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by
M.A.M. |
In 1849, Dunleith had one house, and one fishing shack. Dunleith was not a town at all, but was known as Jordan’s ferry because of the ferry to Dubuque. When people heard that a railroad was coming, it became a boom town, a small town with hardly any people in it that suddenly becomes a big town. The coming of the Illinois Central Railroad caused the town to boom. There were growing pains because Dunleith didn’t have platted streets, a government, places to stay, and a good water supply there was only one well. By the time the railroad was completed in 1855, there was one railroad station, a road, and 50 new buildings, many of them were brick. The riverboats and the railroads were all connected in Dunleith. If someone wanted to go from New York to Minnesota, the trains would take goods and people to a certain point, and then a boat would take them from there. Dunleith was a major connecting point for boat and railroad traffic. |
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| In 1847, Augustus Gregoire obtained the land. He died and his brother, Charles, took it over. Charles sold 15 acres to the railroad. In 1853, Charles and five other men, including George Wallace Jones, formed a group they called the Proprietors of Dunleith. They had the county surveyor plat streets in March of 1854, they filed the plat and named the town Dunleith, after a town in Scotland. Charles and the five other men sold some lots privately, and held a public land sale in the summer of 1855. When they sold lots, they had a condition that the buildings that were erected had to be three story brick buildings, and that “no spirituous liquors should ever be sold therein.” Lots then sold quickly. A Commercial House/Post Office was soon built, by Colonel James Robinson, and a General Store was built by James Monti. Other stores and businesses opened. Businesses flourished as long as Dunleith was at the end of the line for the railroad. | |
| A number of hotels were opened in Dunleith to accommodate the many people passing through town. The first hotel was called the Bates House. The biggest most elegant hotel was the Argyle House. It was a four story brick building with a stone basement. From 1855, until 1867, the Argyle house was the most popular hotel along the Mississippi. When the railroad bridge opened, people didn’t stay there anymore. | |
| In 1856, Dunleith became a town. At that time there was no government or laws. A charter was made and laws were quickly passed. There were a lot of bad characters passing through the town in those days, and the town officials managed to keep the peace without any major examples of violence or lawlessness. The first charter was replaced by a new charter in 1868. The boom was over in 1869 when the railroad bridge connected Dunleith to Iowa. | |
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Bibliography Smoky Tales of Bygone Blazes. East Dubuque Volunteer Fire Department, 1971. History of Jo Daviesss County. Chicago: H.F. Kett & Co., 1878. Photos Courtesy of Center for Dubuque History. Loras College, Dubuque, Iowa. |
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