This fair city, the oldest in Iowa, is situated at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a region locally known as the Tri-State Area. It is home to the world’s shortest, steepest scenic railway, known as the Fenelon Place Elevator, as well as the fifth largest collection of Tiffany glass in the world. With the Field of Dreams movie site just 26 miles west, Dubuque is also a great jumping off point for baseball fans planning a visit.

With our first sunny day as motivation, the four of us were up, fed, and on the 9:00 o’clock bus ready to explore downtown Dubuque. We were particularly intrigued by the Tiffany glass, so our first stop was at Saint Luke’s United Methodist Church, famous for being Iowa’s earliest congregation. In 1834 the faithful built a 20 by 26 log structure at the cost of $255. The large limestone church we visited today replaced the original church in 1897.

A fabulous docent was waiting to share her enthusiasm for the church, its windows, and its Corvette gold pipe organ. She explained that members of the church attended the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 looking for innovative ideas for the church they were planning to build to replace the log structure. They were smitten by the Tiffany display and decided on the spot that the new church windows should be Tiffany. When the new church was finished it included five large and 90 small Tiffany windows. Two were added in 1916 and two more in the 1930s. The fun docent explained how innovative Tiffany was in terms of layering glass for certain effects (to create shadows, for example), creating a couple thousand colors of glass, and using small pieces.

As a complete change of pace we headed to the Fenelon funicular. Sure enough it is not only short at 296 feet and steep with a rise of 189 feet, it has a fun story. Most of what is now downtown Dubuque is in the flood plain. Anyone who could afford to do so worked in town but lived at the top of a bluff out of harm’s way. Mr. Graves was one of the fortunate ones. Dubuque was what was known as an hour and a half town meaning everything shut down at noon for an hour and half so folks could go home for their midday meal. Mr. Graves’ buggy ride up the hill was 30 minutes and another 30 to get back down the hill which hardly allowed time for a meal and a short nap. Why not build a one-car cable like those in the Alps? In July of 1882, Mr. Grave’s gardner let him down the hill in the morning for his two and a half block walk to work and back up at noon and back down after his short nap and back up at the end of the day. Problem solved.

This private shortcut slowly morphed into a neighborhood shortcut at $0.05 a pop to a community lift at $0.10 a pop. We rode up and back for $2.00 each way in what was remodeled in 1977 and enjoyed nice views and a chat with the fun, overall-clad station master.

Determined to cram in two more stops before lunch, we headed first to the Julian Hotel, named in honor of the French Canadian fur trapper for whom the city is named, Julian Dubuque. Beautifully restored and decorated, it has been a luxury landmark in town since the 1930s famous for hosting the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Buffalo Bill, Mark Twain, and Al Capone.

No time to doddle, so off we went to the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium where we enjoyed two videos and saw interesting displays about the history, science, and wildlife of the Mississippi.

Lunch, like all of our other meals, was delicious. My three wingmen went back downtown to shop after wiping out their bread pudding and ice cream and I stayed behind to read and relax before the 4:00 o’clock presentation on the golden era of the steamboat.

Our day ended with dinner, a preview of tomorrow, and entertainment.

… Fun Facts about Dubuque …

One of the two casinos in town is a nonprofit. Really.
Annual profits are split equally between the city, the casino, and local outreach programs.

Some of the windows in the White House were made here back in the day.

The courthouse has a gold dome visible from all over town.

There is no record of what St. Lukes’s paid for its famous windows less the last one.
The bill of sale for it said $3,000 less 10% if paid in cash.