Phase III Architectural and Historical Survey Report- Downtown Dubuque
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“..the finest business street west of Chicago and North of St. Louis…” Phase III Architectural and Historical Survey Report- Downtown Dubuque James E. Jacobsen History Pays! Historic Preservation Consulting Firm, Des Moines June 19, 2003 “…the finest business street west of Chicago and north of St. Louis…” Phase III Architectural and Historical Survey Report-Downtown Dubuque, 2003 Cover Illustration: Downtown Dubuque viewed north from the Fourth Street Elevator, c.1905. Bluff Street runs in the foreground. Note the major factories (Rider-Wallis, Glover) and the original Masonic building all along Locust Street. The Town Clock stands in front of the original Security Building. The white front along Main in the center of the image is the newly remodeled Levi Block (Center for Dubuque History, Loras College, Photographic Collection). Credits and Acknowledgements: This project has been funded with the assistance of a matching grant-in-aid from the State Historical Society of Iowa, Community Programs Bureau, through the Department of the Interior, National Park Service, under provisions of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966; the opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the Department of the Interior. This project received Federal funds from the National Park Service. Regulations of the U.S. Department of the Interior strictly prohibit unlawful discrimination in Federally Assisted Programs on the basis of race, color, national origin, age or handicap. Any person who believes he or she has been discriminated against in any program, activity, or facility operated by a recipient of federal assistance should write to: Director, Equal Opportunity Program, U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1849 C Street NW, D.C. 20240 2 “…the finest business street west of Chicago and north of St. Louis…” Phase III Architectural and Historical Survey Report-Downtown Dubuque, 2003 Table of Contents: Introduction: ............................................................................................................................................. 4 Developmental History of the Dubuque Downtown: ............................................................................... 4 Commercial Typology: ......................................................................................................................... 115 Commercial Types: ................................................................................................................ 116 Commercial Style: .................................................................................................................. 124 Methodology: ........................................................................................................................................ 166 Report Recommendations: ................................................................................................. 168 Master List of Surveyed Phase III Downtown Properties (excludes Old Town addresses, apart from side streets) .................................................................... 168 Bibliography: ........................................................................................................................................ 182 3 “…the finest business street west of Chicago and north of St. Louis…” Phase III Architectural and Historical Survey Report-Downtown Dubuque, 2003 Introduction: The commercial and industrial downtown area is the principal subject of this architectural and historical survey and study. A substantial mixed residential and institutional/commercial area, located between the downtown (and east of it) between 11th, 18th and Elm streets, is also included in this third survey phase and the separate summary report covering that area is called the Old Town Historic District. Each commercial/industrial historic district report, new or revised (Old Main, Millwork District, North Central and Upper Main/Iowa Avenue) was similarly separately prepared and this report serves as a historical and typological summary for all of them. The background history of Dubuque as a whole and the Downtown in particular, was summarized in the multiple property documentation form titled Dubuque—The Key City: The Architectural And Historical Resources of Dubuque, Iowa, 1837-1955, (Jacobsen, 2002). This report is designed to serve as an appendix of that broader summary document and consequently, the historical information in that study will not be repeated in this one. The commercial property typology in this report represents a refined version of the one first developed in the multiple property document. The commercial and industrial contexts that were defined and developed in the multiple property report, were further defined in this report. Surviving properties that are associated with those contexts were identified, and National Register eligible properties were identified. Developmental History of the Dubuque Downtown: This section of the report traces the physical development of the commercial downtown over its history, and identifies the causal influences which drove, retarded or otherwise influenced that development. The realties and influences of the physical features of the downtown setting are considered as well. The historical pattern and layout of Dubuque’s downtown remains readily apparent today. Four main streets, running southwest to the northeast, dominate the plat. The terrace or plateau that comprises the downtown is pushed eastward by intervening bluffs, stopping Locust, never a commercial street, at 10th, terminating Main Street at 17th, and forcing Center Street to jog eastward at 18th Street. From west to east, Main and Iowa streets were the commercial/retail streets. Iowa south of 8th was a jobbing and warehousing venue. Clay (now Central) was the location for the earliest hotels, public and institutional buildings (city hall, the courthouse, schools, markets), and residences, the latter increasingly predominating as one ventured north. White, Jackson and Washington streets were industrial below 11th Street, and residential north of that line. There were two industrial concentrations which survive today, the principal one bounded by 6th Street, 10th Street, Highway 61, and Jackson Street, and a lesser one bounded by Maple, 18th, Washington and 15th streets. The first downtown actually directly influenced the first city plat. There was a 64-feet long row of stores and the row fronting it was 64 feet distant. The resulting lots measured a convenient 64 feet so as to not disturb these pre-existing buildings and the resulting blocks containing four such lots on a front, measured 256 feet in length (Horton, pp. 15-16). 4 “…the finest business street west of Chicago and north of St. Louis…” Phase III Architectural and Historical Survey Report-Downtown Dubuque, 2003 Figure 1: Survey area topographical map (two-feet contours) Figure 1 defines the survey area boundaries and illustrates the narrowness of the terrace upon which the downtown developed. Simply put, the closer the contour lines are, the steeper the is the land surface. This is particularly apparent towards the south end of the survey. The left of center appendage is Julien Avenue or 8th Street. 5 “…the finest business street west of Chicago and north of St. Louis…” Phase III Architectural and Historical Survey Report-Downtown Dubuque, 2003 Figure 2: Summary Sewer Construction Map, 1889-1905 This study presented an opportunity to measure the impact of sewer line service on new construction. Figure 2 summarizes the provision of key alleyway lateral sewer lines beginning in 1889. The study determined that to a large extent the areas serviced by the new sewer system were already developed when the lines were built. There is some indication that rebuilding or enlargement did follow and some empty lots indeed were developed or other buildings enlarged immediately after the parcels received the service. The key historical development was the provision of adequate water service from Eagle Point beginning in 1899. A 20 inch main was laid from the water works on the Point to Jones Street, a distance of three miles, and the work took two months to complete. The provision of adequate water and water pressure did much to facilitate the enlargement 6 “…the finest business street west of Chicago and north of St. Louis…” Phase III Architectural and Historical Survey Report-Downtown Dubuque, 2003 of factories and the jobbing interests and provided enhanced fire-fighting resources as well (Sewer records, Telegraph, May 13, June 7, 17, August 2, 1899). Fifth Street was the northern boundary of Dubuque in general as of 1836. The town plat consisted of four principal and seven cross streets (1st to 7th, Locust to Clay streets). One building headcount that year tallied three churches, 50 stores, 55 dwellings, and one river warehouse The town of Du Buque 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 bluff, 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… Dubuque Visitor, May 11, 1836 This was very remarkable growth, given that legal settlement in the area dated from 1833. Early growth was first challenged by the national 1837