Elevators

East Dubuque Local Area History Project

	by E. R. 4/25/00 The Fenelon Place or Fourth Street Elevator is one of Dubuque’s tourist attractions. It is on Fourth Street near the bluff. It was built because of Mr. J.K. Graves, a State Senator, owner of a mine, and a banker, who lived on the top of a bluff and worked at the bottom of the bluff. He would have to take a horse and buggy around the bluff every day to and from work, a round trip that took nearly three hours. He was very sick of having to go all the way around and so he decided to have someone build a cable car.

	He had to make sure it was all right with the government before he could build it. On June 5, 1882, the city before he could build it, and on June 5, 1882, they approved it. John Bell, an engineer, was hired by Mr. Graves so he could design and build a one-car cable. The cable car that was built for Mr. Graves was a wooden Swiss-style car with a coal-fired engine. It was hulled up and down the track by a hemp rope.

	The cable car was first operated on July 25, 1882, when Mr. Graves’ gardener let him up and down all day by the rope. After a few days, Mr. Graves’ friends and neighbors would come and ask for rides.

	On July 19,1884, the elevator burned because of a fire in the stove. After Mr. Graves had the car rebuilt, he opened the elevator to the public, because so many people were always asking for rides. Mr. Graves charged 5 cents for a person to ride.

	Once again, the elevator burned in 1893. Mr. Graves could not afford to rebuild, and because people depended on the elevator to get them places, a group got together and formed the Fenelon Place Elevator and Company. Mr. Graves gave the people the franchise for the track. This group of people traveled to Chicago, Illinois, to find new ideas for the elevator. They got a streetcar motor, which would run the elevator up and down the track, a turnstile, and a steel cable for the cars to run on. They installed three rails and a fourth bypass, which would allow two cars on the track at a time. They did this because every time the elevator burned it caused a lot of damage to the rails.

	In the year of 1912, C.B. Trewin bought all the stock from ten stockholders, who either passed or moved away. In 1916, he added a second floor apartment where men would get together and use it as a meeting room, or they could smoke and play cards. It was a good location because their wives would not interrupt them.

	The elevator burned again in 1962. This fire was between the ceiling of the operator’s room and the upstairs of the apartment. The price then had to raise to 10 cents because of the fire.

	In 1977, the car was rebuilt. They replaced a modern gear box in the operator’s room that had a DC motor. It replaced the old gear box that had been used for 84 years.

	Nowadays, The Fourth Street Elevator is known to be the shortest scenic elevator in the world. It is 296 feet long and it goes 189 feet high. From the top you can see the river and all of downtown Dubuque.

	Another elevator is the Eleventh Street Elevator, built in 1887 so all the residents could ride up and down, to and from the Hancock House, which was owned by Charles Hancock. He owned a wholesale grocery business. It had two tracks, going up and one going down, and it leveled off at the top, giving the tracks two slopes.

	The elevator was rebuilt using only one slope, and it cut through the wall parallel to Bluff Street. It was torn down in 1929, and was never as successful as the Fourth Street Elevator.

	Bibliography Lyon, Randolph W.,Dubuque:the Encyclopedia,Dubuque, Iowa: Union Hoermann Press, 1991. Elevator History [Online] available: http://www.mall.mwci.net/fenplco/history.html, 3/12/00. Photo Courtesy of Center for Dubuque History. Loras College, Dubuque, Iowa.