Dubuque, IA news and local guide

Named for Julien Dubuque, who had settled at the south end of a broad plain along the river, the city was chartered in 1833 in unorganized U.S. territory and is the oldest city in Iowa. Methodists built Iowa's first church there in 1833. The area became part of Iowa Territory in 1838 and the State of Iowa in 1846. When the lead ran out, Dubuque turned to timber from the forests of Minnesota and Wisconsin and to millwork, boatbuilding, brewing and railroads. The Diamond Jo Line moved its headquarters to Dubuque in 1874 and opened a shipyard at Eagle Point in 1878, and two years later it was the city's largest employer. Between 1860 and 1880 Dubuque was one of the 100 largest urban areas in the country. From the mid-19th century into the early 20th, thousands of poor German, Luxembourgish and Irish Catholic immigrants came to work in Dubuque's factories, and the city's large Catholic population led to its choice as seat of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, with many convents, abbeys and other religious institutions. Sources Wikipedia: Dubuque, Iowa