DOVE, Charles E.

DOVE, Charles E. (Vincennes, IN--Indianapolis, IN, Feb. 15, 1980). MAYOR. Dove came to Dubuque in 1925 to serve as the district manager of INTERSTATE POWER COMPANY. From 1930 to 1933 he worked at two other corporation affiliates in Newport, Rhode Island and Tulsa, Oklahoma. He returned to Dubuque in 1933 and served here until his retirement in 1952. (1) Dove was a former chairman and life member of the Mississippi Valley Association. (2) Dedicated to developing the use of the MISSISSIPPI RIVER, he received a Distinguished Service Medal from the Iowa Section of the Mississippi River Parkway Commission. In 1978 the Fourth Street observation point on the FLOODWALL was named in his honor. (3) The Dubuque Seventh Street Harbor was named in his honor in 1987 for his enthusiastic promotion of the potential uses of the river.

In 1962 Iowa Governor Norman Erbe named Dove to the newly formed Governors Commission on Tourism to encourage tourism in Iowa. (3) Dove was instrumental in the establishment of the Great River Road. President of the Rotary Club in Dubuque (1940-1941) and the Dubuque Chamber of Commerce (now the DUBUQUE AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE) from 1947 to 1948, Dove was appointed to fill the unexpired term of Ruben V. AUSTIN on the Dubuque City Council and was elected mayor in 1957. (4)

Dove served as mayor during the Cold War with Russia in which the possibility of an atomic attack was considered possible. In 1957 Dubuque was not one of the cities "hit" by hypothetical atomic bombs as part of CIVIL DEFENSE training. AFRICAN AMERICANS challenged the basis of several local laws. Park commissioners darkened electrical outlets at EAGLE POINT PARK in dealing with those who misused them to do their electrical ironing at city expense. On a brighter note, the number of cases of POLIO decreased in Iowa due to the use of the Salk vaccine. Dove was involved in the initial plans for the industrial harbor on 7th Street that was eventually named in his honor. (5)

Other events occurring during Dove's administrator can be found be writing 1957 in the search feature of this encyclopedia.

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Source:

1. "Harbor Dedicated Here," Telegraph-Herald,' July 2, 1967, p. 18

2. "Map Out River Project Program," Telegraph-Herald, June 19, 1958, p. 14

3. Schwar, Kathy, "Fishing Delight May Lie Beyond Steps to Nowhere," Telegraph Herald, June 27, 1978, p. 9

4. "Harbor Dedicated..."

5. Ibid.