Application for Bicentennial Community Designation_06.15.1973THE CITY OF
D U B U Q U E
June 15, 1973
OFFICE PHONE 588-4608
770 FISCHER BUILDING
JOSEPH J. BITTER, MAYOR
DU 8 U0 UE. 10 WA 52001
American Revolution Bicentennial Commission
736 Jackson Place, N,W.
Washington, D.C. 20276
Through: Iowa American Revolution Bicentennial Commission
Gentlemen:
It ±s with a great deal of pride and enthusiasm that the City of Dubuque
subunits the enclosed application for designation as a Bicentennial
Community.
The enclosed document also includes various materials which were dis-
tributea by a delegation. of 28 Dubuquers including myseif in Washington,
on February 26 and 27 of this year to appropriate Members of Congress;
representatives of Federal, public and private agencies; and friends as
we endeavored at that time to gain support for the Five Flags Project and
designation as a Bicentennial City.
�. -a C uuty and City Chairpersons of the Dubuque County Iowa American
R::vu.iufioa 3icentenrr_ai Commission have accepted the challenge to plan,
coordinate and encourage observances and activities throughout Dubuque -
land to be undertaken in 1976 and shared that year and thereafter by resi-
dents and visitors alike.
Your attention is invited to the enclosed Resolution No. 51-73 which sets
forth the endorsement of the City Council of the City of Dubuque. Your
further attention is called to the representative letters contained in this
application, all of which represent community endorsement with pledges
of support for the planned bicentennial projects.
Your prompt consideration .and early designation of Dubuque as a Bicen-
tennial Community is respectfully and urgently solicited.
lly Yogis,
payor
JJB/GMW/vt
Enclosure
Copies to Members of Congress
CITY OF DUBUQUE
BICENTENNIAL COMMUNITY APPLICATION
Page No.
Bicentennial Community Application Form - - - -
- 1
City of Dubuque Resolution No. 51-73 - - - -
- 4
Dubuque County American Revolution Bicentennial
Commission Certificate of Incorporation - - - -
- 6
Five Flags Center Fact Sheet - - - -
- 7
Five Flags Center Multi -Media Center
Narrative Summary - - - -
- 11
Five Flags Sculpture Competition - - - -
- 14
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION
Municipal Landscape Award Certificate
American Association of Nurserymen, Inc.
Merit Award, The American Society of
Landscape Architects
Extracts from Town Clock Brochure
Five Flags Center Illustrative Site Plan
Five Flags Center Illustrative Front Elevation
Letters
Joseph J. Bitter, Mayor
City of Dubuque
Wayne A. Norman, General Chairman
Five Flags Center Fund
Leo McCarthy, President
Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce
Robert W. Dillon and Kenneth R. Fulk
Chairman and Secretary
Iowa American Revolution Bicentennial Commission
Dr. Robert Myers, Chairman
Dubuque County, Iowa American Revolution
Bicentennial Commission
Dubuque Telegraph -Herald Newspaper Article
Narrative Report on Jean Marie Cardinal
William J. Petersen, Superintendent Emeritus
State Historical Society of Iowa
Document - National Park Service
Entry in National Register
Orpheum Theatre and Theater Site
Letters from Representative Community Organizations
Dubuque Industrial Bureau Dubuque County Fair Association
American Legion
Boy Scouts of America
Kiwanis Club
Dubuque Board of Realtors
Xavier Hospital Guild
Dubuque Council of Churches
Tri-College Cooperative Effort
Dubuque Playground and
Recreation Commission
Tri-Seminary Consortium
Navy League
Girl Scouts of America
Rotary Club
40 et 8
Lions Club
Dubuque Park Board
Marine Corps League
Dubuque Federation
of Labor
AMERICAN REVOLUTION BICENTENNIAL COMMISSION
BICENTE:,'NAL CO; ;;UNITY APPLICATION FOr'•1
DATE: June 15, 1973
TO American Revolution Bicentennial Commission
736 Jackson Place, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20276
THROUGH: Iowa American Revolution Bicentennial Commission
APPROVED:
FROM City of Dubuque, Iowa
(Type in correct n=e of Con rarity app
A. I CEcRT=: *
The Dubuque County Iowa American
1. That Revolution Bicentennial Commission has been duly
created as a central Bicentennial planning and coorainating
group, and I am officially authorized to sign this
certification.
2. That this Bicentennial body is representative of our
Community.
3. That our Bicentennial Program will consist of activities
involving the thematic area(a) of: (a) FiERIT-GE 176 =;
(b) FESTIVAL USA �; (c) EORIZO"S 176 E/. (?lease Zist tiLZe
and brief description of activities onA ttaciaert A.)
4. That the .activities marked with an (Y) on Attachnent A
will become lasting re -minders of the special effort this
Cor^_-runity undertook for the American Revolution Bicentennial
comr,iomoration.
5. That the undersigned officer(s) has(have) responsi ilit-, for
sending Deriodic -caress reports to the national _. C
through the State~3REC.
6. That if this aDDlication is al)Drovea, `,,e national
Bicentennial symbol e: i ll be u:;ed in accordance wit.- th e
guidelines of the AREC Graphics Manaal.
7. That our a==L,,riate Monbers of Concr=ss (Recresa-: '.:4 (s)
and SE:natOrS) have been appri3ed of t is applicat c_..
NAME :w�_ _
Robert L. My s, C t hair n
CHAIRPERS :.
Dennis r. NaucjVton
City Chairman
Page 2
B. As the duly authorized elected official of The City of
Dubuque, Iowa , I proclaim:
1. That this is our official application for recognition as
a Bicentennial Coi=.unity.
2. That this effort will have broad based community and
governmental support.
3. That available community r
the implementation of this
--------------------
* This application is to be transmitted through that organization
which has responsibility for planning and coordinating the
Nation's Bicentennial program within the appropriate State. Its
proper title should be given and the signature of its Chief -
Executive Cfficer obtained. Such signature is evidence of the
organization's approval of this application.
r
Attachment: Attachment A
2
AMERICAN REVOLUTION BICENTENNIAL COMIUSSI0;;
BICENTENNIAL CONF11UNITY APPLICATION --- ATTAUNET A
City of Dubuque, Iowa
(Name of Community
In listing these activities on this form, we understand that the
inclusion of at least one activity for each of the three t�^at_c
areas (Heritage '76; Festival USA; Horizons 176) is highly desired
by the national ARBC because it increases awareness of the full -
scope of the latlon's Bicentennial program: "A past to rerember;
a future to mold". We know, however, that this is not an esse_nt_al
requirement. We ackne:eledce that the AREC expects complete t matte
coverage, not necessarily in the beginning, but at least dart a
full development and expansion of our Bicentennial Community prerw
TITLE
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
THEBIATIC COVE77
Five Flags Center. To provide a community -wide All
public use facility by joining a
theater to be restored with a new
exhibition -arts building through a
new multi -storied promenade.
Five Flags Multi- To provide a fully equipped All
Media Center auditorium within The Five Flags
Center for special presentations.
Five Flags Sculpture To secure a suitable piece of art to All
Competition enhance the quality of a downtown
pedestrianway.
All three projects are described in detail on other pages of this application.
Other activities covering all three Thematic ar as are to be developed by the
Dubuque County Iowa American. Revolution Bicentennial Commission.
3
I
Y; L
RESOLUTION N0,51-73.
DESIGNATING THE FIVE FLAGS CENTER AS
A BICENTENNIAL CENTER
WHEREAS, the Congress of the United States has declared the appropriateness
and desirability to provide for the observation and commemoration of the bicentennial
of the birth of this nation; and
WHEREAS, the President of the United States has endorsed among other
recommendations of the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission that "The
commemoration be national in scope, seeking to involve every State, city and
community"; and
WHEREAS, Dubuque, the oldest city in the State of Iowa and with a legacy that
is reflected in the banners of the Fleur de Lis of France, the Royal Flag of Spain, the
Union Jack of England, the French Imperial Flag of Napoleon, and the Stars and Stripes
of the United States of America, is located in the only Iowa area of involvement with
the American Revolutionary War; and
WHEREAS, in recognition of the rich, historical heritage of Dubuqueland and for
the occasion of the two hundredth birthday celebration of the founding of this nation,
there is proposed to be integrated into the Five Flags Center as an essential ingredient
a permanent, full-scale multi -media and sound facility to portray in sights and sounds
during the bicentennial year, two hundred years of the past of the Upper Mississippi
and the story of the men, women and children who gave it life; and
WHEREAS, the Five Flags Center Executive Committee has unanimously
recommended that the Five Flags Center composed of a restored architecturally and
historically significant theater and site, a promenade, an exhibit -arts hall, and a
multi -media and sound facility together with other appropriate site improvements be
designated as a Bicentennial Center; and
WHEREAS, the Iowa American Bicentennial Commission has approved the Five
Flags Center "as being significant and having the potential of contributing to the
recognition of the 200th birthday of the United States by the citizens of Iowa"; and
WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Dubuque has strongly endorsed the
proposed Five Flags Center and has recommended the Project to the entire community
as worthy of its support to provide a facility which will encourage the cultural,
recreational, entertainment and citizen participation potential of the community to
match and balance the current industrial, commercial, academic and economic growth
of the Dubuque metropolitan area; and
WHEREAS, the support of the community for tie Five Flags Center is self-e%ident
in the form of pledges and contributions from indivi(tuals, business firms, private:
organizations and others towards the cost of the total project and by written and :)ral
communications- from a cross-section of private and public groups; now therefore
2
rl BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DUBUQUL', IOWA
SECTION 1. That the Council of the City of Dubuque In recognition of the
recommendation of the Executive Committee of the Five Flags Center and of the
endorsement of the Iowa American RBVOIntiOn Bicentennial Commission, recognizes and.
designates the Five Flags Center as a Bicentennial Center.
SECTION 2. That the City Council of the City of Dubuque finds and determines
that the Five Flags Center as a Bicentennial Center gives appropriate consideration to
A. The observance and commemoration to the historic events of the Upper
Mississippi that are associated with the American Revolutionary War
period;
B. An undertaking conceived by citizens working in harmony with local
public officials to implement an acceptable, needed, and
desirable facility;
C. The ideas that have vitally influenced the development of the Upper
Mississippi and of the United States; and
D. The establishment of a permanent place that has opportunities for a
wide variety of activities necessary for the present and future use of
people and the stimulation of creativity for the orderly growth of the
City of Dubuque, the State of Iowa, and the United States of America
In mankind's quest for knowledge and freedom.
SECTION 3. That the Mayor and the City Manager are hereby authorized and
directed to proceed and to undertake all measures deemed appropriate to secure the
support, endorsement and participation of Federal and State agencies and private groups
for the Five Flags Center as a Bicentennial Center for the City of Dubuque, the State of
Iowa and the United States of America.
SECTION 4. That the Mayor and City Manager are hereby further authorized and
directed to proceed with proper application to appropriate Federal and State Agencies
for the designation of the City of Dubuque as a Bicentennial City.
Passed, approved and adopted this
CITY CLERK.
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CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION J'
June ll 19�3—
UMUQUE COUNTY AMERICAN REVOLUTION BICEN=IAL ConasSION
Dubuque, Iowa j
has filed articles of 'incorporation in this office and is hereby authorized to transact business as a
corporation from Ana 11 19-73-- ltil June 11, 1977 under the provisions
Chapter 504A, 1973 Code of Iowa.
Fees Paid:
.a t`
Filing ... $10.00
R ordi % 1 50
V� 4 `y ry' � SECR6TAAY OF Sl'ATE
BY
DEPUTY
Y
i
i
P 6
FIVE FLAGS CENTER
Dubuque, Iowa
FACT SHEET
Goal
To provide a permanent, centrally located facility in the City of Dubuque in
observance and commemoration of the bicentennial of the birth of the United
States of America to serve the cultural, recreational, entertainment,
educational and business needs and requirements of Dubuqueland.
The Project
To restore an existing, architecturally significant theater as'the basic building
block of the Five Flags Center composed of
1. The restored theater equipped and rigged to seat approximately
1,000 persons;
2. A new multi -purpose, two level, 20,000 square foot exhibition -arts
building;
3. A new promenade to connect the theater with the exhibition -arts
building;
4. A full scale multi -media center incorporated into the exhibition -arts
building to accommodate 100 to 200 persons; and
5. An off-street parking facility together with other appropriate site
improvements.
Significance of Name
Five Flags have flown over Dubuqueland since the period of the Joliet and
Marquette explorations of the Upper Mississippi commencing in 1673.
1. Fleur de Lis of France
2. Royal Flag of Spain
3. Union Jack o' England
7
4. French Republic Flag of Napoleon
5. Stars and Stripes of the United States of America
Location
Five Flags Center is located in Downtown Dubuque in an urban renewal project
area. The Town Clock Plaza (Main Street Pedestrianway) phase of the project
has received a Municipal Landscape Award from the American Association of
Nurserymen, Inc. and a Merit Award from the American Society of Landscape
Architects. Both awards recognize the quality of design for an urban environ-
ment setting. Town Clock Plaza with the same quality of design is to be
extended on Main Street into the block upon which the Five Flags Center fronts.
Status of Project
1. Theater and necessary land purchased by the City of Dubuque to
implement the Downtown Urban Renewal Project, Iowa R-15.
2. Five Flags Center Fund with an Advisory .Council of over 125 persons
incorporated as a non-profit organization and granted tax-exempt
status.
A. Has provided market studies and analysis to justify the project.
B. Has secured support from the City of Dubuque and State Historic
-Preservation Officer for the project.
C. Is soliciting private funds for matching purposes.
D. Has assembled work force of various specialities.
1) Historians
Dr. Adrian Anderson - State Historic Preservation
Officer
Peter T. Harsted, Superintendent, State Historical
Society of Iowa
Dr. Walter Peterson - President, University of
Dubuque
William J. Petersen - Superintendent Emeritus, State
Historical Society of Iowa
2) Architectural Historian - Denys Peter Myers,
Washington, D.C.
8
3) Dubuque Theater Historian - Charles Geroux, Bloomfield
Hills, Michigan
4) Theater Architectural Historian - Andrew Craig Morrison,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
5) Multi -Media Consultant - Audio Visual Presentations, a
Division.of the Des Moines Register and Tribune
6) Multi -Media Advisor - Professor William B. Oglesby,
University of Iowa
7) Architects and Engineers
Cullen-Schiltz & Associates, Dubuque, Iowa
Bowen & Kanazawa, Madison, Wisconsin
B. Is securing support from Federal, State and city officials and
agencies and from other public and private organizations and
individuals to designate the Five Flags Center as a Bicentennial
Center and the City of Dubuque as a Bicentennial City.
F. Is to purchase the real estate from the city, to restore the theater
under an acceptable arrangement with the City and the Department
of Housing and Urban Development, to construct all improvements,
and to deed the completed Five Flags Center to the City.
3. The theater and theater site have been entered in the National Register of
Historic Places.
A. 'The theater built in 1910 as a music hall represents one of the
earliest known theaters still in operation designed by Rapp and
Rapp, an architectural firm later to become well known for theater
design in the late teens and twenties,
B. Theater site represents the oldest known site in Iowa (and possibly
west of the Mississippi River) to continuously house a theater,
opera house, vaudeville house and/or some type of public
entertainment facility.
4. A $1000 matching grant has been approved by the Iowa Arts Council to
sponsor a competition to secure an appropriate piece of sculpture to
highlight an exterior plaza area.
5. Documentaticn of evidence to confirm that the only known Iowa casualty
of the American Revolutionary War was a Dubuqueland miner, jean
Marie Cardinal, who after being captured by the British at Dubuque
9
during their march down the Mississippi River Valley, escaped to
warn the French at St. Louis. Cardinal was killed during the battle,
and the defeated British abandoned their campaign.
Historians suggest that had it not been for Cardinal's warning, the
exploits of George Rogers Clark might have well been in vain and the
Treaty of 1782 might have well fixed the western boundary of the
United States along the Allegheny Mountains instead of the Mississippi
River.
6. Designation of Five Flags Center as a State Bicentennial Site by the Iowa
American Revolution Bicentennial Commission.
7. The Five Flags Center project has been presented in mini -multi -media
form to appropriate Federal and other personages in Washington, D.C.
on two separate occasions.
8. Applications for recognition and/or financial and technical assistance
for various phases of the total project are in preparation for submission
to the following agencies.
A. American Revolution Bicentennial Commission
B. Iowa American Revolution Bicentennial Commission
C. National Endowment for the Arts
D. National Endowment for the Humanities
E. Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation, United
States Department of the Interior
10
FIVE FLAGS CENTER
MULTI -MEDIA CENTER
NARRATIVE SUMMARY
The Five Flags presentation will be an environmental experience to visitors of the
center. This 45-minute presentation will lead the audience through the early
history of the Upper Mississippi Valley. It will take them through the explorations
of Marquette and Joliet and bring them to the significant revolutionary war battle
at the lead mines of Dubuque.. Students will learn of the exploits of Jean Marie
Cardinal who warned St. Louis of the impending British attack. The ultimate defeat
of the British at St. Louis established the western border of the United States at
the Mississippi. The presentation of the colorful history of Dubuque will continue
through the 19th century when the cultural center of the Upper Midwest had 20
legitimate theaters in operation. This multi -projector presentation will convey to
the audience the experience of participating in history. The impact of a theater
built as an environmental experience will then be distributed to other parts of the
state of Iowa and surrounding areas through the means of "audio -visual -vans. "
The story will be told to school groups in all parts of Iowa and adjacent areas of
Wisconsin and Illinois. It is planned that this extension of the project will be
accomplished subsequent to the bicentennial year 1976 at which time the multi-
media presentation will be run continuously in the Five Flags multi -media center.
Also, it is'contemplated that a series of smaller slide presentations, containing
similar information, would be made available to the schools for use throughout
the state.
The above in capsule form describes the intent of creating within the total Five
Flags Center Project, a multi -media center composed of a self-contained auditor-
ium seating 150 persons with a complete sound system, a glass 1/2" lens screen -
wall 10 feet high an9 75 feet long in five modules together with appropriate
scaffolding for mourting projectors, speakers and other items of equipment.
The rear screen projection method will utilize the full width of the presentation
area, and is design=d to permit movement of the visual image in a variety of
11
locations and directions. The equipment includes those items necessary to pro-
vide maximum utilization of a variety of still pictures dissolving with lap dissolves, .
quick cuts, slow dissolves, integrated with motion pictures and a wide selection
of optical treatments to give various shapes to slides. Coupled with the sheer size
of the presentation area, will be the number of slides which can be shown individ-
ually and simultaneously and moved laterally and vertically as well as inside the
Individual frame of each picture through use of slide dissolves and motion pictures.
The screen configuration and the equipment has been specifically selected and
placed to communicate to the viewer that he is a total part of the presentation sur-
rounded on all sides by the sights and sounds and the motion of both pictures and
image position. Great care has been exercised to develop an environment in which
the viewer is not distracted by viewing a great deal of apparatus or disturbed by
the noise of the functioning of equipment.
i
12
SUMMARY
Budget Category NEH LocalRe Request �Share
Equipment $ 143,416 $
Presentation 120,000
Auditorium
224,000
$ 263,416 $ 224,000
The budget proposal provides that Audio Visual Presentations, a division of The
Des Moines Register and Tribune, and their technical consultant, Midwest Visual
Education Services, Inc. of the same city, will produce under contract the entire
presentation in collaboration with the Multi -Media Committee of the Five Flags
Center Fund Advisory Council and Historian Consultants to the Five Flags Center
Fund Executive Committee. The space to be constructed and designated as the
auditorium within the Exhibition -Arts Building will be designed by the architectural
and engineering firms of Cullen-Schiltz & Associates of Dubuque, and Bowen &
Kanazawa of Madison, based upon criteria provided by the multi -media consultants.
The architectural and engineering firms are presently under contract in relationship
to the total Five Flags Center project.
It is not contemplated that any expenditures incurred by the Multi -Media Committee,
the Five Flags Center Fund Executive Committee, or the Project Director in carrying
this project forward will be chargeable directly to this budget.
13