-extant),
first use of polychrome and shaped brick in city
Boarding honse, Jackson & 10th, 1883
B. B. Richards House, 1492 Locust, 1883
Dr. Asa Horr, 872 Main, fOUI-StOry brick block with terra cotta front, 1884, this was the flISt all-terra cotta front
in the city
Gissels Store, 1884
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Continuation Sheet
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Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Two-story double block, Main & 6th, 1885
W. G. Watters Block, 1250-56 Iowa, three stories, 1886 (extant)
Geo. R. Clark Block, Iowa Street, two stories, 1885
W m. Andrews Commercial Block, Main, between lOth & II th, 1885, three stories
O. Oliver Block, Clay & 15th, two stories, 1885
M. Hoffinan, 15th & Clay, two stories, 1885
Iowa Block, 713 Iowa, four-story warehouse for W. L. Bradley, 1886
Consolidated Tank Line, S. Main, two-story warehouse, 1886
R. Cox, 489 Main, three story double block, 1886
1263-97 Iowa, two-story quadruple storefront block, 1886
Bishops Block, 90 Main Street 1887.89
M. M. Walker House, 1155 Grove Terrace, c.1884 (West 11th Street District)
Charles T. Hancock House, 1105 Grove Terrace, 1887-88 (West 11th Street District).
William Harrison Day House, 1203 Grove Terrace, 1883-86 (West 11th Street District).
James Mullen, 6th Street, double store/dwelling, 1886
Water Works Company Pumping Station, 1888
Jesse P. Farley House, 605 Bluff, 1879, 2od Empire style (Cathedral Historic District).
Water Works Company Pumping Station, Eagle Point, 1888
Paint Works Company Mill and Warehouse, Iowa Street, 1883
Block of Houses, James Howie, 17th & Locust, 1883
Block of three houses, W. H. Peabody, Locust and 7th, 1883
Byrnes Bros. Livery, 1888
Store/apt. building W. S. Bradley, 1888
Storelflats, Rev. P. Burke, 1888
Julien Hotel, $100,000, 1889 (burned 1910)
Queen Anne cottage, W. H. Day, 1883
A. A. Cooper factory, 1890 (non-extant, Locust and West 3'" streets
Block of residences, W. S. Bradley, 1887
A. A. Cooper House, $30,000, 1887 (Bluff & West 5th), non-extant
Staples & Wibber double-front store, 1887
Block of residences for Bishop Hennessy at 2nd and Bluff streets, 1886
Visitation Academy School, 1886
Geo. L. Torbert business block, Iowa & 12th, 1885-86 (extant)
J. Herod Double House, 1885
A. A. Cooper Warehouse, 1885
Dubuque Ominbus Co. Stable, 1883
B. B. Richards House, 1492 Locust, Street, 1883
James Howie Six tenements, 1883
St. Josephs College addition, $15,000, 1884
4th Street Elevator, station and engine house, J. K. Graves, 4th Street, 1886
Geo. L. Torbert House, 1890
Thomas COIlllOlly House, $18,000, 1890
E. M. Woodworth house, 1880
Linseed Oil Mill, 9th and Jackson, 1880
Thedinga Business Block, Main Street, 1880
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
Jones. David (mid-19th Century). Architect:
Figure 145: Architect's example, 1886
(Times,October31,1886)
Works:
First Congregational Church (1857, 10th and Locust streets)
Jones. T./Jones. Lemuel (mid-19th Century):
Works:
Rebman & Jones, Hotel Block, 8th between Main & Iowa, three stories, 1856 (T. Jones)
Wm. Rebman's Hall, 8th between Main and Locust, three story double block, 1856
Keenan. John (mid-19th Century). Architect/builder:
Keenan was perhaps more of a builder than a designer and his design work appears to have evolved over time.
He is one of Dubuque's most significant mid-19th Century designer/builders.
Works:
Rectory, St. Raphael Cathedral, 1863, Italianate style, 231 Bluff (Cathedral Historic District)
Chapel, rear ofSt. Raphael Cathedral, 221 Bluff, 1865 (16xI0) (Cathedral Historic District)
AS 'oem 10-900.,
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The Architectural and Historical Resources ofDubuaue Iowa, 1833-1955
Name of Property
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County and State
James Kelly House, Main near P.O., 1865
Bluff & Third, two-story dwelIing house, 1865, 22x32 (Herald, February 22, 1865), possibly 315-21
Bluff?(Cathedral Historic District)
Merchants National Bank, Main & 5th, 1868
Geo. W. Jones, Main & 6th, four stories, 1868
Marson Block, Main & 2nd, three stories, 1868 (extant)
Andrew & Tredway, 92 Main (Main bet. 4th and 5th), three stories, 1871
1. R. WalIer Block, Main and 9th, three stories, 1871
Waters & Coates, 8th & Locust, three stories quadplex store block, 1872
Thos. Sullivan, I" above Main, three stories, 1872
Arthur McCann, Main between 4th and 5th, four stories, 1872
Richard Cox, Main between 4th & 5th, three stories, 1872
Herancourt, Main between 4th & 5th, three stories, 1872
Thos. Connolly Carriage Factory, 7th & Iowa, four stories, 1872
Richard Cox, 9th & Main, single story double storeftont, 1872
Conningham & Peabody, Main between 4th & 5th, three story double block, 1875
Finlay Block, Main & 7th, three stories, four storeftonts, 1875
Jas. Rowan Block, Iowa Street, three-story double ftont, 1875
Norwegian Plow Works, Lower Main, 1881
RobertWalIer, Main between 4th & 5th, 1881
Kennison Herbert A. (earlv 20th Century), Architect:
Little is known about this Dubuque architect. He was partnered with the state's most prestigious design team as
well as with Department of the Treasury designers to design the post office. It is probable that this grouping of designers
was necessary to placate local demands that a Dubuque designer be involved, but Kennison was still new to the design
trade.
Works:
Federal BuildingJPost Office, Washington Square, in conjunction with Federal architects and Proudfoot, Rawson,
Souers and Thomas of Des Moines, 1934
Krajewski. CasimerIgnatius, (]893-1949+), Architect:
Polish-born, he received a B. S. in architecture degree from Notre Dame in 1916 and entered into his own design
practice in 1922. He was practicing in Dubuque from 1927 but cancelled his registration in 1940. He then worked in
Chicago from 1944 at least through 1949. One school design is identified in Ottumwa (Shank, p. 102).
Larkins John P. (late mid-19th Century):
Rated as of 1902 as "one of the best designers in the city," English-born and trained Larkins fonned his own
design practice that same year after partnering for two years with architect John Spencer (see below). He previously
worked with Chicago architects Jenny & Mundel prior to moving to Dubuque. He partnered with architectThomas
Carkeek (see above) c.1898-1900 before joining with Spencer. Further research is warranted and no commissions have
been identified (Enterprise, August 3, 1902).
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Continuation Sheet
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
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County and State
Loeman and Keenan. Architectslbuilders (mid-19th Century): (see John Keenan. above)
Works:
Lorimer Hall, Main and 3rd, four stories, 1855
Logan & Cook. Architects (mid-19th Century):
Works:
Lawther-Bell Block, Main between I" & 2nd, four stories, 1856 (non-extant, burned 1906)
Longhurst. William (mid-19th Century). Architect:
Longhurst first worked in Dubuque, but as of early 1863 had relocated to Chicago. Times reporters visited his
offices there and reported that he was quite busy preparing plans there. He continued to advertise his services in the
Dubuque newspapers after his move east (Times, Apri125, 1863).
Moodv J. N, (mid-19th Century):
Moody was the actual designer of the 13th Street Market Hall, now City Hall. He merits further historical
investigation. John Rague appears to collaborated with him but not as official partners. Moody designed the City Hall
while Rague prepared the specifications and supervised construction. Rague has long been incorrectly identified as the
actual designer (Daily Republican, July 8, 9, 1857).
Works:
Fourth Ward/Central Market (Dubuque City Hall), 13th and Central streets, 1856-57 (extant)
Mullanv. John. (1812-1883) Architect:
Mullany was somewhat of a rarity, given that he was an Irish-born architect. He was also, like Rague, from an
earlier generation of designers. He was a builder and a designer and his legacy is particularly associated with some of the
city's major church buildings. The 1870 Industrial Census credited Mullany as a house builder with finishing five houses
during 1879. He had eight employees and his houses were valued at $15,000. His son John 1. Mullany (1847-?) was a
noted Dubuque lawyer. The family emigrated to America in 1849 (Oldt, p. 624). Die Iowa reported that Mullany had
departed the city to live with his son in Clinton Iowa (April 18, 1878). Mullany was described as the "architect of St.
Mary's Church." That same source reported his death, a week previous, tenning him a "talented, capable builder.' He
was clearly a very significant Dubuque architect and was, like Guido Beck, closely aligned with the local Catholic
Church as a patron (ibid., April 24, 1883).
Works:
Cathedral of Saint Raphael (1857-59, 231 Bluff Street) (Cathedral Historic District)
St. Marys Gennan Catholic Church, 1584 White Street (1864-66)
Town Clock Builcling, 823 Mall, 1873 (extant, NRRP)
St. Johns Episcopal Church, Gothic Revival style ("chaste, very proportionate" Herald, June 4, 1872) Jackson Park
Historic District
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Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page----1J.!!.
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa, 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
Mullanv & Head. Architects:
Little is known about this later partner of architect John Mullany.
Works:
Duncan & Waller, 5'" behind First National Bank, two stories, cut stone front, 1875
Netcott, Harry E. (1867-1927+) Architect:
Netcott was born in England, the son of a mason. The family came to Iowa in 1872, the father running a
brickyard in Independence. Harry was educated at Hopkinton (Lenox College), Mt. Vernon (Cornell College) and the
Polytechnic Institute in Chicago. He had offices in Parkersburg and Independence and practiced with his son Roland in
Waterloo c.I918. They mostly designed schools. Netcott left the practice when the 1927 registration law for architects
went into effect. Shank lists him as a Dubuque architect but makes no definite linkage with any designs there (Shank, p.
121).
Oglebv. Joseph, (mid-19'" Century) Architect:
Works:
Joseph Ogleby, Main between 6'" & 7th, three stories, 1856
Piquenard,
(?-1876)' architect:
Die Iowa notes the passing of this French-born architect, designer of the Iowa and lllinois capitol buildings (both
of which are credited to John Rague, see below). His "best buildings [were] in the Renaissance style-loved by the French
(Die Iowa, December 7, 1876). This is an apparent reference to John Rague, although under another name?
Rague, John F" (1799-1877) Architect:
Rague was born in New York and came to Dubuque in 1854. He worked ten years in New York where he
worked for Minard Lafever. He moved to Springfield, lllinois in 1831. He won the 1837 competition to design the new
Springfield State capitol building. In 1839 he designed the Iowa territorial capitol building and contracted to build it with
two Springfield masons. The design was altered and he resigned ITom superintending the construction. He was also
dismissed ITom the Springfield construction and relocated to Milwaukee in 1841. He came to Dubuque with his second
wife in 1854, practicing alone until 1857 when he joined with William H. Drake as Rague & Drake. A year later he was
again on his own. His career was a casualty of the 1857-58 panic and deteriorating eyesight. Blind in his final years,
Rague designed his own tombstone and had it put in place prior to his death. He died in Dubuque eight years later in
1877. Rague is clearly regionally significant for his design/construction supervision with the fITst Iowa capitol building
in Iowa City and the first lllinois capital building to be built in Springfield, as well as for his employment of the Egyptian
style. Many of his pre-Civil War designs survive which is remarkable in and of itself. He is arguably one of Dubuque's
most significant architects and he is the subject of several thesis. One major fIDding of this report is the determination
that he did not design the City Hall. The apparent accepted attribution is based upon a Daily Republican article, dated
July 8, 1857 that states "He [Rague] is also the architect of the new jail, and the Thirteenth street Market House." Missed
was a correction in the same newspaper, printed a day later, the editors explained "We are now informed that Mr. J. N.
Moody, Architect, drew the plan of the building, and that Mr. Rague prepared the specifications. Mr. Rague is however
~,---~-"
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Continuation Sheet
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
the Superintendent of its construction. Rague has enjoyed considerable scholarly attention over the years, particularly
due to his associations with state capitol designs. His works also are resistant to being demolished so it is a convenience
that his best works are available to interpret so significant an architect (state or regional level) (Sommer, p. 159; Shank,
pp. 133-34; Daily Republican, July 8, 9,1857; Herald, July 29,1869; obituary, ibid., September 26,1877)."
Works:
BentonM.Harger House, 1207 Grove Terrace, 1854/pre-I877, Gothic Revival (West 11th Street District)
William and J. Ryan, White & Levee, two warehouses, 1856 (non-extant)
Washington Block, 5th & Locust, four stories, 1856 (non-extant)
Gonder Block, 485 Locust, three story double flats, 1863 (Cathedral Historic District)
Wm Andrew Homestead, Locust near 11th, 1856 (demolished 1891)
GraffortHouse, 3'" and Bluff streets, 1857, later known as the Wales Hotel, burned in 1917 (Daily Republican, July
8, 1857) (non-extant)
Dubuque County Jail, 8th and Central streets (see Daily Republican, August 4, 1856) (extant)
F. E. Bissell House (11th bet. Bluff and Locust streets) later owned by William Andrew, this was Rague's first
Dubuque desigu (extant)
Goodrich-Wilson-Ryan House (1243 Locust Street) (extant)
Edward T. Langworthy Octagon House, 1095 W. 3" Street, 1856-57 (extant)
Third WardlPrescott School, 13th Street, 1857 (two other identical school plans, 1" and 5th wards, built at the same
time, not extant) (extant)
Mathias Ham House, Eagle Point (extant)
Roberts C. C.. (mid-19th Century) Architect:
Works:
Lawrence Hotel Block, Mall between 9" & 10", 1856 (non-extant)
Rogers. Robert. (mid-I9" CenturY) Architect:
Works:
Frederick Weigel House, 1854, 1192 Locust Street, attribution only
Rvan. William and J.. (mid-I9" Centurv)Architects/Bui1ders:
The Ryan brothers were from Galena and their earliest warehouse buildings were constructed before they
relocated to the city. Not professional architects, the brothers were credited with doing their own design and construction
work.
Works:
Will. & J. Ryan, Iowa between 3" and 4", three-story warehouse, 1856 (non-extant)
Saarn. Carl F.. architect (earlv 20" Century):
Works:
Martha & Mary McDonald House, 555 West 11", 1925, Mission/Spanish Eclectic(West 11" Street District)
PS 'oem 10~9oo"
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Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page---1iQ
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa, 1833-1955
Narne of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
Spencer, John (1856-?). Architect:
Spencer was English-born and was an 1877 graduate of the South Kensington Art Jnstitute. He emigrated to
America after 10 years of practice in England. He partnered briefly with W. W. Boyington and Company (designers of
the Bank and Jnsurance Building, Dubuque). He worked two years in Chicago but returned to Dubuque. His clients were
not limited to Dubuque. The Telegraph-Herald noted he had "drafted the elevations of many of the fme handsome
business and dwelling houses" in the city, and his reputation as a "capable and progressive architect is not confined to
Dubuque, or even Iowa. Spencer exploded onto the local designs scene and was the chosen designer for a large number
of prominent public buildings, executed in the latest of styles (Oldt, pp. 688-89; Telegraph-Herald, June 8, 1902). See
Boyington & Spencer.
Works:
Carnegie-Stout Public Library (Telegraph-Herald, June 8, 1902)
Iowa Trust and Savings Bank
Dubuque Trust and Savings Bank, Central and 14th, 1923 (extant)
Young Women's Christian Association Building
Iowa Telephone Building
Eagle Point Park Pavilion
Pavilion at Tri-State Fair
Glover and Company Warehouses and Offices (non-extant)
German Presbyterian Church
Carr-Ryder and Adams Factory, Warehouses and Offices
SI. Luke's Parsonage, 1907 (extant, NRHP)
F. D. Stout Residence
Becker-Hazleton Warehouse, Iowa & 2"d, sevens stories, 1914 (non-extant)
His own residence, upper Hill Street (Telegraph-Herald, April 6, 1902)
Stillman, Charles (late 19th Century)
Stillman merits further research. He was both builder and designer and his one known commission was a
prominent work.
CUAS. STILLMAN.
Archilect, General Contractor
and Builder.
rniE RL'!/1)ENÇES. FLATS aM ,
ÐOUBLE HOUSES A Sp<cialty.
£SUm"",",'"'" Up",."""";'"
"""~U","'.I.R.",,"'"
NO "-"ARCE ,'OR ?CAN'
wh= ="«^"' ,. A~_d
""""""""""""""""...30;11.
B" T"..bon,.
ÐUBUQUE. ¡OW A.
Figure 146: Advertisement with image of 1005 Locust (extant) (Enterprise, April 15, 1905)
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
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County and State
Wilber, C. A. (mid-19th Century), architect:
Wilber was practicing in the city following the Civil War and claimed 15 years of design experience in the East.
He did designs in the ltalianate style as his advertisement indicates. Further research is strongly recommended.
C. A. WILBER,
ArdI.I_, ~'O..t..,..,..... _4 .lmiW....,
WIll 'u p..,.".ular au.."c. '" ¡ r-\JIl1I' '1'1&...
, , «or all kioo,. of B.lld-
* ,¡I"" I" 1."""."'17
W... "í _"obI..
y.._ei<i>"ri.""..lnl<ut-
.."" ¡.rni.1l ",¡.."hM..m
-,¡Hay", "'.. with. ...\1.
OJ!lù;fe JIlt>, ð .f'uCfUt-f! B'Utlld.'UV,
tb'24 DU) ¡JQUE. W"'À.
Figure 147: Architect's advertisement, C. A. Wilber, 1868
(Times, August 4, 1868)
Wetmore James A.. architect:
Works:
Federal Post OfficefFederal Building, 1932-33, Art Deco (in partnership with Proudfoot, Souers & Thomas, Des
Moines), (Cathedral Historic District)
Non-Dubuque Architects Who Designed Key Dubuque Buildings:
Throughout its history, Dubuque developers have availed themselves of regionally and nationally known
architects to produce designs for key local buildings.
Backus, William. (mid-19th Century) Chicago Architect:
Works:
First Congregational Church, 10'" & Locust, 1856
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa, 1833-1955
Nanre of Property
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County and State
Bovington, W. W" (late 191h Century) Chicago Architect:
This one sold Dubuque commission was both the city's f1rst modern off1ce building and its f1rst "skyscraper."
Works:
Bank & Insurance Building, 91h & Main, 1894
IW. W.l Bovington & IJohnl Spencer, (late 191h Centurv)Chicago Architects:
This partnership post-dates Boyington's f1rst and very prominent Dubuque commission.
Works:
Dubuque Club, 71h & Locust, 1902 (non-extant)
Gennan Bank Building, Main and 3"' streets, 1900 (extant)
Camegie-StoutLibrary, lllh & Bluff, 1901 (extant)
Edbrooke, Willoughbv 1. (]843-1896)' Chicago Architect
Edbrooke was a nationally signif1cant Midwestern architect, the designer of such key buildings as those that
comprise the Notre Dame University Campus, the f1rst substantial opera house in Denver, Colorado, the Georgia State
Capitol, the Kane County lllinois Courthouse (1892), and numerous other public buildings. Edbrooke served
successively as Superintendent of Construction for the City of Chicago (1887-89) and Superintending Architect of the
United States Treasury. In the latter capacity he oversaw the building of the first facility at Ellis Island and the
Government Building and others at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and the f1rst "skyscraper" in Washington D.C.,
the post off1ce building.
Works:
Grand Opera House, 81h & Iowa, 1889 (nationally significant, NRHP, due to its association with Edbrooke)
J. V. Rider, three-story store and office block, 1890
Fulton, H. L (mid-19th Century) Chicago Architect:
Works:
Rhomberg Mill, 1873
Koch, H. C. (late 19th Century) Milwaukee Architect:
Work:
Dubuque County Courthouse, courtroom and elevator remodeling, 1899
Kramer, George W. (late 19th Century), Architect:
Kramer is presumably a regional designer. He was nationally known for his church designs.
Works:
St. Luke's Methodist Church, 1199 Main Street, 1896-97
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County and State
Langdon. Henry M. (mid-19th Century) New York Architect:
Works:
Episcopal Church, English Gothic style, 1874
Moore. Raymond Francis (1890-1932+) Cedar Rapids Architect:
Works:
Masonic Temple, Locust & It", 1931-32 (extant)
Nocquet. James (mid-late 19th Century) illinois Central Railroad Architect:
Nocquet was a Civil Engineer and was a principal military engineer with the Confederate Army of Tennessee
during the Civil War.
Works:
ICRR offices, 6th & Main, 1888
Rauter!. Fred (late 19th Century). Chicago Architect:
Works:
Dubuque Star Brewery, 1898 (extant)
Van Orsdel & Bowman. (mid-19th Century) Chicago Architects:
Works:
Odd Fellows Hall, 8th & bluff, 1856 (burned 1858)
Dubuque Carpeuters and Builders:
Bell Jobn(1827-?)/Bell & Green/contractor and builder:
Bell was born in Scotland and came to Canada in 1844 and to Dubuque in 1853. He worked in the city for 30
years. He saw military service during the Civil War and was wounded at the battle of Wilson's Creek. By 1873 he was
in the partnership of Bell & Green, termed "responsible builders and carpenters... well known, year after year, for their
good work...both of whom for a long time have been known in the building line, and for good carpenter work." Their
office was behind the post office. "Messrs. Bell & Green are among the best of the ten or fifteen carpenter and building
firms, and deserve the character and reputation they have acquired. Anything from the building of a small barn to a large
church structure, or from a fence to a business block. . ." Historian OIdt noted that Bell had "contracted and built many of
the best buildings in the city. His residence was at 182 Wilson as of 1886. He was a significant local builder-contractor
(OIdt,p. 765; Sornmer,p.161;DubuqueCityDirectoryfor1873-74,pp. 74-75).
Works:
Large storage room, rear of Putnam & Jones Store. Iowa Street, 1886 (Herald, Apri127, 1886)
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County and State
Bell. John, (]818-1896):
Bell was born in England and came to America in 1828, locating first in Ohio on a farm. Departing in 1838 Bell
came to Dubuque where he mined lead for some time. He operated a lead smelter at Platte River, Wisconsin for a
number of years. He returned to the city and became a merchant, partnering with Pratt & Manson. He sold out and
became a key figure with the Dubuque Harbor and Improvement Company. Returning to retail in 1861, he partnered with
James WaIlis, adding John V. Rider as a partner in 1864, and replaced Wood, Luke & Co. in the first Town Clock
building, and were the tenants when it collapsed in 1872. Bell turned to wholesale and in 1886 turned to real estate and
banking. One of his first building efforts was the John Bell Block, built in 1887 to house the newly established German
Trust & Savings Bank, of which Bell was president. By the 1880s Bell had emerged as a major builder/developer and
responsible for numerous major business blocks and tenement blocks, mostly located in the northwest quadrant of the
downtown. His obituary termed him "one of Dubuque's most worthy and prominent citizens." BeII's Second Empire
style brick residence (1875) survives at 563 West 1 I th and is included in the West 11th Street Historic District. Bell was
an excellent example of a significant citizen who linked his real estate and building efforts with his other activities
(obituaries, Daily Times, July 30, 1896; Evening Gloþe Journal, July 29, 1896).
Works:
John Bell Block/Gennan Trust & Savings Building, 1301-07 Central, 1887 (individually listed, NRHP)
Broadhurst. John G. (1827-?):
English-born, Broadhurst came to the U.S. in 1848 and Dubuque ten years later. By 1880 he was described as
one of the oldest contractors operating in the city, then being partnered as "Biles & Broadhurst" (1880 History, p. 478).
Works:
Julien Hotel addition, non-extant
Lorimer House, 8th & Bluff, non-extant
Argyle House
Brunkow, Ferdinand W. (]861-?) IF. W. Brunkow Sons & Companv:
Brunkow was born in Wisconsin of German-born parents and came to Dubuque in 1892. He had worked as a
teacher and town clerk but immediately entered into contracting work. Beginning in 1907 he was general agent for the
German-American Equation Premium Life Association and was at one time president of the local contractors' association
(OIdt, p. 837).
Works:
Lincoln School
"many of the best residences of which the city boasts"
Burdt. Frederick C. (]872-?)/c. Burdt & Son Contracting Companv:
He was born in Dubuque and was the son of noted contractor Christian Burdt (?-?). His German-born father
came to America in 1859 and to Dubuque the same year. He built the public school and bank buildings in East Dubuque,
the Carr, Ryder & Adams factory (extant, recommended eligible as part of an industrial district), Couler Avenue car
bams, Dubuque Club (non-extant), (first) Sacred Heart Church (extant, SHPO DOE), Holy Ghost Convent, the Thill
, '~--r- --~--
.___0_'
PS 'oem 10.900'a
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National Park Service
OMB Appoo",' No. 1024-oo,B
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number.1L- Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources ofDnbuQue Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
double store building and "numerous public and parochial school edifices and score of imposing buildings." He built
buildings throughout the region. Frederick worked with his father, saw brief Spanish-American war service, and was a
city contractor as late as 1911. He was a significant local contractor-builder (Oldt, p. 846).
Byrne.
(late 19th Century) contractor:
Byrne while Aldennan built the tri-plex at 186-196 Bluff (Cathedral District, NRHP, 1886) (Herald, October 31,
1886).
Conlin Construction ComDanv:
Richard Conlin (I 922-?) founded this fmn in 1922 and by 1948 the company with 50 employees had contracts in
seven states. Taking on larger jobs the finn had a 17-state market by 1989. Notable early works included the Carnegie-
Stout Library addition, McConnick Gymnasium (University of Dubuque) and the more recent Five Flags Center, all of
which are less than 50 years old (Lyon, p. 81).
Dibol. W. O. (?-?). builder:
Dibol was already well established in Dubuque as of early 1858, when the Times printed the following notice
concerning his work:
.. .He bears the name of being one of the most experienced, skillful and scientific builders in Dubru:¡ue,
and the proofs of his being so are to be seen in many edifices erected under his supervision. We believe
he was the flTst to introduce the use of the iron fronts in this city, and he is now prepared to make
contracts for the erection of the largest description of buildings, either of iron or other material (Times,
March 27, 1858).
Dibol's advertisement in the same source offered "Entire Iron Fronts" as one of his specialties.
Dubuque Homes Inc.
Charles Mettel Jr. was company president and this fmn built the Asbury Park houses for the Jolm Deere workers
in 1946-47 (Telegraph-Herald, January 6, 1946).
Field. Jolm. contractor (c.1838-1902) (non-resident):
He was born in Owensboro, Kentucky and was "a practical builder and oflate years had erected many of the
large and most imposing structures of the west, making his headquarters in Omaha." Field collapsed and died on the job
as chief contractor for the Carnegie-Stout Public Library (Telegraph-Herald, April 29, 1902).
Works:
Bank & Insurance Building, Main & West 9th Street
Carnegie-Stout Public Library, West 11th Street and Bluff (Jackson Park District)
Fove. James N. (l833-?):
PS Foem 10~900.,
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National Park Service
OM8 Appro,,' Na. >024.0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page-lli
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa, 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
Foye reached Dubuque in 1857 and first specialized in moving buildings. He was a Civil War veteran and
worked as a general contractor postwar, residing at 143 Alpine Street (1880 County History, p. 791).
Fricke, Alois/Anthonv (l818-?):
Fricke was a Swiss-born brick and stonemason. He reached the U.S. in 1845, worked a year in Galena and then
carne to Dubuque in 1846. By 1880 he was responsible for "many of the best buildings in Dubuque" including the
Lorimer House and St. Joseph Academy. He resided on 13th Street between Elm and Washington streets. Further
research is recommended to determine his probable significance as a builder (1880 County History, p. 792).
Works:
J. Kleine House, c.1874, 450 Bluff (Cathedral Historic District)
Geiger, Henry (I 840-?):
Geiger was German-born and worked as a carpenter and builder after the Civil War. He carne to the U.S. in 1861
and saw Civil War service in the 5th Iowa Cavalry and two years military engineer service at Nashville. He resided on
White between 16th and 17th streets (1880 County History, p. 793).
Gregory, E. James (l872-?), Carpenter Contractor:
Gregory was born at Webster City, Iowa and carne to Dubuque in 1890. He apprenticed under _Ketsch and
worked as a journeyman under - Jordan. He worked briefly in St. Joseph, Missouri, but returned to Dubuque and had
his own firm beginning in 1902. Indications are that Gregory was a leading contractor c.WWI (Oldt, pp. 775-76).
Works:
Fowler Flats
"various additions to local public buildings and also many fine residences"
Grether, John M. (l816-?):
Grether was German-born and carne to the U.S. and Dubuque in 1854. He resided at 1539 Washington Street and
was "a natural mechanic [who] can make any kind of machinery" (1880 County History, p. 796).
Hartmann, Anthonv A. (l884-?):
Hartmann was born in Dubuque and was a member of a younger generation. His father (Austrian-born Leonard
Hartmann, (?-1908) was a general contractor in Dubuque who built St. Joseph Academy. Anthony learned contracting
working with his father and worked with his brothers Leo L. (1888-?) and Bernard A. Hartmann. By 1911 Hartmann
Contracting Company was responsible for "many of the finest residences and public edifices" in the city. Further
research is recommended to determine his probable significance as a builder (Oldt, pp. 833-34).
~~~----"'"--.- -.---- ,,- ....,.-~~.-
.---.--
'----~--~.~"-'--_V"
PS 'oem 10.900-'
lRe".B.BS}
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OM8 Appoo",' No. 1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number l- Page--ill
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
Heitzman, William, 0863-7):
Heitzman was German-born and first worked as a millwright. He immigrated to America in 1885 and arrived in
Dubuque c.1887. He first partnered (1890) with Rheinfrank who died and he continued alone specializing in building
fine residences. His son William Heitzman Jr. joined him in 1908 (until 1911). Further research is recommended to
detennine his probable significance as a builder (Oldt, pp. 669-70).
Henderson & Brandt:
The 1870 hldustrial Census credited these 3" Ward builders with finishing 12 houses during 1879. They had 10
employees and his houses were valued at $10,000. Theirs was the largest reported house building operation although the
average price of their houses was just $1,000. Further research is recommended to determine his probable significance as
a builder.
Herdmann, Thomas A. 0870-7):
He was born in Canada, the son of a builder-contractor. He was an 1886 graduate of the manual training
department of the State University of Nebraska and learned contracting working with his father. Herdmann came to
Dubuque in 1888 where he soon specialized in building fine residences (Oldt, p. 830).
Holland, A. Ora 0825-7), architectlbuilder:
Holland was a contractor/builder and came to Dubuque in 1846. He developed a large business and by 1880 had
"built many of the best buildings in the city." By that time he had worked as a contractor in the city for 33 years "longer
than anyone else" (1880 County History, p. 806). His residence at 1296 Mt. Pleasant is NRHP listed (1986) and it
received a #2 ranking in the original city historical survey (1973). Holland was clearly a significant builder-designer.
Works:
1295 Prairie, 1871, Italianate style (attributed due to similarities with 1296 Mt. Pleasant) (West 11th Street
District)
1296 Pleasant
John HenHouse, 563 West 11th, 1875, 2nd Empire style (architect) (West 11th Street District)
Howie, James 0841-7):
Scots-born Howie reached Dubuque in 1869 and started his firm employing 10-15 hands. He did all of the
carpentry work for the Norwegian Plow Company and the Waller building. Howie was a significant and major builder-
contractor-developer (1880 County History, p. 813).
Works:
260-80 West 17th, Howie Block, Gothic Revival style rowhouse, 1884 (Jackson Park District, NRHP)
PS 'oem 10.900~a
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National Park Service
OMS App",,' No. 1024-00,"
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa, 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
Jones, B. W.. (1837-?):
English-born Jones came to America in 1845 and to Dubuque in 1856. He worked in the city through the late
1800s and served as city alderman beginning in 1879 (Sommer, p. 16; 1880 County History, p. 817).
Jones, Rudolph (1855-?):
Jones was born near Chicago to German-born parents (family name of Joens). The family came to America in
1853 and reached Dubuque c.1856. . Father John Jones was a contractor but farmed in the éounty for 30 years. Rudolph
did carpentry work for his father and moved from the family farm to Dubuque in 1878 at age 23 years. He rose from
journeyman to self-employed contractor and by 1911 had "erected many of Dubuque's fme commercial houses and
private residences, churches and public buildings." He was a Republican and served as Alderman-at-large from 1898-
1906. Further research is recommended to determine his probable significance as a builder (OIdt, pp. 689-90).
Works:
Masonic Temple (11 th and Locust, non-extant)
Keenan, John, (1824-1909):
Irish-born Keenan came to America in 1850 and to Dubuque six years later. He leamed his trade in New York
and worked in this city through the 1880s. By 1880 he was the veteran of25 years as a builder and was one of the oldest
working contractors. He served 50 years as president of the Dubuque Council ofSt. Vincent de Paul. Keenan was a
significant local builder (Lyon, p. 236; 1880 County History, p. 819).
Kingman, Marshall (mid-19th Century) builder:
Works:
658 Chestnut, 1870, Italianate style (West 1 I th Street District)
Kutsch, Joseph P. (1859-1939)/Kutsch Brothers (Charles and Joseph):
Joseph was born in Dubuque and was of German parentage (his father was also a contractor). He was the senior
partner in a two-brother contracting firm. They were noted for their perfectionism and artistry. He was Catholic and was
a member of the Sacred Heart Church. He was also a member of the Shooters Club and was a noted marksman. The
brothers appear to have enjoyed the Catholic Church as a patron (OIdt, p. 505; Lyon, p. 252).
Works:
St. Francis Convent (2105 Washington Street)
St. Marys Casino (1600 White Street)
Immaculate Conception Academy
Lamed, Francis, (?-1886);
Lamed died in Chicago and his obituary noted that he was a former city contractor, builder of dwellings for B.
M. Harger and N. B. Lewis. Lamed had lived in Chicago for "some time" prior to his demise. He once partnered locally
with N. C. Amsden (obituary, Herald, July 16, 1886).
. _..-.._.,,-~..-~
-"-"
- .~~-_._-
.~-
ps Fo,m 1Q.90Q.a
'Rev. 8~86'
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OM'Ap",O~,'No. 1024-001.
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number -L- Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
Works:
B. M. Harger Residence, 1207 Grove Terrace, 1854 (West 11th Street District)
N. B. Lewis Residence
Luchterhand. Fred L. M.. (1869-7):
Born in Germany, his family emigrated to America c.1876 and came directly to Dubuque. He learned contracting
under the tutelage of Christ Burdt over a seven-year period. He then partnered with - Keller as Keller & Luchterhand.
By 1911 they were "regarded as one of the best firms in their line of business in the city, and have erected many fine
buildings, public and private. .." His residence was at 579 Windsor Avenue (as of 1911) (Oldt, p. 709).
Works:
Home for the Aged
St. Mary Casillo, c.1900, White and 16th (extant, altered)
N. J. Schrup House, 1908, 199 West 14th (Jackson Park District, NRHP)
McCov. John (7-7):
Irish-born McCoy came to the U.S. in 1850 and to Dubuque six years later. He was fITst employed as a
carpenter/joiner. The 1870 Industrial Census credited McCoy with fmishing eight houses during 1869. He was involved
in real estate and house building by 1873:
Mr. John McCoy has for some years looked around for some vacant lots in different localities, and
having found them, at what he thought a proper price, he bought them, no matter if they were even in an
out of the way place. The next thing done would be to set men to work in excavating and filling up and
build good cisterns and cellar walls. By the time that work was done, he would have all the brick or
timber and lumber, and after within three or four weeks, with a sufficient force of men, one or two or half
a dozen houses would be nearly ready for occupancy. By that time some strangers or those, who were
tired of boarding would be seeking the places to rent or purchase.
Mr. McCoy generally sells his houses and lots with about equal profit to himself and accommodation to
the purchasers. The good residences on Hill street, south of the Diamond House, are samples of his
management referred to. Such men are needed in every city, not older than Dubuque. . .Mr. McCoy will
take contracts for building houses, barns, churches or any small jobbing in his line, and does good work
and always at proper prices (Dubuque City Directory for 1873-74. p. 79)
As of 1870 he had five employees and his houses were valued at $4,000 each. By 1880 he was one of the oldest
contractors working in the city and had "erected some of the best buildings in Dubuque." He had the distinction of being
arrested in 1884 for having built a frame residence within the downtown fITe district. McCoy was a significant moderate
scale builder developer in Dubuque (National Demokrat, August 8, 1884; 1880 County History, p. 842).
McQuillan.
(7-7), builder:
Works:
Iesse P. Farley House, 605 Bluff, 1879 (CathedIal Historic District)
PS 'oem 1Q.900'a
,"". 8.861
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National Park Service
OMBApp'o""No, 1024-001B
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
Mihm. John J. (1860-?). Stone Mason Contractor:
Mihm was born in Dubuque of Gennan parents. His father, Peter Mihm (1824-1902) was also a Dubuque
stonemason contractor and the two partnered after 1884. The finn contracted foundation work for the most part (Oldt,
pp.717-18).
Works (foundations only):
Sacred Heart Church
St. Matthews Church (18th and Jackson)
Third Presbyterian Church
Home for the Aged
Nicks. Arnold. contractor (1860-1901):
Died "a well known contractor" at his horne, 90 Blocklinger Lane. Born in Dubuque, and the son of Peter Nicks
of the 5th Ward, "the deceased was extensively engaged in the contracting business and was the builder of our court house
and many other buildings about the city. Likely significant, further research is recommended (Telegraph, June 12, 1901).
Nicks. Nicholas P.. (1846- ?):
Nicks was born in Dubuque and had his own firm beginning in 1882. He was a brother of Arnold Nicks,
contractor (Telegraph, June 12, 1901; Sommer, p. 161).
Nunan. Maurice. (1854-1895) bricklaver/contractor:
Dies at residence on Hill Street, carne to the city trom Ireland in 1875, curiously having been born in Dubuque
and having returned to Ireland with his family when aged 12 years (Herald, July 2, 1895).
O'Farrell. James (1850-?) stonemason. quarryman:
O'Farrell was Irish-born and came with his family the same year as his birth. They reached Dubuque in 1856.
James apprenticed as a stonecutter with Schulte & Wagner. He partnered with John P. Dorgan in 1871 and ceased the
partnership when he was appointed city street connnissioner. He served in that position for two years and was in
partnership with Charles Stenck trom 1889-1897 specializing in streets, sewers and concrete work. His partner went off
to the Alaskan gold fields and O'Farrell remained behind. His "O'Farrell Contracting Company" operated a large stone
quarry and employed 75 hands (Oldt, pp. 832-33).
Pfiffuer. Andrew (1830-?) stonemason. contractor:
He was Swiss-born and reached the city in 1845 where he worked as a stonemason and contractor, partnering
with his brother Martin Pfiffuer. By 1880 he boasted of33 years work as a contractor (1880 County History, pp. 857-58).
'. - - .~-~---~
" ,.., ..,
,n ,
PS 'oem 1CJ.900.a
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United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OM8 App,m¡ No. 1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number --É-- Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
Playter. Henry J. (mid-19th Century) contractor:
Works:
1090 Grove Terrace (personal residence), c.1864, vernacular two-story frame gable front (West 11th Street District)
Rebman. William. (1821-?) builder-developer:
Rebman was born in Pennsylvania and came to Dubuque in 1837. He worked as a blacksmith until 1850 when he
started contracting and real estate ventures. He built many downtown buildings and did street work. He graded
Washington Park when it was [mally improved. By 1880 it was said "he has erected more buildings than any contractor
in Dubuque." He built the Rebman Block (later called Sanford Block) the city's first brick business block located north
of 8th Street. He also served two terms as city health officer. He lived at 1491-93 Bluff as of 1890-99. Rebman was a
very significant Dubuque builder-developer (Sommer, p. 161; 1880 County History, p. 864).
Works:
1042-54 Main, c.1857, two-story brick business block (Upper Main Historic District, proposed)
1047-49 Bluff, 1868, brick double house (Jackson Park District, NRHP)
1064-76 Main, 1871, two-story brick business block (Upper Main Historic District, proposed)
1273-75 Bluff, c.1872 (Jackson Park District, NRHP)
Iowa, comer 16th, double house, 1872
1610-14 Iowa, 1872, brick duplex (Jackson Park District, NRHP)
Bluffbetween 14th& 15th, brick double house, 1873
Bluff, between 15th & 16th, two brick dwellings, 1874
1107 Main, 1877, two brick duplexes (non-extant)
Head of Main, brickhouse, 1879
Head of Main, large brick house, 1878
Bluff Street, residence, 1882
Brick block and residence, 1883 (no address)
Three identical brick duplexes (presumed), 1535-37, 1551-53, 1572-73 Bluff, all pre-1889
1610-14 Iowa, pre-1889
1590-11 Bluff, pre-1889
Roehl. L.. & Companv. carpenters & builders:
An 1894 advertisement states "Porches, portier work and fancy inlaid work a specialty" (Telegraph, May 16,
1894).
Rouse & Dean. Iowa Iron Works:
Hammond Rouse established the company in 1853 and survived the Panic of 1857 with his 40 workmen, whom
he paid off early the next year. ~Chas. B. Dean became a partner in later years. For the purposes of this study, the finn
was a leading fabricator of cast iron storefronts, cornices, support colunms and other metalwork. It also built the first
iron steamboat constructed on the upper Mississippi River. The Clock Tower Building, 823 Main, retains original
cornice work by this fiTIll (NRHP) (Dubuque City Directory for 1873-74, p. 101-102).
PS 'oem 10.900~a
1"".8-86)
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMBApwo,,'No.1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa, 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
Scharle, Frank D. (late 19th Century):
Rated as of 1902 as a "well known Dubuque con1ractor and builder. He was the son of a Dubuque builder who
was credited with building "many of our largest buildings." The younger Scbarle had 1raveled extensively and had "made
a special study of modern styles and methods. He was noted for church designs at Mineral Point (Wisconsin) and
Haverhill, Iowa. He built "a number" of Dubuque and area residences (Enterprise, May 25, 1902).
Schilling, M. H. (]835-?):
Schilling was GenTIan-born and came to the city in 1857. He was a brick mason and con1ractor. By 1880 it was
said he "has done some of the best work in the city" and was also one of the city's oldest con1ractors (1880 County
History, pp. 876, 880).
Schulte, Bernard (]832-1900), cut stone con1racting:
Schulte was Gennan-born and came to America in 1854, locating in Dunleith, lllinois, but relocated to Dubuque
in 1867. He was in the stone con1racting 1rade there for 22 years. An early con1ract was for the Cathedral Parochial
Residence. The fIrm was called "E. Schulte & Son." Sons John J. Schulte (1861-?) and George G. Schulte (1871-?)
continued the business. By 1911 the fIrm was "one of the able and substantial houses of the city, and many fine homes
and substantial public buildings have been erected by them." This firm in particular serviced a broader Iowa and lllinois
building market. By 1866 he was partnered with - Wagner as Schulte & Wagner. Their stone was secured from
lllinois (Athens marble, Juliet stone). The firm was "considered the leading stone cutters in Dubuque" with yards on the
west side of White S1ree!, between 9th and 10th s1reets. This was a significant local fum, one that ;vas noted for building
some of the best residences in the city (Oldt, pp. 756-758; Dubuque City Directory for 1873-74, p. 44).
Works (Dubuque OIÙY)
First National Bank of Dubuque (non-extant)
Conservatory of Music, St. Joseph College (now Loras College)
Dubuque Infmnary
Frank D. Stout House, ll05 Locust (1890) Romanesque style (Jackson Park District, NRHP)
N. J. Schrup House, 199 Loras, 1908 (Jackson Park District, NRHP)
William L. Bradley residence (1873)
Weigle Block (1873)
Herancourt Block (1873)
C.D.&M. and C.C.&M. roundhouse/shops (non-extant)
Manson Block
215 Bluff, St. Raphael's Cathedral tower/steeple, 1874 (Cathedral District, NRHP)
Skemp, Charles W. (]848-?):
Skemp was English-born and came to America in 1859. He was in Dubuque by 1876. He was a journeyman
until 1897 but then turned to con1racting (Oldt, pp. 608-09).
Works:
Mercy Hospital
Presbyterian Seminary
-..,...,~
.-
-~
PS Foem 10~900"
'Roy. 8.BS)
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OM8Appe",,'No.1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number --É.- Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources ofDnbnaue Iowa 1833 1955
Nanre of Property
Dubuaue County Iowa
County and State
Lawther's Candy Factory (present building) (Main Street District, NRHP)
St. Joseph College (part, 14th Street)
Couler Avenne School
Burlington Freight House
A. Y. McDonald Manufacturing Company (addition, 13th Street) (non-extant)
St. Anthony Catholic Church, West Dubnque
Orphans Home (addition, north of Linwood)
Power House at Finley Hospital
Carr, Ryder and Adams Company (addition) (proposed industrial district, NRHP)
"nnmerous residences"
Steuck. Carl A. (1848-7):
Steuck was German-born and emigrated to America in 1873, locating that same spring in Dubuque. He worked
several years in local stone quarries and then became a contractor. He "macadamized most all the streets of Dubuque and
has also bricked most of the sewers of the city." He was noted for his honesty and thoroughness. He was a veteran of the
Franco-Prussian War and resided (1911) at 58 Francis Street (Oldt, p. 854).
Tavlor, Thomas J. (1865-7), general contractor and builder:
His parents came to Dubuque in 1832, 1837. His mother came first and was among those who were driven back
to lllinois by federal soldiers. His father was a millwright. Taylor was born at Asbury in Dubuque County. He was an
1883 graduate from Epworth Seminary. He was a grocer for four years before entering into contracting (Oldt, pp. 830-
31).
Trexler, John, (1825-7) contractor:
Trexler was born in Bavaria where he was a woodcarver and carpenter. He immigrated to America in 1852 and
arrived in Dubuque three years later. He was flIst a carpenter/joiner and then worked (as of 1880) 25 years as a
contractor (Sommer, p. 161; 1880 County History, p. 889).
Tuttle, L. B., (late 19th Century):
Tuttle was born in Connecticut and arrived in Dubuque in 1858. He learned his carpentry/joinery trade locally.
The 1870 Industrial Census credited Tuttle with finishing six houses during 1879. He had three employees and his
houses were valued at $13,800. By 1880 he had worked IS years as a contractor and had "built up a good business." He
was a Civil War veteran (Sommer, p. 161; 1880 County History, p. 890).
Weaver, Gassowav S. (]846-7):
He was rated a contractor "possessing rare skill and ability, who devotes himself principally to the erection of
fine residences." His father Benjamin Weaver was a contractor in an eastern state. Weaver came to Dubuque in 1868,
partnered for eight years with B. W. Jones and two years with S. Alexander. He had his own firm by 1892 and by 1911
had worked as a contractor in the city for an impressive 43 years. Further research is recommended (Oldt, p. 503-04).
Works:
ps Fo,m 'D.900.,
'R,"- s.sa}
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMB APP'o~,1 No. 7024.007B
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page ~
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
W. Dubuque Schoolhouse
Seuator N. J. Schrup House
Wilber. C. A. (late 19th Century) contractor/architect:
Wilber carne to the city in 1859. He was trained in New York and worked five years in Canada. He was an
officer in the Civil War and then developed a large business as a contractor and architect (1880 County History, p. 896).
Willv. Œrich (1857-1941 ):
Willy was born in Switzerland where his father Otto worked as a contractor. He came to Dubuque in 1881 and
had his own firm by 1894. Ulrich was a skilled and apparently significant contractor/builder on a regional basis (Oldt,
pp. 506-07; Lyon, pp. 483-84).
Works:
German Presbyterian Church, 17th & Iowa, west side (Jackson Park Dis1rict, NRHP)
17th Street Presbyterian Church, extant, (Jackson Park Dis1rict, NRHP)
Dubuque Club (non-extant)
School of the Presbyterian Sisters
Glover Factory, Locust and 6th (non-extant)
Lutheran Church
Woods. W. J. (late 19th Century):
Woods carne to Dubuque in 1856 and by 1880 was one of the city's oldest working brick masons and builders
(1880 County History, p. 902).
Works:
Joshua E. Caroline D. Fairbanks House, 480 Arlington, 1875, Italianate style (Cathedral Historic Dis1rict)
Zwack. Anton (mid-20th Century) contractor:
Major builder of institutions as of 1919, builds Tuberculosis Sanitarium, Brunswick Additions. Zwack continued
working well after World War II and maintained his offices at 1307 Central (NRHP. He is undoubtedly a significant
contractor and further investigation is recommended (Daily News, December 31, 1919).
Realtors/Developers:
Two distinct classes of individuals are included. There are land dealers who didn't necessarily subdivide or build
and there are realtor/developers who did. The latter group is more pertinent to this report, but both groups played key
historical roles in developing the city.
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Continuation Sheet
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
Barnev William J. (?-1886):
Lawyer and land speculator during the years 1850-62 (at which time he departed for Chicago). He partnered with
Caleb Booth in "W. J. Barney & Company." It is said that he bought and sold 800,000 acres ofland in his dealings
(Lyon, p. 28).
Burden. George (]814-1889)
English born, Burden carne to Dubuque in 1857. He worked in real estate with B. B. Richards as "Taylor,
Richards & Burden." He was also a banker (Lyon, p. 51).
Hammond. William A.. (]859-?):
Hammon was of Dutch ances1ry and was born in lllinois. He carne to Dubuque in 1890 and worked as a real
estate dealer, loan and mortgage broker. He belonged to St. Luke's Methodist Episcopal Church (Oldt, pp. 528-29).
Herod. Joseph (]825-1911)
Herod arrived in Dubuque in 1852 and first mined lead. He built a 17 -unit suite of apartments in the early 1900s.
He was secretary ofthe Dubuque & Sioux City Railroad, was one of the organizers of the Dubuque & Dunlieth Bridge
Company, was instnunental in forming the streetcar system, and was alderman and saw 25 years of service as city school
treasurer (to 1902) (Lyon, pp. 198-99; 1880 County History, p. 804).
Highland Realty Companv:
Fonned by two World War II veterans, Horner Vincent Butt Jr. and Frank Whittington in 1945. The fmn
obtained its first buildings permits in December 1945 to build houses on Simpson Street near the Wartburg Seminary
(Telegraph-Herald, January 6, 1946).
Lightcap. Leonard L. (]853-?):
Lightcap was born in Wisconsin and carne to the city by 1906 when he entered into real estate trading (Oldt, pp.
702-03).
Malonv. Lawrence (]819-1864):
Malony was born in Ireland and was an early real estate developer. He operated out of his general store at 3'" and
Main streets. He accumulated vast holdings during the rnid-1850s boom times but lost most of his wealth when he chose
to build on his properties just as the national economy collapsed in 1857 (Lyon, p. 316).
Nagle. Joseph J. (]860-1932):
Lyon describes Nagle as "one ofthe best known real estate agents" in the city's history. Nagle also served as the
fiscal agent for the archdiocese (Lyon, p. 325).
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
Norton, Patrick (1821-1868), Teaming and Real Estate:
Norton was born in Ireland and his family emigrated to America in 1832. Norton came to Dubuque in 1837. He
first operated a drayage and "later dealt extensively in real estate, building and renting homes and selling same on time
payments" (Oldt, pp. 854-55).
PfoW, Louis (7-1986):
He was a noted and more recent major realtor-developer (Lyon, p. 350).
Richards, Benjamin Billings (1823-1912):
Lyon terms Richards "one of the city's most influential bankers." He worked in real estate after 1854, partnered
with- Taylor, and later George Burden. He unsuccessfully challenged Allison for his U.S. Senate seat in 1864.
Richards served 10 years in the state house and as many years in the senate. He again lost a U.S. Congress challenge to
David Henderson in the 1880s (Lyon, p. 377).
Sanford, Horatio (1815-1884):
Described by Wilkie as "Iowa's biggest buyer and seller ofland" prior to the Civil War. He came to Dubuque in
1834. Never married, he accumulated holdings of in excess of one million acres of land, Most of his real estate activities
dated 1848-64. At one time he owned almost the entire block of Main Street between 8th and 9th streets. In his later years
he made seven European and Mid-eastern tours (Wilkie, pp. 160-62; Lyon, pp. 399-400).
Tavlor, John W.. (7-7)
Taylor "an old citizen well known for his connections with banking interests" founds a real estate, collection and
emigrant agency (Herald, June 27, 1860).
Voelker, Christian Anthon (1850-1925), Realty Investment Corporation, Voelker Realty Companv;
Chris Voelker was born in Baden and came to Dubuque at the age of four months. Educated at Trinity
Parochial School (late St. Marys) he apprenticed for ten years as a cabinetmaker prior to working for twenty
years (1873-93) as a dry goods merchant (1330 Clay Street). He built the two-story business block at that
location and later expanded it to the north. He left retailing in 1890 and entered the real estate trade, becoming
President of the Key City Fire Insurance Company and the Iowa Mutual Building and Loan Association. He was
elected mayor of Dubuque in 1897 and was as of 1896 a member of the House of Representatives. He began his
long-term involvement in real estate 1890. He developed four residential additions (Woodlawn Park with $25
lots and a total of337 lots along 14th Street), Voelker Highlands, South Alta Vista Street and MeIrose T=ace)48
and in 1908 incorporated as the Realty Investors Corporation, and in 1915 as the Voelker Realty Company. He
partnered with family members and Louis Kolfenbach. He organized the Home Building Company and served as
its president up until his death (Herald, January 12, 1896).
48 As of 1896, Voelker also owned the East Dubuque, Mechanic's, Porter's, Finley, Waples & Burton's, and the Littleton & Sawyers
additions (Herald, - 1896).
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
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County and State
Figure 148: Chris Voelker, 1925 (Daily American Tribune, August 14, 1925)
He was an original director of the Julien Dubuque Hotel when that building was rebuilt. He was a board member
of the Dubuque Industrial Corporation and "was instrumental in securing the Brunswick Balke factory" for the
city. He was an organizer of the Dubuque Altar Manufacturing Company and supervised the construction of its
new plant. As a realtor he belonged to the National Association of Real Estate Boards and the Iowa Association
of Realtors. At the time of his death in mid-August 1925 Voelker was recalled as an "outstanding figure in
Dubuque Business and Church life." A Democrat politically, he attended the 1884 National Democratic
Convention (from which the Cleveland nomination was a result) and served as city mayor for two terms (1886-
87) and as a member of the state House of Representatives twice, in 1896 and in 1907. A devout Catholic,
Voelker was a trustee for St. Marys and a trustee of the Mt. Calvary Cemetery Association. He was a Grand
Knight of the Knights of Columbus, was an organizer of the Roman Catholic Mutual Protection Society ofIowa,
served as president of the Central Verein and a chief ranger of the Independent Order of Foresters. Voelker was
also increasingly involved in insurance, particularly fire insurance (Daily American Tribune, August 14, 1925;
Lyons, p. 464; Oldt, Pl'. 638-39).
As early as 1896, Voelker urged the public to purchase his lots, offering building sites "where one can live
comfortably without extravagance" claiming that his Woodlawn Park lots were "the best improved, best selling real estate
in Dubuque, Iowa." He urged potential buyers
[You] no longer have to dwell in tenement houses, situated in closely built sections of the city, subjected
to the results of improper and imperfect ventilation, stifled almost by the efflubvia [sic] of decomposed
vegetable matter, or remain in flats where the air is more or less filled with the miasmatic influences,
which is the forerunner of malaria. Woodlawn Park has been purchased with the view of furnishing a
remedy for this class of evils, the tendency of which has always served as a barrier against rapid growth
and prosperity of any city... (Herald, January 23, 1896).
At this stage Voelker was attempting to develop additions which were filled with "handsome villas." His
advertisements make no reference to his providing construction services for his lot purchasers.
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The Architectural and Historical Resources ofDubuaue. Iowa. 1833-1955
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Figure 149: Voelker Homes, Greater Dubuque (1911)
A decade later, Chris Voelker was the city's leading large-scale home builder c.1902-1919. In 1902 he offered
2261015 for sale and held a lottery for six free houses amongst the lot buyers. He is the city's best example ofthe
"community builder," a real estate man who expanded his services to encompass house design, construction, and
financing. Voelker perfected a low-cost installment home buying plan that put many working class families into their
own homes. He epitomized the "Own Your Own Home" movement and his house designs combined stylistic and the
front gable locally dominant in vernacular housing. Voelker's large-scale building legacy has dotted the city with his
very recognizable house plans. He also promoted concrete block house construction in conjunction with the Peer-Amid
Cement Company (Telegraph-Herald, April 6, 13, 1902; Daily News, December 31, 1919).
Voelker Realty Company was a well-established [!TIll by the time it began to build houses. The business was
located at the northeast corner of 131h and Clay (1300 Clay). Voelker was president and Louis C. Kolfenbach was vice-
president. Christian A. Voelker, If. was company secretary. Chris Voelker Sr. resided at 491 Seminary Street as early as
1904. He served as mayor in 1888 (1904-05 City Directory, p. 406).
Voelker was "prominent among the builders of the city" as early as 1906. That year he built 27 houses at an
average cost of $2,300. From the start he built in the north end of the city, grouping his houses along Washington Street,
between 241h and 251h streets. During 1907 he built 22 houses valued at $53,030. These clustered near 24th and Jackson
streets, but were also along Lincoln and Audubon avenues. The first reference to a concrete block house was made that
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County and State
same year to a Couler Avenue location. His Peer-Amid Concrete Company first appears in the 1909 city directory,
located at 3005 Pine Street. The f!TIll produced concrete building blocks (Telegraph-Herald, December 30, 1906;
December 27, 1907; 1909 City Directory, pp. 394, 438, 561).
You 'Can't Beat It For $2300
This House and the Lot
Only On~ At Th;, !'Úce
Vodker'WilI SAVe y"" Money.
VOELKER~ :~~;;~';-~';T~;' FOR ~.oME8"
Figure ISO: Headquarters For Homes, 1911, Voelker advertisement
(Telegraph-Herald, April 16, 1911)
By 1908 Voelker was termed the "Wholesale Home Builder" and his building now included flats, double houses
and cottages. His building market covered the city. His 1908 building efforts included three Peer-amid "cement" houses
and his listed 1909 jobs numbered IS houses and cottages (Telegraph-Herald, December 27, 1908, January I, 1910).
By 1910 he was running large advertisements which featured his "Pay-As You Can" home buying plan. Echoing
the "Own Your Own Home Campaign" Voelker challenged potential homebuyers to worry more about saving money
rather than earning more. The homebuyer could save by eliminating rent, by buying coal off-season and storing it in the
basement (along with garden produce). The wear and tear on furniture resultant from frequent moves was saved once a
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family owned rather than rented a home. Voelker was an early advocate of the home as a good investment. Perhaps
unique to Dubuque, he promised that the rapid exhaustion of building lots and rising house values guaranteed that house
values would appreciate. He warned his clients to buy "average" houses ("Thats the kind of homes that we build and we
build them at the right place"). Voelker's new homes were all located within the "mile circle" with its center point
located in the downtown. Nearly every Voelker home also resided directly on a streetcar line. The company's interest
rates were high, ranging from 8-15 percent but the down payment was only $100 and interest diminished as the mortgage
was retired. Buyers could pay extra up front and their interest rates were recalculated every six months when they did so.
Most buyers owned their houses within eight years and Voelker claimed in 1912 that he had not had a single contract
"lapse" in five years. Buyers who suffered illness, layoff due to a strike or job loss received a six-month grace period
without penalty, to resume their payments. A 1912 ad titled "Voelker's Plan Showed Up At Last" featured an inquisitive
reporter who probed the realtor about his too good to be true scheme. The investigator concluded "Voelker is succeeding
because his plans are right and his methods beyond criticism" (Telegraph-Herald, October 2, 1910, September 29, 1912).
Figure 151: Concrete block Voelker house, 24 and Jackson Streets (photo by Jim Jacobsen, 2000).
Voelker's house designs were synonymous with modern moderate cost new Dubuque housing by 1910 at which
time they were being featured in annual progress reports and in the 1911 Greater Dubuque. He was called "the home
builder of Dubuque" and it was said "all of these homes are built for the benefit of the working man.. ." The Telegraph-
Herald continued "When one stops to consider the enormous amount of money annually invested by Mr. Voelker in the
building of new homes, the idea of what a real booster is, becomes more exemplified by the work of the Dubuquer"
(Telegraph-Herald, October 2,1910).
Voelker pledged to never place the same house design side by side but he certainly built continuous rows of
strikingly similar plans. By 1910 he was building "a new operation" on Caledonia Place near the 8th Street carline. By
1914 he had caught bungalow fever and was building a "bungalow neighborhood" around the former ballpark. The
completion of the Bee Branch sewer that same year opened up the area above 28th Street to development. Voelker had
also built up the district south of the Visitation Academy on South Alta Vista Street between 1912-14. The area was
"transformed trom a sore spot of rough hill and valley with old fences, mine dumps and sundry debris, within two years
to a magnificent neighborhood with beautiful lawns and room residences artistically placed." The accomplishment "is a
fair indication of the activity of Voelker in the up building of Dubuque" and the realtor was having a broader impact as a
result, the same source noting "This neighborhood redevelopment idea is taking a hold in Dubuque" (Telegraph-Herald,
December 27, 1914).
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Voelker's house designs commonly featured a pedimented front gable. Commonly his houses employed double
and triple window sets, an early provision of extra natural light into house plans. Gable fronts were shingled and flared
wall bases and roof eaves were commonplace. His bungalow designs were taller variations of hip roof cottages set on
raised foundations. Commonly a hip roof dormer projected atop the recessed front porch. Voelker's story and a half
cottage plans were promoted as single story plans with attic space that could be developed for supplemental bedrooms.
These houses could be more efficiently cleaned, a precursor of the more efficient bungalow concept. A buyer who
selected a design could make "slight changes" and could select paint colors (Telegraph-Herald, January 2, 1910).
A Home of Your Own Will Give You greater comfort, you will provide
yourself with the things which many landlords deny you, you will be able to secure
comfortable furnishings that you now deny yourself for they may not suit the next home
you rent.
Voelker-Headquarters for Homes, Telegraph-Herald, October 2, 1910
Voelker also promoted the duplex or double house as an optimal investment opportunity for the homebuyer:
Duplex apartments pay biggest returns. V cry popular in the larger cities. Live in part and rent the rest
and just as quickly as you will be paying off a single home for yourself, you many just as well be having
a renter pay off one for you, giving you a magnificent property in a few years...(Telegraph-Herald,
January 1, 1911).
The company's annual production never exceeded 30 units, an apparent indication that this volwne
matched building technology of the day and the scale of the company's resources. Twenty houses were built in
1917 and 29 in 1919. The company was also building commercial buildings and some larger combination
storefront/flats as well however. Voelker's house-building operation disappears after 1919 and it is probable that
it didn't survive the postwar building slump. The Voelker real estate firm survived as late as 1975 (Times-
Journal, January I, 1918; Daily News, December 31, 1919; 1913 City Directory, p. 500; 1918 City Directory, p.
518; 1925 City Directory, p. 567).
Known Voelker Buildings:
61 Bluff, 1914, two-story concrete block gable fÌont (Cathedral Historic District)
114 Bluff, 1913-14, two-story concrete block gable fÌont (Cathedral Historic District)
124-26 Bluff, 1915, two-story concrete block gable fÌont (Cathedral Historic District) (altered, no integrity).
309 Jones, 1913, gable fÌont bungalow (Cathedral Historic District)
313 Jones, 1913, hip roof bungalow (Cathedral Historic District)
330 Jones, 1913, hip roofbunga10w (Cathedral Historic District)
339Jones, 1913, two-story concrete block gable fÌont (Cathedral Historic District)
1011 Melrose Terrace, foursquare with Prairie influences, concrete block porch, 1915 (Langworthy
District)
1025 Melrose Terrace, two-story innovative Tudor Revival concrete block plan, 1O15(Langworthy District)
1033 Melrose Terrace, same as above (Langworthy District)
1062 Melrose Terrace, 1916, side gable two-story fÌame plan with concrete block first story (Langworthy
District)
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
Associated Property Types, Registration Requirements:
The following five property types, defmed by the same number of chronologically defined historic contexts, have associated
lists of National Register listed or potentially eligible resources for each type. These lists are not intended to be inclusive and further
research will identify additional resources. Archeological resources are not identified and no archeological investigations were
conducted in the several successive Dnbuque survey efforts.
Key: "**,, indicates that a resource is being nominated in association with this multiple property document submittal.
Property Type #1: The buildings, structures, objects and dis1ricts associated with Context #1, Frontier City on the
Mississippi River, 1833-1858:
1. DESCRIPTION:
The resources in this property type are broadly varied in terms of their size, building materials, designs and
functions. All resources are located within the city limits of Dubuque and the other unifYing element is that they all date
to the earliest period of that city's history, the years 1833-58. Normally, very few surviving resources might be expected
even in a comparably large urban area, but this is not true of Dubuque. Certain sub-types are more rare and residences
comprise the majority of surviving examples. Many resources have been altered by additions, stylistic makeovers and
other changes since construction but Dubuque's resources from this period are remarkably well preserved.
RESIDENCES: This property type includes single-family houses, duplexes and multi-unit buildings
(roughhouses). The majority of examples are of brick construction and these dominate the residential architecture in
Dubuque. Vernacular residential examples comprise the majority of historic building examples and stylistic influences
are commonly restricted to a few elements on an otherwise vernacular core. Purer stylistic examples are present and
represent the Greek Revival, Italianate, Egyptian and Octagon styles. Context #5 describes how each style or vernacular
and popular type was applied in Dubuque. Vernacular residential buildings tend to be placed forward on their lots and
the majority are two-story side gable or gable fÌ'ont house examples. Subordinate rear wings and particularly side porches
(paired on opposite sides in a duplex, south-facing on a residence) are a character-defining feature. Relatively few fÌ'ame
houses retain their original siding exposed due to the prevalence of siding variations. Brick is a very common building
material in Dubuque. Original outbuildings rarely survive fÌ'om even the early 20th Century but there are excellent
examples of well-preserved summer kitchens. The earliest surviving houses are found in all parts of the city including
the lowlands of the original plat as well as on every bluff and in every valley and this scattering and intermixing of all
ages of houses is typical of the city. Lowland examples tend to be closely clustered while suburban homes at higher
elevations are more broadly spaced and fÌ'equently occupy graded terraces or have differentially exposed raised
foundations that serve to level the house relative to the profile of the site.
COMMERCIAL RESOURCES: The individual commercial property is defined as a unified architectural design,
one that was either originally built as a whole, or one that evolved over time by means of enlargement or remodeling.
The resulting building can contain multiple storefÌ'onts, those storefÌ'onts can fÌ'ont on one or two s1reets, and the property
can have multiple owners. Willie the building must have been planned to serve ground level commercial purposes, it can
contain no more than one upper level residential areas (current or former) for either the owner/merchant or tenants.
Combination commercial/residential designs that were more residential in their overall massing, are 1reated as multi-unit
house property types. The building type can occur within a commercial area or isolated as a comer store in residential or
other areas. Examples include single and double storefÌ'onts with elevations ranging fÌ'om two to three stories.
Commercial styles are 1reated in the style/type section (Context #5).
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES: The surviving industrial properties in Dubuque have been surveyed and the rate
of loss of outstanding buildings is simply astonishing. Still a variety of examples survive and these range from a
stone/brick obelisk-shaped shot tower to a number of store-like factory examples that include a two-story hip roof beer
hall that was associated with a brewery. All building examples are of brick construction and have a variety of elevations
and roof types. Most examples are located in the eastem or northern peripheries of the downtown.
PUBLIC AND RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONAL RESOURCES: A munber of very early examples survive in a
city known for its religious and educational institutions and the architectural edifices that represent them. Examples from
tJris period are primarily located in the immediate downtown area, although the Ladies Seminary building represents the
first placement of an institution atop a bluff top setting. All examples are of brick construction and some necessarily
evidence subsequent additions or stylistic makeovers, St. Raphael's Catholic Cathedral being an excellent example of an
added stone veneer and tower on its façade.
TRANSPORTATION RESOURCES: Just a single resource, the Shot Tower, attests to the importance of the Mississippi
River, both as a symbol (the tower's obelisk form was intended to serve as a nnmicipal riverfront monument) and for shipping
purposes.
SITES: Just two sites are associated with this contextual period, Washington Square and Jackson Park, the former being the
city's first park, the latter serving as its first cemetery, with belated re-development as a park.
ll. SIGNIFICANCE:
Resources from tJris earliest contextual period are associated with Dubuque's early settlement and its emergence
as Iowa's largest city. Buildings interpret the impact of the Financial Panic of 1857-58 and its aftermath. Dubuque's
earliest residences represent the complete historical range and the great many very early examples make the city certainly
one of the best repositories for early residential architecture in Iowa. These include style and type examples that are
among the best ones in the state. Collectively they best illustrate the city's early years, given the greater loss of
comparable commercial and industrial examples from this period.
Residential architecture also traces the early growth expansion northward (into the Couler Valley and Eagle
Point) and atop the bluffs. Prominently placed residences represent the social prominence of their owner/builders.
Residential architecture also interprets and explains the role oflocal builders and designers. Dubuque's multiple-family
residential properties best represent this earliest phase of municipal growth, with this property type, with its side gable
form, being very well represented in the early vernacular time period. The Cathedral District and the proposed Old Town
area, tJris is particularly true. A great many surviving multiple unit residential buildings represent tJris later and broadly
defined period of exponential city growth expansion and the greater proportion of vernacular examples date to tJris
contextual period. While vernacular architecture remains dominant, increasingly stylistic influences make their
appearance and the architecture interprets this inexorable design evolution. One significant development during this
period was the construction of large-scale combination commercial and residential buildings witJrin the downtown,
particularly along Central Avenue, Main Street, and Iowa Street, around the periphery of the downtown proper. This
introduced a new building form, the non-office block and non-owner occupied residential building. Residences continue
to be associated with and reflective of the work of local builders, designers. A great many examples located in the
Cathedral, Jackson Park, West 11th and Old Town areas are linked to this significant town-building theme. These hybrid
designs commonly offer significant interpretations of these changing tastes. These buildings by tJris time begin to receive
stylistic makeovers, particularly of porches. Many of these buildings had no porches or even entry canopies and where
setback allowed, these began to appear. Some buildings exhibit combinations of original and later-date porches.
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Surviving commercial buildings from this earliest contextual period represent the centrality of retail and
wholesale trade to the developing city. Retail trade during this period was overextended and the Financial Panic of 1857
exposed this vulnerability in Dubuque. The banking sector however, due to the local amassment of capital from mining
in particular, set the stage for future city growth and the development of a strong locally financed development. Very few
intact commercial buildings survive from this period and those that do are of considerable historical interest. Portions of
earlier buildings and in many instances, side and rear walls from earlier buildings do survive, but are largely not visible.
A great many buildings were simply re-fronted over time. This is particularly true of the Old Main District (NRHP). A
recent regrettable (2000) loss was the Merchant's Hotel, the last surviving pre-Civil War hotel and a part of the Old Main
historic district.
Industrial buildings from this earliest industrial period in the city's development are significant because they are
associated with the beginnings of Dubuque's industry and their rarity makes them all the more significant. Just four
buildings are known to survive from this period, the Shot Tower (NRHP), the Dubuque Cracker Company, 1856, 231
West 2nd, Schmid Brothers Brewery Beer Hall, 2327 Central, and a part of the Novelty Iron Works, 1851, northwest
comer Pine and East 9th streets. Of these the Shot Tower is the landmark, being associated with river shipping, riverfront
industrial development, and the local lead mining industry. Industry made Dubuque what it was and these few buildings
interpret that key context. The homes of industrialists would be significant under this theme given this loss of early
properties. Some surviving commercial buildings might have housed lesser industrial operations.
Public and Religious Institutional from this era are of vital importance to properly understand Dubuque's history and
architecture and this is true to a degree that cannot be matched by any other Iowa urban center. The significance of
institutions in Dubuque's history was driven by its ethnic mix, the location of the Catholic archdiocese, the presence of
other major religious congregations and their related institutions, the role played by Dubuque as an education center, and
the role of state and federal government in its history. From the beginning Dubuque's church spires and the towers of its
educational institutions dominated its skyline, the latter tending to occupy prominent bluff top locations. Dubuque is
particularly fortunate to retain a number of buildings from this fonnative period and they represent the early emergence
of an urban center on the frontier as well as the importance of the church in promoting emigration and in settling the
region. Institutional architecture led the way in symbolizing the city's aspirations. Remarkably three public buildings,
City Hall, the Jail and Third Ward School, all designed by noted architect John Rague, survive and represent the
emergence of the urban center within the context of a frontier community. Several educational institutions, religious and
secular left their early marks in surviving buildings and these have significant associations with contemporary movements
of the day. The Gothic Revival Gennan Theological Seminary, 1857, was the first female seminary to be established
west of the Mississippi River and it survives.
n. REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS:
1. Significance (use or fonn) related to one of the five contexts developed in this multiple propertydocwnent.
.Criterion A: properties that are directly associated with the early development of Dubuque, 1833-1858, and its
emergence as Iowa's "Key City." Associated significant themes are those that are developed within each of the
five chronologically derIDed historical contexts.
.Criterion B: properties that are directly associated with the working careers of the earliest significant Dubuque
residents, 1833-1858.
.Criterion C: historical resources that best illustrate significant designs, vernacular building traditions,
descriptive local uses of building materials and construction techniques in the city of Dubuque during the years
1833-1858.
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NPS 'oem 10.900.a
'Reo. 8.861
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMBAPP'oo,'No.1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number --'=-- Page
265
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
2. Qualifying buildings, s1ructures, objects, sites or districts are those associated with this context. Qualifying building
materials include stone, brick, wood, metal and iron.
3. futegrity Considerations:
fu all cases, the most important integrity consideration is that the property or district retains sufficient elements of
the original design, materials, and setting, so that the historical owner during the period of significance would
theoretically recognize it today. The property must retain its ability to convey a sense of time and place as it relates to
this context.
Buildings should reflect the original function of their designs, as well as their original cons1ruction materials.
They should possess their original shape and proportions, windows and doors should not have been substantially
changed. Residential buildings can be held to a higher test of integrity, given their larger number of surviving examples
and their better state of preservation. Additions must be secondary in scale and setback relative to the original core
design, and must be comparable in design and materials to the original residence. Replacement siding (metal, vinyl) does
not necessarily eliminate historical integrity if the scale of the siding matches the original, if decorative features such as
wood shingle, brackets, and trim work remain visible, and if the key massing and design of the building remains
discernible. The re-sided building must retain its ability to represent its type or style absent the availability of a
comparable example not re-sided. fu most cases, residing will limit a building to serving as a contributing property
within a historic district. Within a district, re-sided buildings must make a positive contribution to the district. The re-
siding of brick, stone or stucco buildings eliminates their historical integrity.
IV: Associated Properties:
A. fudividual Single-Family Residences:
National Register Listed/Eligible Properties:
Jackson Park, a part of the Historic District
Washington Park is a part of Cathedral Historic District
Langworthy Historic District (**)
West Eleventh Street District (**)
1095 3'd Street, Edward Langworthy House, Octagon Style, 1856-57, NRHP
719 West 3'" Street, Late Victorian, 1855, DOE (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
755-57 West 3'" Street, Second Empire, 1855, DOE (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
1095 West 3"', Octagon, no date (Kriviskey recommendation, national/state significance)
340 West 5th, J. H. Thedinga House, Colonial Revival, 1840/1855, NRHP (Kriviskeyrecommendation,
national/state signifièance)
508 West 7th, Joseph A. Rhomberg House, Greek Revival, 1856, DOE
563 East 14th, stone duplex, c.1850-60, (phase III eligibility recommendation)
264 Alpine Street, Solon Langworthy House, Greek Revival, 1856, DOE (Kriviskey recommendation,
local significance)
38 Bluff Street, Greek Revival, 1850, DOE, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
103 Bluff Street, Federal, 1855, DOE
474 Bluff Street, Greek Revival, 1855, DOE (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
NPS Fo<m 10.900.,
'Re'.8.861
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OM8 Appo",,' No. >024-00'8
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number L- Page
266
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
2810 Cascade Road, John Palmer, Second House, Greek Revival, no date, DOE
690 Fenelon Place, Federal Style, c.1855 (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
710 Fenelon Place, Federal Style, c.1855 (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
1196 High Bluff, unusual two-story stone house with hip roof, 1850s (more research recommended)
1572 Iowa Street, Gable Front, 1855, NRHP
1578 Iowa Street, I-House, 1855, NRHP
2241 Lincoln Avenue, Mathias Ham House, Italianate, 1839/57, NRHP (10ca11andmark)
19 Locust Street, Edward/Ahern House, Italianate, 1856, DOE
1204 Mount Loretta Street, Johann Christian Frederick Rath House, Neo-C1assical/Greek Revival, NRHP
1296 Mount Pleasant Street, Ora Holland House, Neo-Classical, 1855, NRHP
274 Southern Avenue, Kelley House, mid-19th Century, 1855, NRHP
365 Southern Avenue, Nicholas Thornton House, I-House, 1856, DOE
Recommended for further study and evaluation:
Fenelon Place Residential District
Broadway Residential District
Old Town (Residential) District, residential district (11th to 18th, Washington to Central)
757 West 3m Street, John King-Barmeier House, Second Empire, 1850
Eagle Point Park, William Newman Log House, 1833
732 Fenelon Place, Scott-Wilson House, Italianate, 1857
1192 Locust Street, Fred Weigel House, Italianate, 1854-55, 1866
597 Loras Blvd., Italianate, 1855-60
3035 Pennsylvania Avenue, Greek Revival, no date
B. Multiple Family Residences:
National Register Listed/Eligible Properties:
Jackson Park, a part of the Historic District
Washington Park is a part of Cathedral Historic District
Langworthy Historic District (**)
West Eleventh Street District (**)
755-57 West 3m Street, Vernacular/Second Empire, c.1855 (Kriviskey recommendation, local
significance)
Recommended for further study and evaluation:
Fenelon Place Residential District
Broadway Residential District
Old Town (Residential) District, residential district (II th to 18th, Washington to Central)
563 East 14th Street, Stone House,c.1850-60
1100-34 Locust Street, rowhouse, Adam/Federal, no date
1215 Washington Street, triple unit rowhouse, AdamslFederal, no date
1129-31 White Street, duplex, AdamslFederal, no date
C. Commercial Properties:
~,_._-
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NPS Foem 10.900.,
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United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMB App,ml No. 1024.0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number L- Page
267
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque Cmmtv Iowa
County and State
National Register Listed/Eligible Properties:
Old Main (Commercial) Historic District, NRHP
240 West 1" Street, Italianate, 1857, DOE
2317 Central Avenue, Schmid Brothers BrewerylBeer Hall/Spahn's, 1855, DOE
Recommended for further study and evaluation:
2327 Central Avenue, Italianate, 1855 (Phase I survey recommendation)
691-97 White Street, fIrst two story remnant of 1856 Jefferson Hotel (Phase ill survey recommendation)
231 West 2nd Street, Italianate, 1857 (recommend adding to Old Main District, Phase III)
E. fudustrial Properties:
National Register Listed/Eligible Properties:
4th and Commercial streets, George W. Rogers & Company Shot Tower, 1856, NRHP (local landmark)
Mines of Spain Historic District, Catfish Creek, south of city (NRHP)
Recommended for further study and evaluation:
231 West 2nd, Dubuque Cracker Company, 1856 (recommended for addition to Old Main District,
NRHP )
Northwest corner Pine and East 9th streets, Novelty Iron Works, 1851 (recommended as contributing to
the Carr-Ryder-Adams/Farley-Loetscher proposed industrial district)
2327 Central, Schmid Brothers Brewery Beer Hall (1855)
F. Public and Religious Properties:
National Register Listed/Eligible Properties:
36 East 8th Street, Dubuque County Jail, Exotic RevivalÆgyptian, 1857, NRHP (local landmark)
75 West 17th Street, German Theological SeminarylLady of Lourdes, Gothic, 1854, NRHP
1199 Central Avenue, Third WardlPrescott School (first), 1856 (phase ill eligibility recommendation)
231 Bluff Street, S1. Raphael's Cathedral, Parish House (Italianate, 1858), Gothic Revival, 1857-59, 1878
(steeple), DOE
Recommended for further study and evaluation:
255 West lOth Locust streets, First Congregational Church, Gothic Revival, 1857, 1860, l880s
13th and Central streets, First WardlPrescott School, Italianate, 1857
Heeb Street, Dubuque Female College, Gothic Revival, 1854
PROPERTY TYPE #2: The buildings, structures, objects and districts associated with Context #2, The Key City, 1859-
1893:
1. DESCRIPTION:
The resources in this property type are broadly varied in terms of their size, building materials, designs and
fimctions. All resources are located within the city limits of Dubuque and the other unifying element is that they all date
to the earliest period of that city's history, the years 1859-93. This an unusually lengthy period of time, by contextual
NPS 'oem 10.900.,
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United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMBAppomINo.IOZ4.DOI8
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page
268
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
tenus, so associated resources are quite varied. Stylistically, a relatively concise range of styles covers the period and
vernacular design influences remained locally dominant, particularly in the fonn of a persistence in heavy stone
foundations and retaining walls, as well as a decided preference for substantial construction, often in brick. Once again,
Dubuque offers an impressive range and quantity of still relatively early examples of all resource types and it offers to the
state a veritable historic building laboratory. Certain types are still somewhat rare, particularly industrial buildings, and
residences continue to comprise the great majority of surviving examples. Many buildings continued to be altered by
additions, stylistic makeovers, and particularly porch replacements but overall, Dubuque's historic resources from this
period are remarkably well preserved.
RESIDENCES: A great many surviving residential buildings represent this later and broadly defined period of
exponential city growth expansion. While vernacular architecture remains dominant, increasingly stylistic influences
make their appearance and the architecture interprets this inexorable design evolution. Despite the fact that non-
residential buildings are more likely to have survived from this time period, individual family residences remain the most
comprehensive associated property when interpreting and representing both broader historical themes (industry,
commerce, transportation) and the lives of key significant local individuals. Residences continue to be associated with
and reflective of the work of local builders, designers, and by this time developers and many residences experience
architectural make-overs as styles come and go in their popularity. These hybrid designs commonly offer significant
interpretations of these changing tastes. Multiple-family dwellings, particular duplexes, but also roughhouses, comprise a
minority of residential resources. Facades must share a unified design with common materials, fenestration and
ornamentation patterns. While most examples are duplexes or double houses, this type includes tenements, roughhouses,
and apartments. The architecture of these buildings, particularly of examples larger than a duplex, is distinct from
individual houses in tenus of scale, massing, style and frequently period and materials of construction. In some instances
these designs represent simple duplications in multiple units of single house designs with identical though distinct rear
wings. In the larger multi-unit examples the building is longer, broader, taller and distinctive. The largest examples have
patterns of grouped entrances and rear wing elements such as light wells. The most numerous building category is the
duplex. There are relative small numbers oftri- and quad-plexes and larger rowhouse examples are quite rare,
particularly in more recent times and this is a particular quality of Dubuque's residential architecture, the historic
predominance of single family housing. Double houses were valued as a means by which a homeowner could use half of
his property to support the purchase of a more substantial housing investment. Some double houses were built one half at
a time while others were built by two cooperating owners with a unified architecture across a lot boundary.
COMMERCIAL RESOURCES: This contextual era witnessed a diversification of the commercial building
. fonn, and the new fonns included the multiple-storefront block, the distinctive named and architecturally stylish business
block, and the earliest tall commercial buildings (up to five stories in height. The named commercial block, actually a
subset of the multiple-storefront block, this category embraces those blocks that achieved a special significance in tenns
of name, architecture and role. These usually exceptional designs frequently included public halls, hosted the best
commercial finns, occupied the best business locations, commonly on prominent corners, and enjoyed a public
recognition (Sanborn Map labels, photographs, signage particularly on pediments). By defmition these buildings
contained at least two storefronts, tended to have professional offices on the upper levels, tended to introduce new
technological innovations and styles or ornamentation, and were historically referenced as "blocks" as opposed to
buildings. Single storefront blocks, including buildings built originally to house a single commercial business (includes
those which were later subdivided into multiple storefronts. Isolated corner storefronts are a subset of this type given that
these often feature designs that take advantage of their comer locations. Using Richard Longstreth's commercial
typology, these can be usefully further organized for descriptive purposes, however the vast majority are one and two-part
designs. Lower-profile examples, usually oflater date, can be classed as vaults, arcaded blocks, or enframed blocks.
INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES: The earliest components of the surviving industrial complex date to the earliest
years of this contextual period. The Shot Tower continued to function through mid-l 862, and it experienced a second
"1--'-'
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National Park Service
OMS Appro,,' No. 1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number....E.- Page
269
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
industrial function as a fIre watchtower. The earliest plants employed load bearing exterior walls and internal heavy
beam and column support systems. Almost uniformly building fronts are divided vertically into bays with intervening
pilaster supports. Lower level fenestration and ceiling height tends to be higher than are the upper levels. Later designs,
c.1890's and after, employ a more formalized tri-partite system with base, column and cap. Fenestration is reduced in
scale with each successive level and a decorative corbelled brick parapet lines form the cap. Centered pediments with
dates and fIrm names ornament major buildings. Central bays are highlighted with larger window sets and rounded
transom lights. The fIrst structural concrete beam and column support system dates to 1910 (The McFadden factory,
Iowa Street, non-extant). Industrial buildings tend to lack any particular style and they do not lend themselves very
readily to being categorized in any useful way. The following general range of subtypes is defIned in an effort to
distinguish and describe Dubuque's historical industrial buildings: (1) small-scale industrial plants; these housed a single
fIrm, tend to consist of an amalgam of small, usually single-buildings, and tended to house such operations as creameries,
blacksmith or foundries, repair shops automotive related firms; (2) moderate-scale industrial plants; these housed
somewhat larger firms and usually represent replacement facilities built to meet the specifIc needs of a growing business,
they tend to be multi-story and might occupy a quarter of a block. Example tenant firms are coffm and furniture fIrms,
bakeries, and breweries; (3) industrial offIce buildings; these rarer examples housed the managerial offIces ofthe larger
factory complexes, they represent specifIc architectural designs, and are physically distinct from the factory operation;
and (4) large-scale factory buildings; these are the gigantic factories that housed the largest mill working and similar
operations, they can occupy entire blocks and exceed three stories in height. All of these classes have unifIed facades,
often with an identifIable architectural style or at least standardized design with some ornamentation, although they can
represent incremental construction over time. A few were built as single designs and these are the most architecturally
distinguished. These are the most interesting buildings in terms of evolving building technologies.
TRANSPORTATION RESOURCES: This general property type includes those resources that relate to railroads,
streetcars, the Mississippi River, and engineering related to surmounting the famous bluffs of Dubuque. A fairly finite
property list covers the gamut of these subtypes. The lllinois Central Railroad bridge, 1901 (and one surviving span of
the original 1868 bridge) and the freight house (altered, no integrity) on the Ice Harbor exhaust known surviving railroad
buildings. The much-altered streetcar barn at 2401 Central Avenue nicely interprets the history of streetcar transportation
in the city. A nmnber of right-of-way features survive, often linked with landmark comers and buildings that interpret the
several carlines. Strings of houses, particularly those built by Chris Voelker, also cluster directly on those lines,
evidencing an indirect link between the car service and residential proximity. Finally, the famous 4th Street Elevator and
the several surviving sets of public stairs attest to solutions to help bluff top homeowners to get home, There is a
probability that some archeological properties survive given the vast infIlling of the riverfront area. The foundations of
wharfs, warehouses, sunken barges and steamboats, remnants of the Eagle Point boat building works are likely buried.
The preeminent boat building site on the south side ofIce the Harbor is gone save for a landmark tree. No portions of the
several early airports survive and Union Park, the long-time streetcar amusement park, is also non-extant. Eagle Point
Park, a later-date streetcar destination point, is well preserved but it is best treated under the sites property type or under
institutional architecture.
PUBLIC AND INSTITUTIONAL RESOURCES: The sheer quantity and quality of these institutional buildings
and districts is simply outstanding. The term "institutional" is broadly defIned here to encompass public governmental,
religious, fraternal, medical, civic/public and educational properties and this includes the categories of social,
government, education, religion, recreation and culture and health care as they are defmed by National Register Bulletin
l6A, pages 20-23. The broadly defined property type includes public buildings, fraternal halls and temples, ethnic halls,
schools, hospitals, charitable organizations, and religious and secular colleges, universities and seminaries. Applicable
buildings must been entirely committed to one of these uses. For example, a downtown theater or a block with a public
hall would be treated as commercial properties, while a theater on a college campus would be treated here, as a part ofthe
broader institutional architecture. The city is most noted for its late 19th century churches and its many religious
NPS 'oem 10900,
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National Park Service
OMS App"'" No. ,024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page
270
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
educational institutions. Dubuquer's built large and ornate edifices and they remained loyal to them. The major churches
located downtown and remained there. Church growth, particularly the Catholic parishes, added church after church as
the city expanded northward. The vast and complex array of educational institutions grew and flourished during this
period. The remarkable thing is that most of these still survive in some form, usually at the same location, and have
conunonly added on to original buildings with a sensitivity to stylistic continuity. Other Iowa conununities lost the
majority of these facilities and can claim but a handful as present-day survivors but Dubuque has always enjoyed the
reputation of being a college town. A broad array of public and religious social services, religious order residencies and
the like are also represented by surviving buildings. Many buildings housed a remarkable range of successive tenant
institutions.
SITES: This range of properties includes the several former city/religious cemeteries, two downtown squares,
the Civil War Camp UnionlFranklin, Union Park, the Shooting Club Park, Nutwood Race Track, Council Ring, and the
many German beer garden sites. Most of the significant suburban parks and fair grounds that developed during this era
no longer survive. Camp UnionlFranklin served as the rendezvous camp for a substantial number ofIowa infantry
regiments during 1861-62. It is probable that the site, located south of Eagle Point, has been completely lost with the
lowering of that area for use as barrow to infill the marshes to the south. Investigation and testing is recommended
however in hopes that the site does survive. If it does survive the site has a probable capacity to yield important
information about Iowa's wartime home front military mobilization under Criterion D. Union Park and the Shooting park
emerged during these years as a key amusement park and German social club respectively. Both sites retain some
structures and the latter is still functioning in its original use. The present established cemeteries were opened during this
period.
II. SIGNIFICANCE:
During this contextual period Dubuque emerged as Iowa's leading urban center, the leader in manufacturing in
the state. The city played a key role in the Civil War years, its industrial and jobbing capacity developed in the post-war
years and the groundwork was laid for the city's regional dominance in raiJroad development, religious institutional
expansion and development, the flourishing of its growing ethnic development, capital amassment, and commercial
growth and expansion.
The significance of residential architecture growth due to the large~scale loss of earlier property type ranges such
as commercial and industrial buildings. Residential examples can be associated with almost every significant Dubuquer.
Residences also best tell the story of residential development in the city, both as it relates to style and type, as well as plat
development and municipal expansion. Dubuque is very much more vernacular in its architecture and that architecture is
representative of dominant ethnic and Mississippi River Valley influences. In short, residences offer the most complete
and best-preserved property type range to interpret and appreciate the history of Dubuque during the years 1833-1893.
The great majority of surviving historic conunercial buildings were constructed during this contextual period and
it is during this time that the retail, wholesale and jobbing sectors of Dubuque's developing economy developed a scale
that materially aided city growth and regional dominance.. The earliest surviving named and dated "blocks" represent this
period. Small local retail firms in a few instances grew tremendously during this time period and many of those buildings
survive. While subordinate to manufacturing and jobbing, conunerce and particularly banking and wholesale trade was
of critical importance to the city's growth and success during these years. Capital was amassed and local banks grew and
multiplied. Unfortunately just a single bank (German Bank & Trust, 13th & Clay, NRHP) related building examples are
extant from this period. Ethnic defined businesses were plentiful and each major ethnic group established its own
shopping and services district. During these years the original conunercial downtown expanded both northward and
eastward. Main Street in particular expanded its conunercial core northward. Iowa Street emerged as a manufacturing
~ '-r~
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NPS 'o,m 1D-90D-a
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National Park Service
OM8 Appm,,' No. 1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page
271
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
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CO1Ulty and State
and wholesaling district, the south part of Central as a hotel and governmental node. Well to the north, Central (formerly
Clay/Couler) also developed a strong ethnic commercial core. Throughout the city comer storefronts, many housing
small factories and shops, were built in every neighborhood in the lowlands, and along arterials atop the bluffs.
Industrial buildings associated with this contextual period interpret the explosive industrial growth of Dubuque
during and following the Civil War. Developing industries, principally woodworking and wagon building, all coalesced
during this long period of growth and emerged as vital economic sectors. The Civil War fostered industrial growth in
several industries, principally in meatpacking, and helped strengthen the capital base that made future locally controlled
growth possible. By the 1880's and '90's manufacturing and jobbing drove the municipal economy and were poised to
expand into large-scale operations. The mill working industry emerged as a leading economic sector and began the
construction of what would later become some of the world's largest mill working factories. Massive filling operations
along the river enlarged the industrial area that was generally located to the river side of the downtown proper. Major
industrial buildings were located along Locust Street, and a furniture-coffin making node developed in the northeast
comer of the original plat (Elm and Washington, between 15th and 18th streets). Breweries and brickyards lined Central
(Couler) along the Couler Valley. Iowa Avenue also emerged as an industrial, jobbing and warehousing venue.
During this era railroads emerged to challenge the river as the dominant shipping mode and the first vehicular
bridge bolstered the importance of overland shipping. The original railroad bridge span, the streetcar barn, the 4th Street
Elevator, and the Ice Harbor are all significant under Criterion A for their association with major transportation contexts.
River improvements and riverfront filling redefmed the city and its use of the river and Eagle Point emerged as a key boat
building center. Many residences have significant associations with leading transportation promoters and owners.
Public and religious properties are of vital importance to properly understanding Dubuque's history and
architecture and this is true to a degree that cannot be matched by any other Iowa urban center. Institutional growth
achieved record levels during this lengthy contextual period. Catholic institutions in particular were established and
expanded in impressive numbers. Religious architecture during this time period produced what many claim to be Iowa's
best collection of monumental and formally designed church architecture.
ill. REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS:
1. Significance (use or form) related to one of the five contexts developed in this multiple property document.
.Criterion A: properties that are directly associated with the continued development and statelregional dominance
of Dubuque, 1859-1893. Associated significant themes are those that are developed in the five chronologically
defined historic contexts.
.Criterion B: properties that are directly associated with the working careers of significant Dubuque residents,
1859-1893. This lengthy contextual period saw the emergence of second and third-generation community
entrepreneurs and leaders.
.Criterion C: properties that best illustrate significant academic designs, vernacular building traditions, the local
use of particular building materials and local construction techniques in the city of Dubuque during the years
1859-1893.
2. QualifYing buildings, structures, objects, sites or districts are those associated with this context. QualifYing building
materials include stone, brick, stucco, wood, metal, steel and iron.
3. Integrity Considerations:
NPS 'oem 10-'00.,
IR,". S.S51
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National Park Service
OMB Ap",o,"' No. 1024-00>8
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number L- Page
272
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque CountY. Iowa
County and State
In all cases, the most important integrity consideration is that the property or district retains sufficient elements of
the original design, materials, and setting, so that the historical owner during the period of significance would
theoretically recognize it today. The property must retain its ability to convey a sense of time and place as it relates to
this context.
Buildings should reflect the original function of their designs, as well as their original construction materials.
They should possess their original shape and proportions, windows and doors should not have been substantially
changed. Residential buildings can be held to a higher test of integrity, given their larger number of surviving examples
and their better state of preservation. Additions must be secondary in scale and setback relative to the original core
design, and must be comparable in design and materials to the original residence. Replacement siding (metal, vinyl) is
also acceptable if the scale of the siding matches the original, if decorative features such as wood shingle, brackets, and
trim work remain visible, and if the key massing and design of the building remains discernible. The re-sided building
must retain its ability to represent its type or style absent the availability of a comparable example not re-sided. Within a
district, re-sided buildings must pass a collective lesser test, that being whether they continue to make a positive
contribution to the district. The re-siding of brick, stone or stucco buildings eliminates their historical integrity.
IV: Associated Properties:
A. Individual Single-Family Residences:
National Register Listed/Eligible Residential Properties:
541 West 3'd Street, Joseph 1. Steil House, Italianate, 1865, DOE (Kriviskeyreconunendation, local
significance)
655 West 3m Street, Neo-Classical, 1865, DOE
660 West 3m Street, Neo-Classical, 1865, DOE
705 West 3'd Street, Neo-Classical, 1860, DOE
729 West 3m Street, late-Victorian, 1860, DOE
793 West 3m Street, late-Victorian, 1875, DOE
804 West 3m, Neo-Classical, 1880, DOE (Kriviskey reconunendation, local significance)
890 West 3m Street, Jacob K. Rich-Spahn House, Italianate, late 1860511875, DOE (Kriviskey
reconunendation, local significance)
990 West 3m Street, Queen Anne, 1890, DOE
1036 West 3m Street, Late Victorian, no date, DOE
1045 West 3m Street, Queen Anne, 1890, DOE (Kriviskey reconunendation, local significance)
1057 West 3'd Street, Second Empire, 1870, DOE (Kriviskey reconunendation, local significance)
1084 West 3'd Street, Italianate, 1870,DOE (Kriviskey reconunendation, local significance)
535 West 5th Street, Neo-Classical, 1860, DOE (Kriviskey reconunendation, local significance)
794 West 5th Street, late Victorian, 1889, DOE (Kriviskey reconunendation, local significance)
639 West 3m Street, Italianate, 1870, DOE
804 West 3m Street, Classical Revival, c.1880 (Kriviskey reconunendation, local significance)
1491 West 3m Street, Italianate, 1870, DOE
508 West 7th Street, Federal Revival, c.1860 (Kriviskey reconunendation, local significance)
1005 West lOth Street, RoIillUlesque, 1880, DOE, NRHP (Kriviskey reconunendation, national/state
significance)
----,
-~
-.---.,-- ,
"""
NPS '"m 10.900'a
IRev. 8.861
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMB App'"",1 No. 1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number....E....- Page
273
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque COlIDtv. Iowa
COlIDty and State
563 West 11th Street, Second Empire, 1874, DOE
636 West 11th Street, late Victorian, 1860, DOE, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
75 West 17th Street, Victorian Eclectic, c.1875, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, national/state
significance)
175 West 17th Street, Italianate/modified, c.1870, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
260 West 17th Street, Queen Anne, 1893, DOE
265 West 17th Street, Queen Anne, 1885, DOE
325 North Alpine Street, Neo-Classical, no date, (Kriviskey recommendation, national/state significance)
431 North Alpine Street, Neo-Classical, 1875, DOE (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
586 Arlington Street, Greek Revival, 1860, DOE, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
637 Arlington Street, Italianate, 1865, DOE, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
51-53 Bluff Street, Italianate, 1860, DOE, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
125 Bluff Street, Italianate, 1890
186 Bluff Street, Queen Ann, 1890, DOE
221 Bluff Street, Gothic Revival, no date, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, national/state
significance)
231 Bluff Street, ltalianate, 1870, DOE, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
392 Bluff Street, mid-19th Century, 1860, NRHP
409 Bluff Street, Second Empire, 1875, NRHP
417 Bluff Street, Neo-Classical, 1875, NRHP
432 Bluff Street, mid-19th Century, 1860, NRHP
436 Bluff Street, mid-19th Century, 1865, NRHP
445 Bluff Street, mid-19th Century, NRHP
448 Bluff Street, mid-19th Century, 1860, NRHP
504 Bluff Street, Augustus A. Cooper House, Queen Anne/Romanesque, 1888/1894, DOE, NRHP
(Kriviskey recommendation, national/state significance)
567 Bluff Street, Second Empire, 1870, NRHP
[679 Bluff Street, mixed, 1890, listed NRHP, delisted NRHP]
721 Bluff Street, Gable front, 1865, NRHP
759 Bluff Street, late Victorian, 1890, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
940 Bluff Street, Neo-Classical, 1880, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
945 Bluff Street, Queen Anne, 1880, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
961 Bluff Street, Italianate, 1860, NRHP
970 Bluff Street, Queen Anne, 1890, NRHP
1005 Bluff Street, ltalianate, 1865, NRHP
1015 Bluff Street, ltalianate, 1865, NRHP
1025 Bluff Street, Second Empire, 1875, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
1038 Bluff Street, Queen Anne, 1890, NRHP
1047 Bluff Street, mid-19th Century, 1860, NRHP
1157 Bluff Street, Gable front, 1870, NRHP
1175 Bluff Street, Queen: Anne, 1890, NRHP
1240 Bluff Street, Greek Revival, 1860, NRHP
1449 Bluff Street, Italianate, 1865, NRHP
1461 Bluff Street, Queen Anne, 1885, NRHP
1499 Bluff Street, Queen Anne, 1880, NRHP
NPS 'oem 10.900-,
IR'". B.SS}
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMB App,,"" No. 1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number -'=-- Page
274
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa, 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
1599 Bluff Street, Neo-Classical, 1885, NRHP
2404 Broadway Street, Greek Revival, 1860, DOE (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
2440 Broadway Street, Second Empire, 1875, DOE
2447 Broadway Street, Italianate, 1875, DOE
2452 Broadway Street, Italianate, 1870, DOE (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
2500 Broadway Street, Queen Anne, (18457), DOE
2518 Broadway Street, Italianate, 1880, DOE (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
2527 Broadway Street, Italianate, 1860, DOE (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
385 Burch Street, Italianate, 1875, DOE (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
2810 North Cascade Road, John Palmer, First House, Side gable, no date, DOE
2133 Central Avenue, Second Empire, 1884-90, DOE (Phase II survey recommendation)
2243 Central Avenue, Italianate, 1880, DOE (Phase II survey recommendation)
2461 Central Avenue, Italianate, 1890, DOE (Phase I survey recommendation)
2499 Central Avenue, Italianate, 1880, DOE (phase I survey recommendation)
3135 Central Avenue, Italianate, no date, DOE
632 Chestnut Street, Italianate, 1860, DOE, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
79 Diagonal Street, Queen Anne, c.1890 (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
432,434,436 Emmett Street, Italianate, 1870, DOE
480 Emmett Street, Neo-ClassicallDubuque vernacular, 1880, DOE, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation,
local significance)
800 English Lane, McMahon House, Neo-Classical, 1861, NRHP
695 Fenelon Place, Italianate, no date (Kriviskeyrecommendation, local significance)
732 Fenelon Place, Italianate, c.1865 (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
2081 Garfield, 1870-1880, vernacular (phase II survey recommendation)
1106 Grove Terrace, I-House, 1880, NRHP
1206 Grove Terrace, Benton M. Harger House, Victorian Gothic, 1890 (Gothic Revival, 18657) DOE
1207 Grove Terrace, Gothic Revival, c.1865, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, national/state
significance)
1292 High Bluff, pre-1891, vernacular (Phase II survey recommendation)
1133 Highland, Italianate, c.1865+, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
1363 Iowa Street, Neo-Classical, 1880, NRHP
1450 Iowa Street, Second Empire, 1870, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
1504 Iowa Street, late Victorian, 1890, NRHP
1534 Iowa Street, Gable front, 1860, NRHP
1592 Iowa Street, mid-19th Century, 1860, NRHP
1637 Iowa Street, Queen Anne, 1893, NRHP
1638 Iowa Street, Second Empire, 1875, NRHP
1670 Iowa Street, Italianate, 1865, NRHP
1678 Iowa Street, late Victorian, 1890, NRHP
1699 Iowa Street, Gothic Revival/Carpenter, c.1885, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local
significance)
2082 Jackson Street, stone side gable, 1863, DOE (Phase I survey recommendation)
2282 Jackson Street, 1863, vernacular (Phase I survey recommendation)
571 Jefferson Street, Italianate, 1865, DOE
314 Jones Street, Greek RevivallDubuque vernacular, 1870, DOE, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation,
- ~'- - ~, .~
..,...,-.,----.---
----,-,.
----,
-,'
NPS Fo,m '0.900.,
'R". 8.86)
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMB App,ml No. 1024.001B
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page
275
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
local significance)
320-22 Jones Street, Gothic RevivaVDubuque vernacular, 1880, DOE, NRHP (Kriviskey recommen-
dation, local significance)
Locust & lOth, Romanesque, c.1890, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
Locust & 14th, English Gothic, c.1875, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, national/state significance)
Locust & 15th streets, Richardsonian Romanesque, c.1890, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation,
national/state significance)
315 North Locust Street, Queen Anne, 1890, DOE, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local
significance)
346 North Locust Street, Colonial Revival, 1890, DOE (Sommer recommends as vernacular double.
house, recommends for further investigation)
363 North Locust Street, Neo-Classical, 1895, DOE
396 North Locust Street, Dubuque Vernacular, c.1880, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local
significance)
911 North Locust Street, Romanesque Revival, c.1893, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local
significance)
1005 North Locust Street, Queen Anne, c.1890, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
1182 North Locust Street, Second Empire modified, c.1875, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local
significance)
1192 North Locust Street, Italianate, c.1865, NRHP (Kriviskeyrecommendation, local significance)
1243 North Locust Street, ltalianate, c.1860, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
1268 North Locust Street, Neo-Classical, 1865, DOE, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local
significance)
1320 North Locust Street, Eastlake, c.1880, NRHP (Kriviskeyrecommendation, local significance)
1344 North Locust Street, mid-19th Century, 18695, DOE
1375 Locust Street, William Andrew House, Italianate, 1866, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation,
national/state significance)
1389 Locust Street, William Ryan House, ltalianate, 1870/73, DOE (local landmark), NRHP (Kriviskey
recommendation, local significance)
464 Loras, Dubuque Vernacular, c.1860, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
509 Loras, Queen Anne, c. 1890, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
597 Loras, ltalianate, c.1865, NRHP (Kriviskeyrecommendation, local significance)
464 Loras Blvd., Neo-Classical, 1860, DOE
509 Loras Blvd., Queen Anne, 1890, DOE
597 Loras Blvd., ltalianate, 1865, DOE
1295 Loras Blvd., ltalianate, 1880, DOE
1921 Madison Street, Queen Anne, no date, DOE
1337 Main Street, Chas. H. Eighmey House, Queen AnnelNeo-Classical modification, 1880/92, DOE,
NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
1433 Main Street, ltalianate, 1865, DOE, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
1455 Main Street, Italianate, c.1865, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
1491 Main Street, no style, c.1870, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
1611 Main Street, Second Empire, c.1875, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
1640 Main Street, Robinson-Lacy House, Second Empire, 1870
1650 Main Street, Second Empire, c.1870, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
NPS F",m 10.900.,
'Rov. 8.aSI
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OM8App,"",'No.l024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number L- Page
276
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
1209 Prairie, Italianate, c.1865, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
1295 Prairie, Italianate, c.1865, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
704 Providence, 1880s, vernacular (Phase II survey recommendation)
2412 Queen, 1891, vernacular (Phase I survey recommendation)
205 Southern Avenue, Gable fTont, 1881, DOE
354 Southern Avenue, Gable fTont, 1875, DOE
387 Southern Avenue, I-House, 1865, DOE
455 Southern Avenue, Gable front, 1870, DOE
448 Summit Street, Italianate, 1865, DOE (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
875 University Avenue, Queen Anne, no date, DOE
1020 University Avenue, Queen Anne, no date, DOE
1025 Walnut Street, Second Empire, c.1880, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
1651 White Street, Second Empire, 1891, NRHP
2414 Windsor, 1870, vernacular (phase II survey recommendation)
2531 Windsor, Peter Eisbacher house, T-plan vernacular brick house, 1880, vernacular (Phase II survey
recommendation)
Recommended for further studv and evaluation:
Rhomberg Cluster (625, 627, 629), (Commercial/residential), Second Empire, 1880s-1909 (phase II
survey recommendation)
1800's-1900's Jackson Street, (Residential/commercial) district, 1880-1890s, (phase I survey
recommendation)
Fenelon Place Residential District (to be nominated 2004-05)
Broadway Historic Residential District (Broadway and Division streets) (to be nominated 2004-05)
Old Town Residential District, residential district (11th to 18th, Washington to Central)
East nnd & Washington Residential District, 1890s (phase I survey recommendation) (215-17, 301,
305,306,308,310,311,312-14,317-19,321-23,400 E. 22"d, 2162, 2172, 2201-2203, 2209,
2222,2226,2227,2234-36,2238,2241 Washington Street) (this area could be combined with
the Old Town District)
1885-1932 Jackson Street Residential/Commercial District (Jackson at 19th Street), 1880s-1890s (Phase I
survey recommendation, further research)
2102-2131 Jackson Street Residential District, 1880s-1900 (Phase I survey recommendation)
I Ill, 1113,1117, 1121 Lincoln Avenue Residential District, group offour gable fTont brick cottages,
1888 (phase II survey recommendation)
1201-27 Lincoln Avenue, group of 13 gable fTont fTame Chris Voelker houses, 1906 (phase II survey
recommendation)
431-534 Rhomberg, 2006-2128 Kniest, Commercial and Residential District, 1880s-1900 (phase I survey
recommendation)
2061-65 Washington Street, side gable brick double house, 1880 (phase I survey recommendation)
2339-43 Washington Street, brick side gable vernacular double house, 1880 (phase I survey
recommendation)
2349-51 Washington Street, brick side gable vernacular double house, 1880 (phase I survey
recommendation)
2003-61 Washington Street, residential cluster with single comer storefTont, 1870s-1900 (phase I survey
recommendation)
.__._-_.,-----~
~,-".w._,-
NP$ Fo= 1 O~900.a
IR...8.86'
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMS Approval No. 1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number L- Page
277
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa, 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
White Street (Commercial/residential) district, 1870-1900 (1902, 1908, 1922, 1938 White Street) (phase
I survey recommendation)
2058-62 White Street, early ftame tri-plex tenement, 1875 (phase I survey recommendation)
2326-30 White Street, side gable brick vernacular double house, 1880 (phase I survey recommendation)
2126,2124 Windsor Avenue, side gable brick vernacular double house, 1890 (Phase II survey
recommendation)
2407-09 Windsor Avenue, brick duplex with earlier rear wing1870 (phase II survey recommendation)
349 East 20"', vernacular gable front brick house, 1880 (contributing evaluation)
504 22"d Street, vernacular, story and a half, not dated, (Sommer recommends individual investigation)
711 22"d Street, Queen Anne style rowhouse, 1875 (contributing evaluation)
10'" and Bluff streets, Co!. D. E. Lyon House, Italianate, no date
2441 Broadway Street, Italianate, no date
2509 Broadway Street, story and a half vernacular, not dated (Sommer recommends as vernacular for
investigation)
300 Central Avenue, Queen Anne, no date
2133 Central Avenue, Second Empire, 1884-90 (consultant recommends DOE)
2243 Central Avenue, gable front vernaculariitalianate house, 1880 (consultant recommends DOE)
2461 Central Avenue, 1.5-story gable front brick vernacular cottage, 1890 (consultant recommends DOE)
2499 Central Avenue, T-plan ltalianate house, 1880 (consultant recommends DOE)
3087 Central Avenue, Queen Anne, l880s (consultant recommends DOE)
40 Clarke Drive, AdamlFederal townhouse, no date (Sommer recommends as vernacular, for
investigation)
581 Clarke Drive, Dr. Ernest M. Porter House, Italianate, 1872-75
1212 Elm Street, vernacular, not dated, (Sommer recommends individual investigation, "early example")
565 Fenelon Place, Harry Tredway House, Queen Anne, l880s
788 Fenelon Place, Hattie Scott House, Second Empire, 1880
690 Fenelon Place, Cunningham House, AdamlFederal, 1865
710 Fenelon Place, Cox House, AdamlFederal, no date
944-45 High Bluff, Frank Nagele House, side gable frame gallery plan, 1867 (consultant recommends
DOE)
981 High Bluff, brick cottage, 1891 (more research recommended)
1292 High Bluff, pre-1891, brick gable front house, pre-1891 (more research recommended)
1063 Highland Place, Greek RevivallItalianate derivative, not dated (Sommer recommends as vernacular
for investigation)
1133 Highland Place, Italianate/Queen Anne, no date
1163 Highland Place, Italianate, no date
1209 Highland Place, Greek Revival/ltalianate derivative, not dated (Sommer recommends as vernacular
for investigation)
1245 Highland Place, Italianate, no date (Sommer recommends as vernacular, for individual
investigation)
1295 Highland Place, Italianate, no date (Sommer recommends as vernacular, {or individual
investigation)
389 Hill Street, ltalianate, no date
2615 Hillcrest Street, Welbas House, Greek Revival, no date
1263, 1267 Jackson Street, no date (Sommer recommends as vernacular cross roof plan for investigation)
NPS 'oem 'O.90O.,
I""'. 8.861
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMBAppmv,INo.tO24-00tB
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number L- Page
278
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa, 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County, Iowa
County and State
1815 Jackson Street, Italianate/vernacular brick gable front, 1884-91 (more research recommended)
2052 Jackson Street, pre-1884 T-p1an 1.5-story brick cottage (Phase I, more research recommended)
2214 Jackson Street, broad gable front brick vernacular, 1884-91 (Phase I, more research recommended)
2304 Jackson Street, gable front vernacular brick cottage, pre-1884 (could be much earlier) (phase I,
more research recommended)
2310 Jackson Street, gable front brick vernacular house, pre-1884 (phase I, more research recommended)
2955 Jackson Street, Queen Anne, no date (Sommer recommends as vernacular for investigation)
1911 Johnson Street, Weg1au-Scharle House, gable front brick vernacular house, 1885 (phase T, more
research recommended)
1014 Lincoln, gable front brick vernacular house, c.18911911 Johnson Street, Weglau-Scharle House,
gable front brick vernacular house, 1885 (Phase I, more research recommended)
1106 Lincoln, gable front vernacular brick cottage, 1865 1911 Johnson Street, Weglau-Scharle House,
gable front brick vernacular house, 1885 (phase I, more research recommended)
1230 Lincoln Avenue, gable front vernacular brick cottage, 1875 (phase I, more research recommended)
1301 Lincoln Avenue, L-plan brick vernacular cottage, pre-l 891 (Phase I, more research recommended)
1401 Lincoln Avenue, broad gable front vernacular brick house, pre-1891 (Phase I, more research
recommended)
1615, 1619 Lincoln Avenue, two gable front brick cottages, 1888 (phase II survey recommendation,
further research)
1621 Lincoln Avenue, 1.5-story brick gable front cottage, 1870 (phase T, more research recommended)
2593 Lincoln Avenue, side gable brick vernacular cottage, pre-189l (Phase T, more research
recommended)
1105 Locust Street, F. D. Stout House, Richardsonian Romanesque, 1890-91
1182 Locust Street, Alfred Tredway House, Second Empire, late 1870s
1330 Locust Street, Ita1ianate, no date
1394 Locust Street, Dennis Cooley House, Second Empire, 1867
1552 Locust Street, Second Empire, no date
489 Loras A venue, Second Empire, no date
1491 Main Street, Young House, Second Empire, 1875
1611 Main Street, Second Empire, no date
1640 Main Street, Robinson-Lacy House, Second Empire, 1878
1871 North Main, Italianate, no date
652 Needham Place, Second Empire, no date
2268 Prince Street, gable front brick vernacular house, 1880 (Phase T, more research recommended)
2272 Prince Street, 1.5-story gable front brick cottage, c.1870 (phase T, more research recommended)
704 Providence, gable front vernacular brick house, 1880s (Phase T, more research recommended)
710 Providence, T. J. McGraw Cottage, small gable front brick cottage (phase T, more research
recommended)
1012 Rhomberg Street vernacular, single story and a half, not dated, (Sommer recommends individual
investigation)
1016 Rhomberg Street, vernacular, story and a half, not dated, (Sommer recommends individual
investigation)
2401 Queen Street, gable front brick vernacular house, 1880 (phase T, more research recommended)
2412 Queen Street, gable front frame house, 1891 (Phase T, more research recommended)
611 Rhomberg Avenue, 1.5-story brick vernacular gable front cottage, 1870 (Phase I, more research
-- ~--~.-
" r--'-c -
------.
-
NPS '"m 1Q-gOQ-a
'R". 8-86}
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OM8 ADDm." No. 7024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page
279
The Architectural and Historical Resonrces of Dubuque Iowa, 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
recommended)
613 Rhomberg Avenue, gable front vernacular brick cottage, 1885 (phase I, more research
recommended)
715 Rhomberg Avenue, gable front brick vernacular house, 1880 (Phase I, more research recommended)
333 Villa Street, Italianate, no date
1025 Walnut Street, Second Empire, no date
340 Wartburg Place, Italianate, no date
1215 Washington Street, vernacular, not dated, (Sommer recommends individual investigation, "early
example")
1543 Washington Street, vernacular, not dated, (Sommer recommends individual investigation, "early
example")
1866 Washington Street, frame gable front vernacular house, 1890 (Phase I, more research
recommended)
2319 Washington Street, gable front brick cottage, pre-I 891 (phase I, more research recommended)
1651 White Street, Second Empire, no date
2050 White Street, 1.5-story brick I-plan vernacular cottage, pre-I 884 (Phase I, more research
recommended)
2244 White Street, brick I-house, pre-I 884 (Phase I, more research recommended, likely eligible)
2281 White Street, 1884-91 (Phase I, contributing property, more research recommended)
2414 Windsor Avenue, gable front brick vernacular house, 1870 (Phase II, more research recommended)
2417 Windsor Avenue, gable front brick vernacular house, 1880 (phase II, more research recommended)
2435 Windsor Avenue, gable front brick cottage, 1885 (phase II, more research recommended)
2608 Windsor Avenue, 1.5-story brick gable front cottage, 1885 (phase II, more research recommended)
888 Yale Court, Herancourt House, Adam/Federal, no date
B. Multiple Family Residences:
National Register ListedÆligible Properties:
Jackson Park, a part of the Historic District
Washington Park is a part of Cathedral Historic District
Langworthy Historic District (**)
West Eleventh Street District (**)
464-66 West 3'd Street, Dubuque Vernacular, c.1865, NRHP (Kriviskeyrecommendation, local
significance)
675-77 West 3'" Street, Classical Revival, 1860, DOE
331-39 West 4th Street, Queen Anne, 1890, DOE, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
442-44 West 5th Street, Italianate, 1860,DOE, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
586-90 Arlington Street, Dubuque Vernacular, c.1860, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local
significance)
637-41 Arlington Street, Dubuque Vernacular, c.1865, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local
significance)
186-190-196 Bluff Street, Queen Anne, c.1890, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
479-481 Bluff Street, I-House, no date, NRHP
493-95 Bluff Street, Queen Anne, 1895, DOE, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
425-41 Bluff Street, Queen Anne, 1900, NRHP
NPS 'oem 10.90~a
'R,".a.S61
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMS App""" No. >024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number L- Page
280
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County, Iowa
County and State
549-27 Bluff Street, Second Empire, 1879 (aka 605 Bluff Street), NRHP
605-21 Bluff Street, Second Empire, 1860/1879, NREP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
653-55 Bluff Street, Italianate, 1860, NRHP
701-03 Bluff Street, George Healy House, Queen Anne, 1888, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local
significance)
729-31 Bluff Street, I-House, 1865, NRHP
743-45 Bluff Street, I-House, 1881, NRHP
949-25 Bluff Street, Italianate, 1865, NREP
1004-22 Bluff Street, Queen Anne, 1890, NREP
1219-29 Bluff Street, Mid-19th Century, 1860, NRHP
1235-43 Bluff Street, Late Victorian, 1855, NREP
1273-75 Bluff Street, I-House, 1860, NRHP
1293-97Bluff Street, Second Empire, 1870, NREP
1323-25 Bluff Street, Greek Revival, 1865, NREP
1335-37 Bluff Street, Italianate, 1865, NREP
1353-55 Bluff Street, AdamslFederal, 1860, NREP
1390 Bluff Street, no style, 1891, NRHP
1439-41 Bluff Street, I-House, 1865, NREP
1491 Bluff Street, Italianate, 1860, NRHP
1501-03 Bluff Street, Italianate, 1875, NREP
1509-11 Bluff Street, Italianate, 1875, NREP
1535-37 Bluff Street, Italianate, 1875, NREP
1551-53 Bluff Street, Italianate, 1885, NRHP
1571-73 Bluff Street, Italianate, 1875, NRHP
1589-91 Bluff Street, Italianate, 1875, NREP
2130-34 Central Avenue, Beaux Arts, 1991, DOE
2255-57 Central Avenue, side gable double house, 1884 (phase I survey, more research recommended)
432-34-35 Emmet Street, Dubuque Vernacular, c.1870, NREP (Kriviskeyrecommendation, local
significance)
929-31 Garfield, 1881, vernacular (phase II survey recommendation)
943-45 High Bluff, 1867, vernacular "Mississippi VaHey" (phase II survey recommendation)
1428-30 Iowa Street, Late Victorian, 1891, NREP
1594-96 Iowa Street, Second Empire, 1875, NREP
1610-14 Iowa Street, no style, 1865, NRHP
1658-60 Iowa Street, Late Victorian, 1885, NREP
1659-77 Iowa Street, Italianate, 1860, NREP
2568 Jackson Street, Queen Anne style, 1900 (Phase I survey recommendation)
320-22 West Jones, Dubuque Vernacular, c.1865, NREP (Kriviskeyrecommendation, local significance)
53-55 North Locust Street, Late Italianate, 1882, NREP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
324-26 Locust Street, Italianate, 1875, DOE, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
346-48 Locust Street, Queen Anne, c.1895, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
363-65 Locust Street, Classical Revival, c.1895, NREP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
975-97 Locust Street, Queen Anne, 1890, DOE, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
1255-57 Locust Street, Italianate Townhouse, c.1865
1552-54 Locust Street, Queen Anne, c.1885 1560-68 Iowa Street, no style, c.1898, NRHP (Kriviskey
--,
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
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County and State
recommendation, local significance)
1590-92 North Locust Street Dubuque Vernacular, c.1860 1560-68 Iowa Street, no style, c.1898, NRHP
(Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
1631-33 North Main Street, Eclectic/Second Empire, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local
significance)
483-89-95 Loras Blvd., Second Empire, 1875, DOE
2301-03 White, 1884-91, vernacular (phase I survey recommendation)
Recommended for further study and evaluation:
471-73-89-91 West 4th Street, vernacular, not dated, (Sommer recommends as "early example," for
individual investigation)
2nd and Bluff streets, Queen Anne townhouse, no date
5th and Bluff streets, Queen Anne rowhouse, 1890s
9-11 East 28th Street, side gable vernacular brick duplex, 1890 (phase I survey, more research
recommended)
2095 Central Avenue, Second Empire three-story apartment block, pre-I 884 (phase I survey, more
research recommended)
2130-34 Central Avenue, Neo-Classical style apartment block, c.1890 (phase I survey, more research
recommended)
2555-65 Central Avenue, Craftsman, no date
Davis Street, St. Francis Convent, Second Empire, no date
1846-48 Jackson Street, side gable brick vernacular double house, 1878 (phase I survey, more research
recommended)
1913-17 Jackson Street, Second Empire, 1886
2024-26 Jackson Street, brick vernacular side gable double house, pre-1884 (phase I survey, more
research recommended)
2070-72 Jackson Street, Richardsonian Romanesque, no date
2226 Jackson Street, side gable frame vernacular double house, pre-I 884, (phase I survey, more research
recommended)
2350-52 Jackson Street, massive Gennan vernacular side gable brick double house, 1884-91 2255-57
Jackson Street, parapet front brick vernacular double house, 1891-1902 (Phase I survey, more research
recommended)
975 Locust Street, triple llllit rowhouse, ltalianate, no date
1025-37 Locust Street, triple unit rowhouse, Second Empire, no date
1100-1150 Main Street, six llllit rowhouse, Second Empire, no date
1455 Main Street, duplex, Italianate, no date
427-49 Summit Street, vernacular, not dated (Sommer recommends as vernacular for investigation)
1129-31 White Street, vernacular, not dated, (Sommer recommends individual investigation)
C. Commercial Properties:
National Register ListedÆligible Properties:
Old Main (Commercial) Historic District
813 8th Street, Grand Opera House, Richardsonian Romanesque, 1889, DOE (NRHP)
8th and Main streets, Security Building, 1896, DOE
NPS Fmm 10.900-,
IR,".8.861
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OMS App'",,' No. 1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number...E.- Page
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
397 East 20th Street, J. J. Grode JI. Building, Queen Anne, 1909, DOE (Phase I survey recommendation)
607 East 22"d Street, A. C. Pancratz Grocery, Commercial, 1900, DOE
470 Central Avenue, John Bell Block, 1892 (phase ill survey recommendation)
504 Central Avenue, N. D. Jungles Block, 1891 (Phase ill survey recommendation)
654 Central Avenue, TheodoreAltman Saloon, 1883 (phase ill survey recommendation)
576 Central Avenue, G. Schaffhauser/St. George Hotel, 1886 (Phase ill survey recommendation)
880 Central Avenue, Hendrick's Feed (Phase ill survey recommendation)
898 Central Avenue (Phase ill survey recommendation)
1056 Central Avenue, Herman Sass Bookstore, pre-l 872 (Phase ill survey recommendation)
1112-14 Central Avenue, twin-front gable duplex (phase ill survey recommendation)
1290-96 Central Avenue, Eichorn Hall/Block, 1889 (phase ill survey recommendation)
1301-23 Central Avenue, John Bell Block (NRHP 2002)
1347 Central Avenue, Ziepprecht Block (NRHP 2002)
1735 Central Avenue, Late Victorian, no date, DOE
1889 Central Avenue, 1880, DOE
1913-15 Central Avenue, J. OstdorfBuilding, 1890, DOE
1961-65 Central Avenue, no date, DOE
2180 Central Avenue, Knicker's Tavern, 1891, DOE (phase I survey recommendation)
2222 Central Avenue, Peter Klein Building, Italianate, 1888, DOE (Phase I survey recommendation)
2306 Central Avenue, Wright's Grocery, 1881, DOE (phase I survey recommendation)
2400 Central Avenue, 1886, commercial (Phase I survey recommendation)
1236-52 Iowa Avenue, Italianate, 1885 (phase ill survey recmmnendation)
1373-95 Iowa Avenue, Late Victorian, 1870, NRHP
1560-68 Iowa Avenue, Queen Anne, 1895, NRHP
Jones and Water streets, Diamond Jo Boat and Office, Italianate, 1885, NRHP
210 Jones Street, Midland Laboratories, 1908, DOE
910 North Locust Street, American Towers Building, Richardson Romanesque, 1891, NRHP
60 Main Street, A. J. Farber Company, Late Victorian, 1878, DOE
90 Main Street, Bishop's Block, Richardsonian Romanesque, 1889, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation,
local significance)
103-23 Main Street, O'Neill Block, Italianate, 1870, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local
significance)
106-20 Main Street, Kennedy's Aquarium, Neo-Classical, no date, NRHP
129 Main Street, Knippel's Religious Goods, Italianate, 1870, NRHP
137-53 Main Street, Weber Paper Company, Neo-Classical, no date, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation,
local significance)
164 Main Street, Plumbers and Fitters Union, Italianate, no date, NRHP
169 Main Street, Design Associates, Italianate, no date, NRHP
177-85 Main Street, Gordon's Toggery/Kirby Company, Italianate, no date, NRHP
180 Main Street, Dubuque Mattress Company, Italianate, no date, NRHP
182 Main Street, Canvas Products Company, Italianate, 1870, NRHP
195-97 Main Street, Dubuque Glass Company, Neo-Classical, no date, NRHP
190 Main Street, Cinema X Theater, no style, no date, NRHP
198 Main Street, United Realty, no style, 1865, NRHP
253 Main Street, Buddy's Tavern, Italianate, no date, NRHP
,~--- ----..--. -'
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National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number -'=-- Page
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
261-63-69 Main Street, McCoy Goldsmith, Italianate, no date, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation,
national/state significance)
299 North Main Street, Classical Revival, no date, NRRP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
[304-310 Main Street, Merchant's Hotel, Italianate, no date, NRHP, demolished 2000]
[3020 Main Street, Merchant's Hotel Annex, Italianate, 1875, NRHP, demolished 2000]
330-336 Main Street, Dolan's Barber Shop/Union Cigar Store, no style, 1875, NRHP
342 North Main Street, Renaissance Revival, 1901, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local
significance)
345 Main Street, Homestead Gift Store, Italianate, no date, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local
significance)
353-75 Main Street, State Liquor Store, no style, no date, NRHP
356 Main Street, Business Supply Company, no style, 1875, NRHP
378 Main Street, Monte Carlo Restaurant, Italianate, no date, NRHP
395 Main Street, Capri Cosmetology College, Italianate, no date, NRHP
401-05-15 North Main Street, no style, no date, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, national/state
significance)
823-25 Main Street, Town Clock Building, Italianate, 1873, DOE (NRHP in process)
95 I Main Street (Phase III survey recommendation)
953-57 Main Street-Charles J. Peterson Building/Hall, Romanesque 1886, (consultant eligibility
recommendation, 2001)
1100-50 Main Street, Bissell Block, Second Empire, NRHP
231 I Windsor, commercial, 1880 (phase II survey recommendation)
Recommended for further study and evaluation:
Rhomberg Street (Blocks 207-8, Ham's Addition) Camp UnionJFrank.Iin
Upper Central Avenue Commercial District (Central from north end of 1400s through 18'" Street)
1800's-1900's Central Avenue Commercial district, 1870-1900, (phase I survey recommendation)
1 100s block of Iowa Commercial District
Rhomberg Cluster (625,627,629), (Commercial/residential), Second Empire, 1880s-1909 (phase II
survey recommendation)
1800's-1900's Jackson Street, (Residential/commercial) district, 1880-1890s, (phase I survey
recommendation)
1885- I 932 Jackson Street Residential/Commercial District (Jackson at 19'" Street), 1880s- I 890s (Phase I
survey recommendation, further research)
Upper Main Commercial District (Main, 10'" to 12"')
431-534 Rhomberg, 2006-2128 Kniest, Commercial and Residential District, 1880s-1900 (phase I survey
recommendation)
214 West 1" Street, 1865-69, Italianate (recommend adding to Old Main District, Phase III)
245-49 West I", pre-1872, Montana House, Italianate (recommend adding to Old Main District, Phase
III)
260 East 19"'/1897 Washington Street, vernacular brick corner storefront, 1890 (phase I recommendation,
further research)
2306 Central Avenue, Adam/Federal, 1881
2601 Jackson, frame corner block, 1900 (phase I survey recommendation, more research)
401 Locust Street, Italianate, pre-1884
NPS 'oem 10~900'a
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United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMBApp,",,'No.l024-oo18
National Register of Historic Places
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa, 1833-1955
Name of Property
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County and State
2605 Rhomberg Avenue, easternmost comer storefront on Eagle Point, 1880 (Phase II survey
recommendation, more research)
2202 White Street, Fred Ruh GTOcery, comer storefront, 1890 (phase I survey recommendation, more
research)
2301-03 White Street, commercial four-plex block, 1884-91 (Phase I survey recommendation, more
research)
E. Industrial Properties:
National Register ListedJEligible Properties:
East 4tl1 Street, Dubuque Star Brewery/Pickett Brewery, Richardsonian Romanesque, 1888-89, DOE
834 East 24th Street, Morrison Company, 1918 (Phase I survey recommendation)
898 Jackson Street, Key City Iron Works Foundry, Late Victorian, no date, DOE
1000 Jackson Street, Carr, Ryder and Adams Company Factory, Late 19th-20th Century Revivals, 1868,
DOE
163 Main Street, Dubuque Screw Products, Italianate, no date, DOE
299 Main Street, A. A. Cooper Wagon Works (c.1881-82) (Old Main District, NRHP)
190 Main Street, Trenk Wire Works (pre-1884) (Old Main District, NRHP)
137-53 Main Street, Lawther Candy Factory, (c.1907) (Old Main District, NRHP)
Recommended for further study and evaluation:
Carr-Ryder-Adams/Farley-Loetscher MiIlworking District (White to Pine, 6'h to 11th streets)
East 15th and Elm streets, Iowa Coffin Company, pre-1884, large portion recently demolished (phase ill
survey recommendation, investigate further)
1798 Washington, Dubuque Casket Company, pre-1884-post-1909 (Old Town District)
17th & Washington, Metz Manufacturing Company
2307 White, cooper shop, pre-1884 (more research recommended)
F. Public and Religious Properties:
National Register ListedJEligible Properties:
110 15'b Street, St. Patrick's Catholic Church (Gothic Revival, 1870) and Rectory (Second Empire,
1880),
NRHP
635 East 22m! Street, Sacred Heart Catholic Church Complex, Italianate/Richardsonian Romanesque,
1885-87, (includes rectory at 2215 Windsor, 1888) DOE (phase II survey recommendation)
720 Central Avenue, Dubuque County Courthouse, Italian RenaissancelBeaux Arts, 1891-93, NRHP
(local landmark)
469 Emmett Street, St. Raphael's Convent, Second Empire, 1870, NRHP
1425 Iowa Street, St. Patrick's Church, Gothic Revival, 1870, NRHP
1699 Iowa Street, German Methodist Church/Grace Baptist Church, Gothic Revival, 1885, NRHP
1458 Locust Street, St. Johns Episcopal Parish House, 1875, NRHP
55 Loras Avenue, Loras Academy Buildings, Second Empire, 1878-82, DOE
50 West 13th Street, Dubuque City HaIl, Italianate/Neo-Classical, 1857-58, NRHP (local landmark)
1410 Main Street, St. Johns Episcopal Church, Gothic Revival, 1875-78, NRHP
,-
-~
NPS F"m ,D.9OC).,
IRe". 8.88'
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National Park Service
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Continuation Sheet
Section number -'=-- Page
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
655 Loras Blvd., St. Joseph's Hall, Second Empire, no date, DOE
Recommended for further study and evaluation:
13th and Locust streets, Second Presbyterian Church, pre-I 895 (now the Boys Club)
17th and Iowa streets, First United hesbyterian Church, Victorian Gothic, no date
1805 Central Avenue, Hose Station Number One, pre-1881 (part of proposed Central Avenue district)
2005 Jackson Street, St. Paul Lutheran Church, 1890 (phase I survey, more research recommended)
1631-33 Main Street, Immaculate Conception SchoollSt. Francis Convent, Second Empire, no date
1240 Rush Street, St. Columbkille's School, Second Empire, no date
1584 White Street, St. Mary's Catholic Church, Victorian Gothic, 1864-67
White between 13th and 14th streets, Gennan Congregational Church, 1888 (now St. John's Lutheran)
Windsor Avenue, Linwood Cemetery, Cemetery Office, Queen Anne, no date
G. Transportation Properties:
National Register Listed/Eligible Properties:
Dubuque Ice Harbor, 1886, DOE
First and Iowa Streets, Illinois Central Railroad Freight Depot, 1873, DOE
8th and Washington streets, Key City Electric Street Railway Company, ltalianate, no date, DOE
1500 Bluff Street, Steps, 1930, NRHP
15th Street Steps, no date, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
Central Avenue between 3m and 4th streets, Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad, Art Deco, 1882,
DOE
512 Fenelon Place, Fourth Street Elevator, 1882, NRHP
400 Raymond Place, elevator, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, national/state significance)
West 11th Street Elevator site (West 11th Street and Jackson Park districts)
PROPERTY TYPE #3: The buildings, structures, objects and districts associated with Context #3, Fitful Growth and
Maturation, 1894-1910:
1. DESCRIPTION:
The resources in this property type are varied in terms of their size, building materials, designs and functions. All
resources are located within the city limits of Dubuque and the other unifYing element is that they all date to the earliest
period of that city's history, the years 1893-1910. Some resources have been altered by additions, stylistic makeovers
and many residents received replacement porches the years that followed construction. Once again, Dubuque's historic
resources from this period are very well preserved.
RESIDENCES. Residences built during this time period ranged from the narrow gable front vemacular working
class type to the largest of high style mansions. The inner city districts, particularly Jackson Park and the northern
portion of the original city, completed their filling up, as did the Couler Valley and Eagle Point. Houses were far more
numerous than were cottages. Frame construction outnumbered brick residences, although the proportion of brick homes
remained high. During this [mal period of substantial city growth and residential construction multiple unit residential
buildings were more likely to approximate a more traditional apartment block or an up and down duplex. Side gable
tenement buildings continued to be built however. Duplexes that more closely resembled single-family residential
architecture became more common, particularly in the suburban residential districts. The downtown primarily residential
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United States Department of the Interior
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National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa, 1833-1955
Name of Property
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County and State
combination business and residential block continued to be popular and fitted well with the Queen Arme and subsequent
styles of the times. These trends are collectively and individually because they describe the introduction of new or
modified forms of multiple unit housing in the city. Existing multi-unit houses, including vernaculaT examples, were all
the more likely to gain a Colonial Revival porch or partial makeovers. Class lines begin to be geographically defined,
and increasingly this type of building clustered in the north end of the Jackson Park district and the western reaches of the
West 11th Street district.
COMMERCIAL RESOURCES: Commercial blocks more commonly contained multiple storefronts and had
multiple stories (three to four stories). Façade designs featured pavilions, upper level multi-story paired bays, rounded
and triangular pediments, and complex intermixes of terra cotta, brick (with several colors), and ornamental metal. The
first true office blocks and taller commercial buildings date to this contextual period. Increasingly commercial buildings
are to be found on most of the downtown streets, as the commercial center expanded north, east and west along Locust,
Iowa, Central (then Clay) and upper Main streets. Corner stores multiplied throughout the city and a second downtown
developed along Central between IS'" and 21" streets.
INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES: Surviving resources are located in the southeast quadrant of the downtown area between
Central Avenue and Highway 61. Another cluster of smaller and older plants is south of 18'" Avenue and east of Jackson Street.
Finally a number of notable plants are located in the upper end of the Couler Valley, above the Phase I survey area. These include the
1894 brewery and the Brunswick plant. A scattering of plants is located closer to the river, notably the Shot Tower and brewery and
the Alliant Plant.
II. SIGNIFICANCE: During this contextual period, Dubuque remained strong in industry, transportation, and
institutional growth even as it fell behind other developing Iowa urban centers. These were the final years oflarge-scale
up building in the city's development. Dubuque, unlike many of its competitors, failed to be held back by the national
financial panic of 1893 and plunged ahead with the construction of enormous institutional and industrial buildings.
These include some of the state's largest and best examples of the Romanesque style. During these years the groundwork
was laid for what would become the city's leading industrial sector, the mill working industry, and truly massive factory
buildings were erected and an industrial district developed. Several significant local industries assumed unrivaled
proportion. During the mid and late 1890s, and in the face of national economic depression, the largest and finest
breweries were built, on the riverfront and in the north Couler Valley. Lumber processing enjoyed its final years of
prosperity but was crippled by fires, the exhaustion of upriver timber resources, and the cessation of river shipping by
1911. During this period a second vehicular opened Wisconsin to overland traffic and the streetcar system fmally
coalesced as a modern mass-transit system. The replacement lllinois Central Railroad bridge, the bluff pedestrian steps
and the streetscapes which are associated with the matured streetcar system all represent this time period.
Some of Dubuque's largest and most magnificent residential properties date to this final period of substantial city
growth and residential construction. Significant individuals were all the more likely to locate their residences on elevated
vistas and these were all the more accessible. Grand old houses were demolished in proximity to the downtown and on
the bluff fronts as well, as more modern replacements were built. Existing houses, including vernacular examples, were
all the more likely to gain a Colonial Revival porch or partial makeovers. The earliest presence of the Craftsman and
Prairie styles were experienced, although in small numbers and fairly conservative form. Residences continue to be the
best associated range of properties to interpret the lives of significant community leaders, but other property type ranges
enjoy a higher level of survival as well. Class lines begin to be geographically defined, the Langworthy District being an
excellent example of a plat were all of the residences were of a uniform middle to upper class status. The bluff fronts
similarly were predominantly infilled with monumental high style clusters of homes.
.""----~'-
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Continuation Sheet
Section number..E....- Page
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
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County and State
Residential growth expanded the city's suburban perimeter and the best examples of the Late Victorian and the Eclectic
styles were designed and built. Almost all of the city's most distinctive neighborhoods were infilled, or older housing
stock was replaced by new and larger design. The city's bluff fronts blossomed with prestigious mansions.
Many of not most of the landmark commercial buildings of Dubuque date to this key period of significance. This
list includes the first "skyscrapers" and modern office business blocks. This was the fmal era oflarge-scale commercial
growth and building. Massive breweries and many large factories were built, particularly during the I 890s, and in spite
of bad economic times. Commercial expansion intensified northward along Main and Central and residential areas to the
south, west and east of the downtown were replaced with commercial and industrial uses. Central Avenue emerged as a
vital commercial arterial. A few f!TIllS grew to dominate their respective trading niches during this final era of strong
municipal growth. The weakness of Dubuque's retail sector became increasingly apparent but banking and wholesaling
remained strong. This was the final phase of small-scale downtown rebuilding.
The first municipal parks were established during this era (Eagle Point) and the bluff fronts gained permanent
stair systems and picturesque landscaping. The Julien Dubuque gravesite dates to this period. Union Park's popularity
continued to grow as did the beer gardens and other social use sites. Union Park in particular was directly linked to the
emerging streetcar service and helped fi.md its growth and development. The majority of social site usage was stretched
along northern Central (then Couler) Avenue.
ill. REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS:
1. Significance (use or form) related to one of the five contexts developed in this multiple property document.
.Criterion A: properties that are directly associated with the development of Dubuque, 1894-1910.
.Criterion B: properties that are directly associated with the working careers of significant Dubuque residents,
1894-1910.
.Criterion C: properties that best illustrate significant design and construction techniques in the city of Dubuque
during the years 1894-1910.
2. Qualifying buildings, structures, objects, sites or districts are those associated with this context. Qualifying building
materials include stone, brick, stucco, wood, metal, concrete, steel and iron.
3. Integrity Considerations:
In all cases, the most important integrity consideration is that the property or district retains sufficient elements of
the original design, materials, and setting, so that the historical owner during the period of significance would
theoretically recognize it today. The property must retain its ability to convey a sense of time and place as it relates to
this context.
Buildings should reflect the original fi.mction of their designs, as well as their original construction materials.
They should possess their original shape and proportions, windows and doors should not have been substantially
changed. Residential buildings can be held to a higher test of integrity, given their larger number of surviving examples
and their better state of preservation. Additions must be secondary in scale and setback relative to the original core
design, and must be comparable in design and materials to the original residence. Scored stucco on stone is not
considered to be a replacement siding, but an attempt to modernize within the historical period. Replacement siding
(metal, vinyl) does not automatically compromise historical integrity if the scale of the siding matches the original, if
NPS F"m 10.900~a
IR". 8.SS)
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Continuation Sheet
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
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County and State
decorative features such as wood shingle, brackets, and trim work remain visible, and if the key massing and design of
the building remains discernible. The re-sided building must retain its ability to represent its type or style absent the
availability of a comparable example not re-sided. Most re-sided buildings will, at best, be deemed to be contributing
properties within a historic district. Even then, those re-sided buildings must pass a collective lesser test, that being
whether they continue to make a positive contribution to the district. The re-siding of brick, stone or stucco buildings
eliminates historical integrity.
IV; Associated Properties:
A. Individual Single-Family Residences:
National Register ListedlEligible Properties:
Jackson Park, a part of the Historic District
Washington Park is a part of Cathedral Historic District
Langworthy Historic District (**)
West Eleventh Street District (**)
900 West 3rd Street, Lester C. Bissell House, Queen Anne, 1891, DOE (Kriviskey recommendation,
local significance)
971 West 3rd Street, Queen Anne, 1900, DOE
990 West 3rd Street, Neo-Classical, no date, DOE
1027 West 3rd Street, Neo-Classical, 1900, DOE
1072 West 3rd Street, Queen Anne, 1895, DOE
863 West 5th Street, Gothic Revival, 1900, DOE
904 West 5th Street, Late Victorian, 1900, DOE
955 West 5th Street, Neo-Classical, 1900, DOE
495 West 7tb Street, Late Victorian, 1895, DOE (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
612 8th Street, Neo-Classical, no date, DOE
674 8th Street, Late Victorian, no date, DOE
809 8th Street, Neo-Classical, no date, DOE
360 West lltb Street, Classical Revival, 1901, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, national/state
significance)
510 West II th Street, Queen Anne, 1895, DOE, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
524 West 11 th Street, Neo-Classical, 1900, DOE, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
560 West 11 th Street, Neo-Classical, 1900, DOE, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
563 West 11 th Street, Second Empire, c.1895, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
1220 West 12tb Street, Late Victorian, 1900, DOE
135 West 17th Street, Queen Anne, c.1895, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
195 West 17th Street, ltalianate eclectic, c.1900, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
325 Alpine Street, General Warner Lewis/John T. Adams House, Federal, rebuilt as ltalianate, 1854/1900
1380 Auburn Street, Colonial Revival, no date, DOE
114 Bluff Street, Dubuque Vernacular, c.1900, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
205 Bluff Street, Classical Revival. 1904, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
2444 Broadway Street, Neo-Classical, 1905, DOE (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
2500 Broadway Street, Queen Anne, c.1895 (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
512 Fenelon Place, Classical Revival, c.1895 (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
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Continuation Sheet
Section number L- Page
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
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County and State
975 Grove Terrace, Neo-Classical, 1900, DOE
990 Grove Terrace, Queen Anne 1895, DOE
1095 Grove Terrace, Neo-Classical, 1900, DOE, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
1105 Grove Terrace, Charles T. Hancock House, Queen Anne 1895, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation,
local significance)
1295 Grove Terrace, Queen Anne, 1895, DOE
1105 Highland Place, Queen Anne, no date, DOE (also evaluated as Mission style, late date)
1684 Iowa Street, no style, 1898, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
2006 Jackson Street, Dr. Frank Myers House and Office, Neo-Classical, 1909, DOE (phase I survey
recommendation)
2546 Jackson Street, Willy Ulrich house and contractor's barn, Classical Revival concrete block house,
1910, Classical Revival (includes contractor's shed 2545 White) (Phase I survey recommendation)
2568 Jackson Street, Queen Anne 1900, DOE (phase I survey recommendation)
561 Jefferson Street, Neo-Classical, 1895, DOE, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
1090 Langworthy, J. Garland House, Colonial Revival, 1907, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation,
national/state significance)
1302 Lincoln, gable ITont vernacular brick house, 1898 (phase II survey recommendation)
9 Locust Street, Nicholas M. Sutton House, Gable ITont, 1909, DOE (more recently evaluated as
ineligible)
1145 Locust Street, H. L. Stout House, Queen Anne, 1895, DOE, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation,
local significance)
1492 Locust Street, Benj. B. Richards/T. Ellsworth House, Queen Anne, 1883/1898, DOE, NRHP
(Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
199 West Loras Blvd., Queen Anne, 1900, DOE, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, national/state
significance)
4900 Peru Road, Burden Hoùse, Spanish Revival/Mission, 1908, DOE
712 Providence, Queen Anne cottage, pre-I 909 (phase 1, more research recommended)
2545 White Street, 1910, contractors shed linked to 2546 Jackson (phase I survey recommendation)
Recommended for further study and evaluation:
Fenelon Place, Prospect Park Historic District (to be nominated 2004-05)
Broadway and Division streets, Broadway Historic District (to be nominated 2004-05)
Washington Street, Commercial and Residential District (215-17, 301, 305, 306, 308, 310, 311, 312-14,
317-19,321-23,400 E. 22nd, 2162, 2172, 2201-2203, 2209, 2222, 2226, 2227, 2234-36, 2238,
224 Washington Street, (this area could be combined with the Old Town District)
1885-1932 Jackson Street, residential and commercial cluster at 19th Street, 1880s-1890s (phase I survey
recommendation, further research)
2102-2131 Jackson Street, 1880s-1900 (phase! survey recommendation, furtherresearch)
1111, 1113,1117, 1121 Lincoln Avenue, group of four gable ITont brick cottages, 1888 (Phase II survey
recommendation, further research)
1201-27 Lincoln Avenue, tight group of 13 gable ITont frame Voelker houses, 1906 (phase II survey
recommendation, further research)
431-534 Rhomberg, 2006-2128 Kniest, Commercial and Residential District, 1880s-1900 (phase I survey
recommendation, further research)
2003-61 Washington Street, residential cluster with single corner storeITont, I 870s-1900 (Phase! survey
NPS Fo'm 10.900'a
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
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County and State
recommendation, further research)
White Street Commercial/residential District, 1870-1900 (1902, 1908, 1922, 1938 White Street) (phase
I survey recommendation)
Old Town Residential District (lltb to 18tb, Washington to Central)
1800's-1900's Jackson Street, (Residential/commercial) district, 1880-1890s, DOE (phase I survey
recommendation) (1885,1889,1903,1905,1913-17,1920,1930-32,1946, 1949 Jackson Street)
1845, 1855 North Elm, matching narrow gable front brick vernacular houses, 1910 (phase I, more
research recommended)
2055 North Elm, gable front brick vernacular house, (phase I, more research recommended)
512 Fenelon Place, Trewin-Huntoon House, Colonial Revival, 1897
514 Fenelon Place, Jay Farwell House, Colonial Revival, 1910
541 Fenelon Place, Peter J. Seippel House, Classical Revival, no date
1127 High Bluff Street, gable front brick vernacular house, 1898 (phase ll, more research recommended)
2045 Jackson Street, gable front brick cottage, 1900 (phase I, more research recommended)
2046 Jackson Street, Neo-ClassicaI/Queen Anne house, 1900 (phase I, more research recommended)
2266 Jackson Street, gable front brick vernacular house, 1891-1902 (phase I, more research
recommended)
2525 Jackson Street, gable front frame vernacular house, c.1900 (phase I, more research recommended)
2548 Jackson Street, Colonial Revival, 1910
1907 Johnson Street, gable front frame house, 1898 (Phase II survey recommendation)
1005 Locust Street, Dr. James Guthrie House, Classical Revival, no date
913 Merz, gable front brick vernacular cottage, 1900 (Phase ll, more research recommended)
1595 Montrose Street, Classical Revival, no date
1207 Prairie Street, Gothic Revival, no date
706 Providence, pyramid roof vernacular cottage, 1901 (Phase ll, more research recommended)
2108 Shiras A venue, gable front frame house, 1900 (phase ll, more research recommended)
812 Thomas Place, side gable brick vernacular cottage, c. I 900 (Phase ll, more research recommended)
1896 Washington Street, gable front frame vernacular house, 1910 (Phase I, more research
recommended)
219 Washington Street, Daniel W. Sullivan bungalow, 1910 (Phase I, more research recommended)
2510 Washington Street, gable front frame vernacular house, 1900 (Phase I, more research
recommended)
2018 White Street, frame vernacular house, 1900 (phase I, more research recommended)
2227 White Street, gable front vernacular frame house, 1900 (Phase I, more research recommended)
2428 Windsor Avenue, side gable frame house, pre-1909 (phase ll, more research recommended)
2537 Windsor Avenue, Second Empire L-plan cottage, 1900 (phase ll,more research recommended)
B. Multiple Family Residences:
National Register Listed/Eligible Properties:
Jackson Park, a part of the Historic District
Washington Park is a part of Cathedral Historic District
Langworthy Historic District (**)
West Eleventh Street District (**)
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NPS Fo'm 10.90().a
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National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number Í- Page
291
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
Recommended for further study and evaluation:
Fenelon Place, Prospect Park Historic District (to be nominated 2004-05)
Broadway and Division streets, Broadway Historic District (to be nominated 2004-05)
Washington Street, Commercial and Residential District (215-17, 301, 305, 306, 308, 310, 311, 312-14,
317-19,321-23,400 E. 22"', 2162, 2172, 2201-2203, 2209, 2222, 2226, 2227, 2234-36, 2238,
224 Washington Street, (this area could be combined with the Old Town District)
1885-1932 Jackson Street, residential and commercial cluster at 19th Street, 1880s-1890s (phase I survey
recommendation, further research)
2102-2131 Jackson Street, 1880s-1900 (phase I survey recommendation, further research)
1111, 1113,1117, 1121 Lincoln Avenue, group offour gable front brick cottages, 1888 (phase II survey
recommendation, further research)
1201-27 Lincoln Avenue, tight group of 13 gable front frame Voelker houses, 1906 (Phase II survey
recommendation, further research)
431-534 Rhomberg, 2006-2128 Kniest, Commercial and Residential District, 1880s-1900 (phase I survey
recommendation, further research)
2003-61 Washington Street, residential cluster with single corner storefront, 1870s-1900 (Phase I survey
recommendation, further research)
White Street Commercial/residential District, 1870-1900 (1902, 1908, 1922, 1938 White Street) (phase
I survey recommendation)
Old Town Residential District (11th to 18th, Washington to Central)
1800's-1900's Jackson Street, (Residential/commercial) district, 1880-1890s, DOE (Phase I survey
recommendation) (1885, 1889,1903, 1905, 1913-17, 1920, 1930-32, 1946, 1949 Jackson Street)
264-66 West 17th Street, Queen Anne Townhouse, c.1895 1560-68 Iowa Street, no style, c.1898, NRHP
(Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
265-67 West 17th Street, Queen Anne, c.1885 1560-68 Iowa Street, no style, c.1898, NRHP (Kriviskey
recommendation, local significance)
2130-34 Central Avenue, Beaux Arts flats, 1891-1902 (Phase I survey recommendation)
2151 Farley Street, side gable brick double house, 1898 (phase II survey, more research recommended)
1560-68 Iowa Street, no style, c.1898, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
2561 Jackson Street, double house with pedimented parapet front, 19002561 Jackson Street, 1900 (Phase
I survey recommendation for more research)
530-544-550-560 Loras Blvd., Renaissance Revival, 1895, DOE, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation,
local significance)
2310-12 Central Avenue, brick side gable vernacular double house, 1900 (phase I survey, more research
recommended)
2070-72 Jackson Street, unusual L-plan brick vernacular duplex, 1891-1909 (phase I survey, more
research recommended)
2255-57 Jackson Street, parapet front brick vernacular double house, 1891-1902 (phase I survey, more
research recommended)
2265-67 Jackson Street, side gable frame vernacular double house, 1891-1909 (Phase I survey, more
research recommended)
2561 Jackson Street, parapet front with pediment, brick double house, 1900 (phase I survey, more
research recommended)
2339-43 Washington Street, brick side gable vernacular double house, 1880 (phase I survey
recommendation, further research)
NPS '"m 10.900~,
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National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number L- Page
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque Couutv. Iowa
County and State
2349-51 Washington Street, brick side gable vernacular double house, 1880 (phase I survey
recommendation, further research)
2061-65 Washington Street, side gable brick double house, 1880 (Phase I survey recommendation,
further research)
2076-78 Washington Street, concrete block duplex, 1900 (phase I recommendation, further research)
2058-62 White Street, early frame tri-plex tenement, 1875 (phase I survey recommendation, further
research)
2326-30 White Street, side gable brick vernacular double house, 1880 (phase I survey recommendation,
further research)
2411-17 White Street, parapet front brick duplex, 1902-09 (Phase I survey recommendation, further
research)
2126,2124 Windsor Avenue, side gable brick vernacular double house, 1890 (Phase II survey
recommendation, further research)
2407 -09 Windsor Avenue, brick duplex with earlier rear wing1870 (phase II survey recommendation,
further research)
2206 Windsor Avenue, hip roof brick four-plex, 1909 (phase II survey recommendation, further research)
C. Commercial Properties:
National Register ListedJEligible Commercial Properties:
Old Main Commercial Historic District, NRHP (100's-300's Main Street)
521 E. 2200 Street, commercial, 1900 (Phase I survey recommendation)
607 E. 22nd Street, A. C. Pancratz, brick double comer storefront, 1900 (Phase I survey recommendation)
821-25-41 Central Avenue, Buettell Brothers Company Building, Richardsonian Romanesque, no date,
DOE
1812 Central Avenue, Nicholas Palen Building, 1895, (part of a district) DOE (phase I survey
recommendation)
1842 Central Avenue, German Savings Bank, 1905, (part of a district) DOE (phase I survey
recommendation)
1000 Main Street, Richardsonian Romanesque, 1894 (phase III survey recommendation, Iowa District)
2600 Jackson Street, Joseph Ziereis Meats and Grocery, 1903, DOE (phase I survey recommendation)
1100 Lincoln, 1898, Rettenmaier Store (phase II survey recommendation)
57 South Locust Street, James Beach and Sons Building, 1910, DOE
40-48 Main, 1894 (Phase III survey recommendation)
284 Main Street, Fischer Company BuildinglPatrices Bridal, no style, no date, NRHP
299 Main Street (aka 206-10 West 3'd Street), A. A. Cooper Building, Neo-Classical, no date, NRHP
342 Main Street, Olde Gennan Bank, Renaissance Revival, 1901, NRHP
372 Main Street, John H. Pollock, Florist, NeD-Classical, 1910, NRHP
401-05-15 Main Street, Orpheum Theatre and Site, French Renaissance, 1910, NRHP
965 Main Street, Chas. A. Noyes Art Store, Classical Revival, 1900 (Phase III survey
recommendation)
799 Locust, Roshek's Department Store, 1907 (Phase III survey recommendation)
908 Rhomberg, 1894, commercial (Phase II survey recommendation)
1027 Rhomberg, 1896, Neumeister Meat Market (Phase II survey recommeridation)
NPS F"m 1Q.900.a
'Rev.8.8S'
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National Park Service
OMS App,",,' No. 1024~OOIS
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number ---E- Page
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County aud State
Recommended for further study and evaluation:
Upper Central Avenue Commercial District (Central from north end of 1400s tbrough 18th Street)
1800's-1900's Central Avenue Commercial District, 1870-1900, DOE (Phase I survey recommendation)
(1812, 1824, 1826-28, 1838, 1842, 1850, 1856, 1876, 1879, 1889-95, 1913-15, 1919, 1959, 1965 Central
Avenue)
1100s block of Iowa Commercial district
Upper Main Commercial District (Main, 10th to 12th)
1885-1932 Jackson Street, residential and commercial cluster at 19th Street, 1880s-1890s (phase I survey
recommendation, further research)
431-534 Rhomberg, 2006-2128 Kniest, Commercial and Residential District, 1880s-1900 (Phase I survey
recommendation, further research)
1800's-1900's Jackson Street, Residential/Commercial District, 1880-1890's, (1885, 1889, 1903,
1905, 1913-17, 1920, 1930-32, 1946, 1949 Jackson Street) (phase! survey
recommendation)
Rhomberg Commercial/residential District (625,627,629 Rhomberg), 1880s-1909 (phase II survey
recommendation)
521 East 22nd Street, brick corner storefront with turret, 1900 (Phase II survey recommendation, more
research)
2359 Central Avenue, Union Electric Company Streetcar Barn, 1903 (phase I survey recommendation,
more research)
2600 Central Avenue, corner two-story storefront, 1898 (phase I survey recommendation, more research)
2301-03 White Street, 1884-91 (phase II survey recommendation, more research)
2401 Windsor Avenue, corner storefront block, 1896 (phase II survey recommendation, more research)
E. Industrial Properties:
National Register Listed/Eligible Industrial Properties:
995 Jackson Street, Carr, Ryder and Adams Company Powerhouse, Late 19th -20th Centuries Revival,
1910, DOE
East 4th and riverfront, Dubuque Star Brewery, 1890s (NRHP)
3000-02 Jackson Street, Dubuque Brewing and Malting Company, Richardsonian Romanesque, 1895,
DOE (delisted from NRHP 1978 by request of owner)
Recommended for further study and evaluation:
Carr-Ryder-AdamslFarley-Loetscher Millworking District (White to Pine, 6th to II th streets)
1798 Washington, Dubuque Casket Company, pre-I 884-post-1909 (Old Town District)
East 17th and Elm streets, Roehl, Hagge & Metz Company, 1903 (Phase III survey recommendation)
26 industrial buildings comprise the Carr-Ryder-AdamslFarley-Loetscher proposed industrial district (see
under districts) and represent these firms, Klauer Manufacturing, Iowa Iron Works, the Dubuque Linseed
Oil and Paint Works, Wieneke & Hohenadel Pickle & Kraut Factory, Spalm & Rose Lumber Company,
and the Key City Iron Works
2345 White Street, cooperage shop, c.1900
F. Public and Religious Properties:
NPB Foem 10.900.,
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United States Department of the Interior
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National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number --'=-- Page
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa, 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
National Register Listed/Eligible Properties:
125 West 9th Street, Dubuque Young Mens Christian Association, Richardsonian Romanesque, 1894,
NRHP
II th and Bluff streets, First Baptist Church, 1923 (St. Marys Community Center)
West II th Street at Bluff Street, Carnegie Stout Public Library, Beaux Arts, 190 I, NRHP
1225 Alta Vista Street, Church of the Nativity, 1923
Althauser Street, Jefferson Middle School, Tudor Revival, 1923 (phase II survey recommendation)
39 Bluff Street, Franklin School, Italian Renaissance, 1906, NRHP
223 Bluff Street, St. Raphael School, Italian Renaissance, 1904, DOE
2905 Central Avenue, Holy Ghost School, Late Gothic Revival, no date, DOE
2917 Central Avenue, Holy Ghost Rectory, Late Gothic Revival, no date, DOE
2921 Central Avenue, Holy Ghost Catholic Church, Late Gothic Revival, no date, DOE
2540 Central Avenue, Fulton Elementary School, Moderne, 1939 (Phase I survey recommendation)
1684 Iowa Street, First German Presbyterian Church, late Gothic Revival, 1896, NRHP
655 Loras Blvd., St. Josephs Chapel, late Gothic Revival, no date, DOE
398 Main Street, Dubuque Mission, Neo-Classical, no date, NRHP
1490 Rhomberg, Marshall Elementary School, Art Deco/Moderne, 1939 (phase II survey
recommendation)
1713 Rhomberg, Holy Trinity Catholic Church Complex, Tudor Revival, Rornanesque Revival, 1910-29
(Phase II survey recommendation)
2050 University Avenue, University of Dubuque
Severence Hall, late Gothic Revival, 1907, DOE
Old Chapel Hall, late Gothic Revival, 1907, DOE
Van Vliet Hall, late Gothic Revival, 1907, DOE
Steffins Hall, late Gothic Revival, 1907, DOE
Recommended for further study and evaluation:
18th and Jackson streets, Immanuel United Church of Christ, 1897
Grandview Avenue, Mt. Carmel Mother House, Richardsonian Romanesque, 1893-94
Grandview Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, 1896
1199 Main Street, St. Luke's United Episcopal Church, Richardsonian Romanesque, 1896-97
1235 Mt. Loretta Street, Villa Raphael Mother House, Richardsonian Rornanesque, 1909
1700 Lincoln Avenue, Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Richardsonian Romanesque, 1910
G. Transportation Properties:
National Register Listed/Eligible Properties:
300 East 3'" Street, Dubuque Freight House, Late Victorian, 1901
Recommended for further study and evaluation:
lllinois Central Mississippi River Railroad Bridge (1906)
PROPERTY TYPE #4: The buildings, structures, objects and districts associated with Context #4, An Era of Stability,
1911-1954:
-,
-.-,.."..-
,~,--~'
NoS Fo,m 10.900.,
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United States Department of the Interior
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National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number --E-- Page
295
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa, 1833-1955
Nanre of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
I. Description:
The resources in this property type are broadly varied in terms of their size, building materials, designs and
functions. All resources are located within the city limits of Dubuque and the other unifYing element is that they all date
to the earliest period of that city's history, the years 1911-1955. Many resources have been altered by additions, stylistic
makeovers and other changes since construction but Dubuque's resources from this period are well preserved.
RESIDENTIAL RESOURCES: Dubuque is perhaps unique in that new residential construction was severely
limited during this time period, in con1rast to other Iowa cities. Consequently there are comparatively fewer examples of
this property type for each style and there is a decreased likelihood that these will cluster in any single neighborhood. At
the same time, excellent and exceptional examples of most styles and types were built and this is particularly true of the
Mission, Moderne and Prairie styles. Residences continue to be excellent associated properties for use in interpreting the
lives of significant individuals and they also reflect the work of local builders, designers and large-scale developers such
as Chris Voelker.
COMMERCIAL RESOURCES: The commercial architectural repertoire was broadened by the appearance of
automobile related architecture, the state's largest depar1ment store, and the city's first and only true skyscraper. These
landmark buildings are notable for their design, scale (occupying half and quarter blocks) and prominence. These
buildings are scattered throughout the downtown area and represent the replacement of earlier buildings.
INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES: The largest mill working factories, said to be the world's largest, were constructed
during this period as mill working supplanted lumberyards as the principle industrial sector in Dubuque. These buildings
completed what now survives as a mill working district located east of the downtown. Concrete emerged as a principle
construction material and the first concrete frame factories date to this period.
PUBLIC AND INSTITUTIONAL RESOURCES: The very many universities and colleges, and religious
institutions continued their growth during this period. Major new buildings were added at locations around the
downtown periphery, on elevated prominent sites.
TI. SIGNIFICANCE:
This was the moribund phase of the city's development, at least as Dubuque was compared to other growing Iowa
cities. Even as Dubuque stagnated, it took on the trappings of a modem city in the fonns of tall commercial buildings,
industrial parks, downtown redevelopment, government make-work projects, etc. The city's economy was once again
transforming. The wood milling industry was des1royed, river 1raffic was extinguished, and the industrial base failed to
adapt to changing post-World War I market realities. Capital, once local and plentiful, no longer drove and dominated
growth and development. Competing non-river based urban centers continued to outpace Dubuque. New commercial
construction was slowed and the architectural status quo ruled in the downtown. Despite these overall1rends, a number
of bursts of promotional energy yielded a number of truly monumental commercial buildings (American Trust Building,
9'" & Main), mostly office and banking buildings. Comparatively short in stature, these were the city's closest things to
"skyscrapers. Retail consolidation and growth produced the remarkable Roshek's Depar1ment Store, 7'" & Locust, 1929-
31, the state's largest depar1ment store. Local capital bankrolled the recruitment of new industries. Broad-scale bank
failures in 1932 devastated many families. Dubuque experienced the same automobile impact on its downtown as did
other cities. Landmark buildings were lost to needed parking lots and low-profile garage and commercial buildings
dominated the new commercial architecture. Dubuque tended to reuse its older buildings for auto-related uses however
and there was a s1ronger tendency to keep the downtown where it was, there being fewer arterial alternatives for s1rip
development. Comer stores continued to flourish and rnini-commercial nodes developed along the Cower Valley, on
Eagle Point, and along the major east/west arterial routes west of the city.
NPS Fo~m 1<>900.a
IRev.8-861
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National Park Service
OMS Appoov,¡ No. 1024.0078
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number L- Page
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa, 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
The industrial buildings that comprise the Carr-Ryder-Adams and Farley-Loetscher complexes are the largest
such buildings in the state. They represent the emergence of the woodworking or millwork industry as the dominant
economic sector in Dubuque following the demise of the saw milling industry. This period was marked by a near total
turnover of manufacturing and jobbing firms as old firms disappeared and new ones were brought to the city. This was
the era of recruited industries and hopes for a renewed industrial leadership were pinned on these imports. True to its
nature, the goal was to entice jobs for skilled labor rather than unskilled labor. The Brunswick Plant, 1919, located in the
upper Couler Valley, was the best example and a rare instance where new industrial development was allowed for outside
of the downtown proper. The John Deere Plant, secured after World War II, was a major coup for the city, despite the
fact that the plant was beyond city boundaries. mcreasingly after the war, the city attempted to foster industrial growth
and the development of the industrial park in Lake Peosta was the best example of this. Curiously, local firms were
barred from relocating to it and its success was greatly delayed. The meat packing industry was a key employer
throughout this period. The provision of flood protection greatly aided the city in protecting surviving industrial assets.
The industrial base responded to manufacturing opportunities during the two world wars. Most notable was the role-
played in the building of boats for the navy. Major firms such as the Brunswick Company (1910-11) resulted in the
construction of maj or plants but the Depression crippled the industrial base and left a quarter of the working population
unemployed. A major period of successful industrial recruitment began during World War II and continued through the
late 1940s. Most notable was the securing of the John Deere plant in 1946-47. The first major industrial park was
created along the riverfront in 1955 but its real impact postdated the creation of the floodwall system in 1978.
This contextual period witnessed Dubuque's emergence as a "college and university" center. mstitutional growth
outpaced private sector growth through the mid-I920s and was represented by projects like the Tuberculosis Sanatorium
(non-extant). The modern parochial school system developed during this same period, replacing the traditional parish-
based school system and rose to compete effectively with the public school system. The public school system was
transformed during these years by the construction of modern junior and high schools, and during the late 1930s many of
the grade schools were replaced by a set of Moderne yellow-buff brick school complexes. The larger religious
educational institutions, University of Dubuque, Clarke College, Loras College, and the Wartburg Seminary, all
underwent major rebuilding, name changes in most cases, and emerged as successful entities.
During this final contextual period the river received a boost from federal navigational improvements and the
good roads movement and highway program made the domination of overland transportation complete. The Julien
Dubuque Bridge (1943) was the final culmination in this process. The Zebulon Pike Lock and Dam #11 (1937) and the
Julien Dubuque Bridge (1944) interpret the growing federal role in transportation improvement.
III. REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS:
1. Significance (use or form) related to one of the five contexts developed in this multiple property document.
.Criterion A: properties that are directly associated with the development of Dubuque, 1911-1955. During this
period of lower growth, significant themes include industrial diversification, commercial development,
institutional growth, and river transportation.
.Criterion B: properties that are directly associated with the working careers of significant Dubuque residents,
1911-1955.
.Criterion C: properties that best illustrate significant design and construction techniques in the city of Dubuque
during the years 1911-1955. Salient themes include the landmark commercial, institutional and public buildings
that date to this period of time.
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NPS F"m 1a.9CO.,
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National Park Service
OMB App",,' No. 1024.0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number....E..- Page
297
The Architectural and Historical Resources ofDnbnoue Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
2. QualifYing buildings, structures, objects, sites or districts are those associated with this context. Qualifying building
materials include stone, brick, stucco, wood, metal, concrete, steel and iron.
3. Integrity Considerations:
In all cases, the most important integrity consideration is that the property or district retains sufficient elements of
the original design, materials, and setting, so that the historical owner during the period of significance would
theoretically recognize it today. The property must retain its ability to convey a sense of time and place as it relates to
this context.
Buildings should reflect the original function of their designs, as well as their original construction materials.
They should possess their original shape and proportions, windows and doors should not have been substantially
changed. Residential buildings can be held to a higher test of integrity, given their larger number of surviving examples
and their better state of preservation. Additions must be secondary in scale and setback relative to the original core
design, and must be comparable in design and materials to the original residence. Replacement siding (metal, vinyl) is
also acceptable if the scale of the siding matches the original, if decorative features such as wood shingle, brackets, and
trim work remain visible, and if the key massing and design of the building remains discernible. The re-sided building
must retain its ability to represent its type or style absent the availability of a comparable example not re-sided. Within a
district, re-sided buildings must pass a collective lesser test, that being whether they continue to make a positive
contribution to the district. The re~siding of brick, stone or stucco buildings eliminates their historical integrity.
IV: Associated Properties:
A. Individual Single-Family Residences:
National Register Listed/Eligible Residential Properties: Context #4, An Era of Stability, 1910-1954:
660 West 3'" Street, Craftsman/Bungalow, 1920, DOE
1028 West 3'" Street, Craftsman/Bungalow, 1920, DOE
1036 West 3'" Street, Mission, no date (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
1083 West 3'" Street, Colonial Revival, 1921, DOE
1087 West 3'" Street, Colonial Revival, 1920, DOE
370 West 6th Street, Art Deco, c.1930, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
500 West 7th Street, Tudor Revival, no date, DOE
9 Algona Street, Spanish Colonial Revival, no date, DOE-
2001 Alta Vista Street, Dalsing House, Tudor Revival, 1923, DOE
160 South Grandview Avenue, T. Ben Loescher House, 1920, NRHP
1105 Highland Place, Mediterranean, c.1915, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
1125 Highland Place, Italian Renaissance, 1915, DOE
1454 Iowa Street, Strueber Funeral Home, Art Deco/International, 1939, NRHP
1472 Iowa Street, International, c.1940, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
2545 Jackson Street, Ulrich Willy House and Contractor's Yard, 1910, Neo-C1assical, DOE
1229 Lincoln Avenue, Dutch Colonial Revival style cottage, 1925 (Phase II survey recommendation)
1307 Lincoln, 1920, vernacular concrete block house, Voelker House (phase II survey recommendation)
1309 Lincoln, 1918, Craftsman bungalow (phase II survey recommendation)
1616 Lincoln, 1929, foursquare (phase II survey recommendation)
NPS F"m 10-900.,
,R,v.8.861
United States Department of the Interior
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Continuation Sheet
Section number --'=-- Page
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
2183 Lincoln, 1925, vernacular (Phase II survey recommendation)
1155 Locust Street, Classical Revival, 1931, NRHP (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
1965 Prescott, 1945, Tudor Revival (phase II survey recommendation)
500 Prospect Street, Tudor, 1925 (Kriviskey recommendation, local significance)
628 Rhomberg, 1923, Craftsman bungalow (Phase II survey recommendation)
2001 Rhomberg, 1934, Craftsman bungalow (Phase II survey recommendation)
2001 Rhomberg, 1948, Moderne (phase II survey recommendation)
723 Ries, Tudor Revival gable front bungalow, 1930 (phase II survey recommendation)
2542 Stafford, 1920, Colonial Revival (Phase II survey recommendation)
Recommended for further study and evaluation, likely National Register eligible Residences: Context #4, An Era
ofStability,1910-1954:
Asbury Road, John Deere Workers Housing, late 1940s.
Chris Voelker concrete block houses, 2578, 2582, 2586-88, 2590 Central, 1915-25 (phase I
recommendation, more research).
628 Rhomberg and 1911 Windsor Avenue, two concrete block bungalows, 1926 (Phase II
recommendation, more research).
95 South Grandview Avenue, Craftsman/Aeroplane bungalow, no date
120 South Grandview Avenue, Art Moderne, 1939
535 South Grandview Avenue, Art Moderne, 1939
1130 South Grandview Avenue, Tudor Revival, 1928
1144 South Grandview Avenue, Art Moderne, 1935
1160 South Grandview Avenue, McCoy House, French Eclectic, 1928-30
2539 Jackson Street, 1.5-story Craftsman style, 1917 (Phase I, more research recommended)
Kirkwood and Alta Vista streets, John G. Kuehnle House, Tudor Revival, 1924
999 Kirkwood Street, Spanish Eclectic, no date
1309 Lincoln Avenue, hip roof bungalow, 1912 (Phase II, more research recommended)
1925 Lincoln Avenue, Cape Cod cottage, 1940 (Phase II survey, more research recommended)
2025 Lincoln Avenue, Cape Cod cottage, 1948 (Phase II survey, more research recommended)
2054 Lincoln Avenue, 1.5-story Craftsman stucco frame cottage 1924 (Phase II survey, more research
recommended)
2183 Lincoln Avenue, Craftsman style house, 1925 (phase II survey, more research recommended)
1761 Plymouth Street, Ward Donovan House, Prairie, no date
1781 Plymouth Street, Ward Donovan House, Craftsmanlbungalow, no date
1965, 1975 Prescott Street, similar Tudor Revival brick cottages, 1945 (phase II survey, more research
recommended)
2090 Shiras Avenue, Tudor Revival style cottage, 1951 (phase II survey, more research recommended)
2429 White Street, 1.5-story concrete block bungalow, 1924 (Phase I survey, more research
recommended)
2485 White Street, 1.5-story concrete block bungalow, 1924 (phase I survey, more research
recommended)
2510 Windsor Avenue, polychromatic gable front brick bungalow, 1923 (Phase II survey, more research
recommended)
B. Multiple Family Residences:
--,--
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National Park Service
OMBApP'mINo.l024.oo18
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number L- Page
299
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
National Register Listed/Eligible Properties:
1265-67 Bluff Street, Foursquare, 1910, NRHP
2001 Shiras, apartment house, Art Deco, 1937-38 (phase II survey recommendation)
2222 Washington, 1891-1909, vernacular (part of a district) (phase I survey recommendation)
Recommended for further studv and evaluation:
2513-15 White Street, gable ITont ITame duplex, 1919-25 (Phase I recommendation, more research).
2517 White Street, Craftsman style brick duplex, 1915-25 (phase II recommendation, more research).
2200 Windsor A venue/703 East 22nd Street, unusual corner Tudor Revival style brick duplex, 1926
(phase II survey recommendation, further research)
2435 Central Avenue, Fulton Arms Apartments, 1920 (phase I survey, more research recommended)
2555-65 Cen1ral Avenue, Stone Ridge Apartments, Craftsman style concrete block, 1923 (phase I survey,
more research recommended)
C. Commercial Properties:
National Register Listed/Eligible Properties:
801 Bluff, Telegraph-Herald, 1929, Moderne (phase ill survey recommendation)
1111 Bluff Street, Moderne, no date, NRHP
401 Central Avenue, Karigan's Restaurant, Moderne, 1947, DOE
1398 Central Avenue, German Trust And Savings Bank/Dubuque Bank & Trust, 1923 (Phase ill survey
recommendation)
700 Locust, Roshek's Department Store, 1929-31 (phase ill survey recommendation)
900 Locust Street, Northwestern Bell Telephone Company Building, 1947 (phase ill survey
recommendation)
100 Main Street, Johnnie's Sports Center, Chicago, no date, NRHP
200 Main Street, Julien Motor fun, Commercial, 1915, NRHP
233-51 Main Street, Rosey's, Posey'slRyder Realty, Neo-Classical, no date, NRHP
301 Main S1reet, Tri-State Surplus, Moderne, no date, NRHP
895 Main Street, Federal Bank Building, 1923 (Phase ill survey recommendation)
Recommended for further study and evaluation:
1944 Central Avenue, Hofflin Motor Company, three-story Art Deco corner block, 1914 (Phase I survey
recommendation, more research)
1856-66 Jackson Street, Lorenz Family Wash, 1913 (phase I survey recommendation, more research)
E. Industrial Properties:
National Register Listed/Eligible Properties:
5th and White s1reets, Kassler Motor Company Showroom, Modern, no date, DOE
834 East 24th Street, Morrison Brothers Manufacturing Company, Commercial, 1918, DOE
Recommended for further study and evaluation:
Carr-Ryder-Adams/Farley-Loetscher Millworking District (White to Pine, 6th to II th S1reets)
NPS '"m 10.900.,
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United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
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National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number...E..- Page
300
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County, Iowa
County and State
Asbury Road, John Deere Workers Housing, late 1940s.
2421 White Street, outbuilding, c.1915.
F. Public and Religious Properties:
National Register ListedlEligible Properties:
350 West 6th Street, U.S. Post Office, Art Deco, 1932-34, DOE (later recommendation as not eligible)
Eagle Point Park, Park Pavilion, Prairie, 1934-36, DOE
Recommended for further study and evaluation:
359 West 9th Street, Christian Science Church, 1923 (now a restaurant)
12th and Locust streets, Masonic Temple, "abstracted Medievalism"/Art Deco, 1931-32
2501 Jackson Street, First Evangelical Church, 1928
333 Wartburg Street, Wartburg Theological Senrinary, "modernized Medieval," 1914-16
Althauser Street, Thomas Jefferson High School, 1922-23, (consultant DOE)
G. Transportation Properties:
National Register ListedlEligible Properties:
Lock & Dam #11 Historic District (SHPO DOE)
Dodge Street, U.S. Highway 20, Mississippi River, Julien Dubuque Bridge, 1943, NRHP
14th Street, steps, DOE
Ice Harbor, William M. Black dredge, DOE (local landmark)
Julien Dubuque Bridge, Dodge Street (NRHP)
Recommended for further study and evaluation:
Mississippi River, Federal Barge Terminal
PROPERTY TYPE #5: The buildings, structures, objects and districts associated with Context #5, The Architecture of
Dubuque, 1833-1955
1. DESCRIPTION:
This context focuses On architectural style and type and derIDes the Dubuque applications of changing popular,
national and vernacular design tastes. Given the chronological breadth of this context the resources in this property type
are necessarily broadly varied in terms of their size, building materials, designs and functions. All resources are located
within the city limits of Dubuque and the other unifying element is that they all date to the earliest period of that city's
history, the years 1833-58. While nearly every national or popular style is represented, Dubuque's architecture is still
largely defined by a persistence of vernacular building traditions and a resistance to popular style. As building levels
declined after 1911, surprisingly few examples of the range of styles and types, common elsewhere, were built in
Dubuque. Their absence or relative rarity in Dubuque is a testimony to Dubuque's unique and personalized architectural
story. Many of these resources have been altered by additions, stylistic makeovers and other changes since construction
but Dubuque's resources from this period are remarkably well preserved. Property types vary in the degree to which they
represent a particular style or type. Industrial buildings in particular are resistive to style per se. Under this context it
would be repetitious to attempt to defme the descriptive attributes by building class or type, as was done in the other
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National Park Service
OM8 App,ml No. 1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number ---E- Page
301
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
contexts. Instead reference is made to Context #5, wherein each style and is described and significant examples of each
style and type are listed.
The second section of Context #5 focuses on Dubuque's notable builders, designers and developers. Again,
Context #5 identifies those individuals and attempts to evaluate the significant persons. The working careers of
significant individuals involved in cons1ruction and building design are attested to by the best surviving examples of their
work (refer to Context #5).
II. SIGNlFICANCE:
This context celebrates the claimed fact that Dubuque possesses the best historic building laboratory to be found
in Iowa. Dubuque's best building designs are individually and collectively outstanding due to the quality of the
architecture, its scale, its sheer numbers and high rates of survival, its often unexcelled state of preservation, and the
associated history that explains and interprets it. Dubuque's vernacular buildings are similarly unmatched in foan,
quantity, setting, and for its brick examples, exceptional historical integrity. Architectural standouts include the state's
largest department store, an unexcelled range of institutional and religious edifices, the state's largest surviving indusmal
buildings and complex, and the state's only shot tower.
III. REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS:
1. Significance (use or form) related to one of the five contexts developed in this multiple property document.
.Criterion A: properties that are directly associated with the working careers of significant Dubuque developers,
designers and builders, 1833-1955. A Criterion A claim would focus on broader historical developmental trends,
examples being German Vernacular architecture, religious or institutional architecture, or particular
neighborhood development.
.Criterion B: properties that are directly associated with the working careers of significant Dubuque developers,
designers and builders, 1833-1955.
.Criterion C: properties that best illustrate significant styles, popular types and vernacular types and their related
cons1ruction techniques in the city of Dubuque during the years 1833-1955.
2. Qualifying buildings, s1ructures, objects, sites or dismcts are those associated with this context. Qualifying building
materials include stone, brick, stucco, wood, metal, concrete, steel and iron.
3. Integrity Considerations:
In all cases, the most important integrity consideration is that the property or dismct retains sufficient elements of
the original design, materials, and setting, so that the historical owner during the period of significance would
theoretically recognize it today. The property must retain its ability to convey a sense of time and place as it relates to
this context.
Buildings should reflect the original fi.mction of their designs, as well as their original cons1ruction materials.
They should possess their original shape and proportions, windows and doors should not have been substantially
changed. Residential buildings can be held to a higher test of integrity, given their larger number of surviving examples
and their better state of preservation. Additions must be secondary in scale and setback relative to the original core
design, and must be comparable in design and materials to the original residence. Scored stucco on stone is not
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National Park Service
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Continuation Sheet
Section number L- Page
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The Architectural and Historical Resources ofDubnqne Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
considered to be a replacement siding, but an attempt to modernize within the historical period. The presence of stucco
or its removal on from buildings that were originally of exposed stone design, are acceptable when determining integrity.
Replacement siding (metal, vinyl) is also acceptable if the scale of the siding matches the original, if decorative features
such as wood shingle, brackets, and trim work remain visible, and if the key massing and design of the building remains
discernible. The re-sided building must retain its ability to represent its type or style absent the availability of a
comparable example not re-sided. Within a district, re-sided buildings must pass a collective lesser test, that being
whether they continue to make a positive contribution to the district. The re-siding of brick, stone or stucco buildings
eliminates their historical integrity.
IV: Associated Properties:
All of the properties listed under the preceding four property types have architectural merit and retain their historical
integrity and all of those properties are worthy of consideration for their architectural merit, in addition to their
significance claims. Context #5 identifies the best examples of each style and type of building.
NPS 'oem 10.900'a
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Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page
303
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
Geographical Area:
Figure 152: Five Proposed Survey Phases (Telegraph Herald, March 30, 2000)
This multiple property document encompasses the entirety ofthe city of Dubuque. The survey report component
covers only the Phase I survey area that is defmed by Central Avenue (west boundary), E¡¡st 26th Street (north boundary),
Elm Street (east boundary) and East 18th Street (south boundary). Five successive survey efforts were planned to update
Dubuque's historical/architectural inventory and to develop this multiple property document. Four of five survey and
evaluation phases have been completed or begun. Phase I investigate the Couler Valley area, Phase II the Eagle Point
area, and Phase ill, the downtown area. Phase IV re-surveyed the Jackson Park and Cathedral residential districts
(NRHP), documenting individual properties, and surveyed and nominated two locally designated West 11 th Street and
Langworthy residential districts. This multiple property document represents the findings of these four survey efforts.
At least one identified resource, the railroad bridge, crosses the Mississippi River and connects to the Illinois
shore. In many ways the proper historical and architectural context is not Iowa but rather southwestern Wisconsin and
northwestern lllinois. All of these share the same river valley culture and history.
NPB 'oem 1a.gOO.,
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Continuation Sheet
Section number.l!- Page
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
TH
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Figure 153: National Register Listed Historic Districts, Dubuque
(l-Jackson Park, 2-West 11th Street, 3-Langworthy, 4-Cathedra1, 5-Old Main)
In addition to these listed districts, three others were recommended for listing by Bruce Kriviskey in 1979. A fifth survey and
nomination phase will nominate the fITSt two named to the National Register:
BroadwayfTraut District: Broadway, 24th and Central, 51 mid-19th century residential properties.
Fenelon Place District: Located atop the bluff opposite the 4th Street Elevator, 61 contnòuting residential properties.
Prospect Street District: Located between the bluffs and Prospect Street with 15 contributing properties.
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National Park Service
OM8 App'OV", No. 1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number....!:L.- Page
305
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
Section H: Methodology:
This multiple property development and its related historic survey projects represents a renewed effort on the part
ofthe City of Dubuque to puts its historic preservation program in order. The surveys are the first comprehensive effort
to update the city's historic building inventory and to organize that inventory on the basis of an established set of historic
contexts. The multiple property document establishes those contexts and defines the property types and styles which are
expressed in Dubuque's architecture and history.
The staff of the Dubuque Community Development Department developed a five-phase historical survey plan to
complete the city's historical/architectural inventory and the fITst two phases of this plan were accepted for completion by
the City Council in 1999. Phase I, the survey of the lower portion of the Couler Valley, funded with a Certified Local
Government grant, was awarded to historic preservation consultant Jim Jacobsen (d/b/a History Pays!). Phase II, the
survey of the Rhomberg or North Dubuque residential district, was funded using Housing and Urban Development Funds,
and the contract was awarded to consultants Jim Jacobsen and Molly Myers Naumann.
The Phase I survey effort had the stated goal of documenting only those properties or districts which appeared to
merit National Register of Historic Places eligibility recommendations. Completed individual historical inventory fonus
and photographs documented individually eligible properties or district groupings. In both survey efforts, the consultants
initially documented all properties having eXterior integrity (exposed wood, stucco, brick, etc.). Re-sided buildings
defied documentation using standard field survey techniques. If one was documented, then all had to be because they all
looked the same. Re-sided buildings were not documented unless they had exceptional features (distinctive exposed trim
work, significant building type, well preserved features such as windows or porches). This initial pool was then reviewed
and eligible properties were given special research attention.
Surveyor Kriviskey encountered the re-siding problem back in 1978 and he too had to focus his attention
primarily on non"frame buildings. The passage of 20 years had considerably worsened the situation and many buildings
which Kriviskey favored are now unrecognizable. Third, most of the buildings were collectively of historical interest but
very few warranted individual National Register consideration. District clusters consisted of sizable fragments, mostly
being focused on commercial nodes which occurred at street comers or in the southern third of the survey area. There
were a number of impressive commercial blocks however.
A key concern on the part of the City was the need to resolve the lead paint issue. The City's housing program
was covering historic buildings and removing interior trim work in an effort to remove the lead paint threat. The
consultants were asked to review this issue as it related to historic preservation concerns. The consultants quickly
determined that the issue was virtually a mute one given that at least 98 percent of all frame houses have already been
sided. The lingering concern is the wholesale loss of historic interior trim work.
Bruce Kriviskey's (see below) 1978 survey findings guided the present survey efforts. Kriviskey prepared no site
fonus and did no historical research but he did prepare key-coded survey maps that identified a range of significance
levels, all of which were architecturally based. Planning staff prepared a baseline survey map that was derived from the
Geographic Information System. This map depicted individual building outlines as well as street names and building
addresses. Kriviskey's findings were copied onto this base map and the resulting map guided the present survey. While
many Kriviskey eligibility recommendations had been lost to demolition or re-siding, there was still a good "fit" between
his findings and those of the consultants.
NPS ",m 10.900~,
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National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number.l:!...- Page
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
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County and State
The many hundreds of vernacnlar residences that were not documented are still collectively of historical merit.
They present an excellent example of a situation where excepted survey teclmiques and National Register standards are
not helpful in acknowledging their collective importance. Given the city's topography, only the Phase I and Phase II
residential areas offer large groupings of Dubuque's vernacular houses in a flat land setting. Similar houses are found
throughout the city above the bluffs, but these are scattered and intermixed with houses from later periods. The best
chance for vernacular districts is found on these flat valley floors. Replacement siding has transformed these into look-
alike boxes devoid of any detailing or uniqueness. To document one was to document all. What remains impressive is
the density, juxtaposition, and occasionally the orientation of these houses. Surviving examples of once typical detailing,
house orientation, and original appearance were documented, but much has been lost or obscured. Virtually every frame
house still retaining its original clapboard exterior was documented. Exceptions were due to the loss of integrity due to
porch removal, window reduction, or other alterations.
Historical research first focused upon identifying a means of accurately dating the surveyed properties. If
anything can knowingly be said about the evolution and derivation of vernacular house designs then accurate building
dates are the starting point. The earlier vernacular survivors can be sorted out through this dating process. Many of the
surveyed properties were found to be of a later building date than might be generally assumed, given Dubuque's
conservative building tradition. This is particularly true of building dating after the 1880s through the First World War.
Dating pre-l 92 1 properties using city directories is a complex process because Dubuque renamed many streets
and renumbered east/west running blocks that year. Prior to 1902 directories have no listings by address and a property
can be traced back only if the owner/occupant is known by name. Historical photographs can date buildings if they are
accurately dated, but they are best when used to document major buildings. Few neighborhoods have historic
photographic coverage and the Phase II survey area was particularly difficult to photograph historically from any vantage
point. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps are restricted in their coverage in residential areas prior to 1909, but there are maps
for 1891 and 1884. Lithographic views proved to be one of the best means to date buildings but they are most accurate
when landmark buildings are the subjects of investigation.
The Multiple Property Document:
Intimidation is the word that best describes the challenge ofsunnnarizing Dubuque's amazing story in a standard
rnultiple property document. The sheer mass of most excellent written and visual history alone makes the task a daunting
one. The real challenge is to dare to rank or distinguish one context over another. Fortunately the answer is found in the
same historical cornucopia-many others possessing more talent, have largely done the analytical work and their
guidance made the task a doable one. Dubuquers know and live their history and any historical summary is guaranteed to
undergo close and exacting scrutiny as it should.
The same historical literature search identified the key secondary historical references and these formed the
outline for the document. A multiple property document, in order to be truly useful, has to be tailored to the historical
personality of a community. It has to fit. Dubuque very much still embodies the historical personality that made it such a
special place so local input will test the developing document.
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OM8 Ap",o,,' No. 1024.0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number -'='-- Page
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
NPS 'oem fO.9OO.,
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OMBAppm',IND.1024.0018
National Register of Historic Places
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Section number -'='-- Page
308
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
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County and State
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National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number...!:L- Page
309
OMB ApP'ml No. 1024-001 B
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
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United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OM8 Appom' No. 1024-00>8
National Register of Historic Places
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Section number -'='-- Page
310
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
A first draft was huniedly prepared in mid-January 2000 given the fact that the project had been so delayed in
getting started. Eighty percent of the fITst draft comprised an architectural typology of Dubuque's best historical
prop~rties. This section was quickly prepared only because Lawrence Sonuner and David Gebhard and others had
already largely and capably done the work. The remainder of the draft offered four time-defined basic contexts and a
range of sub-contexts. An initial review of the city's historiography indicated that the years 1857-58, 1893, and 1910
best marked transitions in the city's development.
A more substantial draft was developed in March-April following the completion of the second field visit and the
completion of most of the preliminary historical research. Two sources, William Wilkie's Dubuque On The Mississippi
and Randolph Lyon's singularly outstanding Dubuque: The Encyclopedia, provided the backbone of both guidance and
documentation for the developing document. Lyon's work is of particular importance because it treats the recent social
and economic development themes along with historical ones.
The fIDdings trom each of these successive survey projects were swnmarized in reports, and these reports
function as appendices to this multiple property document. The latter swnmarizes the fIDdings and eligibility findings.
The three reports are the following:
Dubuque-The Key City: The Architectural And Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa, 1837-1955: Phase I
Historical and Architectural Survey Report (2002).
Dubuque-The Key City: The Architectural And Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa, 1837-1955: Phase II
Historical and Architectural Survey Report (2002).
"...thefinest business street west of Chicago and North of St. Louis..." Phase III Architectural and Historical
Survey Report-Downtown Dubuque (2003).
Future Survev and Registration Reconunendations:
A number of observations or reconunendations have been during the course of this Phase I multiple property
document development and survey effort. These are appended below.
1. Històricallarchitectural survey of the upper Cower Valley (above 26th Street).
This area is not included in the five-phase survey plan but should be. It contains a number of very significant
industrial plants, the housing which is associated with those plants, and an array of potentially significant churches and
corner conunercial properties. This area developed post-1890/1900 for the most part, save for scattered properties along
Central Avenue.
2. Survey of the northern portion of the downtown area.
Kriviskey identified potentially significant properties in this area (generally the area located north and east of the
designated Main Street district) but save for the registration of the Jackson Park area, little attention has been paid to it.
This part of the downtown contains innumerable conunercial, industrial, vernacular and architecturally significant
properties and deserves focused survey attention. Many of the surviving early downtown buildings are found here. Such
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National Register of Historic Places
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Section number --'='-- Page
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Name of Property
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County aud State
a survey would address the issue of possibly extending the Main Street program area northward, an idea that seems to
have much merit.
3. Survey and possible registration of Dubuque's surviving industrial architecture.
It appears that a substantial industrial historic district survives between the courthouse and Highway 6 I. This cluster
oflarge industrial properties best represents the industrial heritage of the city. Preservation financial incentives might be
very beneficial to the continued use of these properties but ifproperty owners are opposed to fonnal listing, it is
recommended that the area offers an excellent venue for historical tours and educational promotions. Numerous scattered
industrial properties (including jobbing, wholesaling, transportation related properties) are scattered throughout the city
and need to be studied as a group.
4. The extension of Survey Areas 4 and 5 to include Grandview Avenue and otherpre-1955 residential neighborhoods.
Many early 20'" century residential properties and significant institutional/religious properties are scattered
throughout the city and many of these are located outside of the planned survey areas. These should either be enlarged,
on the scale of Survey Area 3, or additional survey areas should focus on either particular neighborhoods such as
Grandview Avenue or upon particular ranges of residential architecture. It might be advantageous to simply survey the
entire highlands portion of the city, selecting out potentially significant properties. A first phase reconnaissance survey
could locate and classify these and follow-up intensive survey efforts could document them individually. Bruce
Kriviskey's proposed Prospect Park historic district is deserving of particular attention (as does his Broadway district).
5. Survey and evaluate the John Deere workers housing south of Asbury Road and other major post World War plat
developments.
The John Deere workers' housing was quite unusual in its design and stylistic treatments. These brick duplexes
and single family residences employed a fairly fonnal Colonial Revival style. They are massed in one part of the
city and comprise Dubuque's premier post-World War suburban subdivision.
6. The illinois Central Railroad bridge over the Mississippi River wammts National Registration listing.
7. Eagle Point Park merits comprehensive survey and evaluation efforts.
8. The Zebulon Pike Lock and Dam facility and Mississippi River Barge Tenninal are likely National Register eligible
and deserve study and consideration.
9.Linwood Cemetery is a splendid historical resource and is probably significant for its landscape design and its historic
buildings and structures.
10. Shiras Avenue merits a historical/architectural survey to the north of the Phase II survey area.
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
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County and State
Bibliography:
Dubuque's history is better documented than any other city in the state. The very best historians, on a state or
local level, have labored in the historical vineyards of Dubuque and the result has been both plentiful and impressive.
Dubuque from its inception has been collectively historically minded and virtually every step forward was taken with an
appreciative nod~to the historical Muse. Even today the past continues to enliven, guide and help explain the present in
Dubuque.
What is perhaps most remarkable of the secondary history of the city is the attention given to state and regional
context and to historical analysis. Virtually every important historical context has been researched and developed to
some extent.
This wealth of sources is matched by a richness in libraries and research centers. Three principal archives, the
Carnegie-Stout Public Library, the Dubuque County Historical Library, and the Loras College Center for Dubuque
History, were accessed for this project.
Dubuque Sources:
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Anderson, David C., Reconnaissance/Historical Survey of Dubuque County, Iowa: A Report Prepared For The Dubuque
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Minnesota Press, 2003.
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Auge, Dr. Thomas, "Comparison of 1850 & 1860 Census, Dubuque County, Iowa. Dubuque: typed manuscript, Loras
College, History Department, c.1980
- -~-- ~- ,
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Continuation Sheet
Section number --L- Page
313
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa. 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
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NPS 'oem !O.9OO."
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OMS ApP'm' No. 1024.0018
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Continuation Sheet
Section number -1- Page
314
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County, Iowa
County and State
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of the Telegraph Job Printing Company, 1897.
-~ 1""- " --
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Continuation Sheet
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315
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque COlJIltv Iowa
COlJIlty and State
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history, c.1930s).
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& Company, Publishers, 1887
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19n
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OMS Appm~" No. 1024,0018
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Continuation Sheet
Section number -L- Page
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The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa. 1833-1955
Nalj1e of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
Hennagir, Richard, "Dubuque Chamber of Commerce." Dubuque: Loras College, typed manuscript, March23, 1955.
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'_M_~'
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Continuation Sheet
Section number...L.- Page
317
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County Iowa
County and State
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Northern City. Iowa City: Ph.D. thesis, University ofIowa, May 1996 (two volumes, Center for Dubuque History).
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National Park Service
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National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number...!...- Page
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-,_._.*-,-~-~,-~-_.
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National Park Service
OMS App""" No. 1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number -L- Page
319
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
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OMBAppro",INo.l024-oo1B
National Register of Historic Places
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Section number -L- Page
320
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
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-.-
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Name of Property
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Continuation Sheet
Section number ~ Page
322
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
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County and State
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Company, 1875.
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NPS F"m 1CJ.900'a
[Rev. 8.861
Unitl;ld States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMBAppmv" No. 1024.0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number Ì- Page
323
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuoue County. Iowa
County and State
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1846
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Architectural Sources:
NoS Foem \0.900.,
IRev.8.861
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMS Appmv,! No. 1024-0018
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number.1.- Page
324
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque. Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque County. Iowa
County and State
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Historic Preservation, 1981.
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Aural Sources:
Mr. Biays Bowerman, innumerable encounters, 2000-03
Mr. Mike Gibson, January -, March 7, 2000
Mr. Bill Meisner, September 12, 2001
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NPS 'oem 'O~9oo.,
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United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
OMBApp,ov,INo.l024.oo18
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Section number....L.- Page
325
The Architectural and Historical Resources of Dubuque Iowa 1833-1955
Name of Property
Dubuque CO1mty, Iowa
County and State
Photographs:
Vachon, John, War Information Office Photo Collection, Library of Congress (http://memorv.loc.gov/cgi-bin)
Dubnque County Historical Society
Center for Dubuque History, Lorns College, Dubuque
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