Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
Marshall Cohen—researcher and producer, CNN
Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
DIAMOND JO LINE
DIAMOND JO LINE. In December 1977, the former Diamond Jo Boat Store and Office, now property of Inland Molasses Company at Jones and Terminal STREETS, was added to the NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES. The building, which once had an office at the end facing the river and a steamboat warehouse behind it, is the only remaining building in Dubuque traceable to one of America's great steamboat companies.
The company was named for Joseph "Diamond Jo" REYNOLDS, a prosperous businessman who made fortunes in milling, tanning, RAILROADS, MINING, and shipping. The origin of his name, often the source of wild stories, came from his habit of surrounding his name Jo, for Joseph, with four lines suggesting a diamond.
Reynolds brought his steamboat business to Dubuque in 1876. Nine years later the building in Dubuque was constructed as the main office of the Diamond Jo Steamers.
