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.
DUBUQUE AUTOMOBILE CLUB
AUTOMOBILE CLUB. Pioneering group of automobile enthusiasts. Formed in June 1910, the Club promoted automobile use for "athletic and social purposes." Counted among the charter members were C. M. Peaslee, Anthony F. HEEB, Thomas J. FITZPATRICK, John V. CONZETT, Thomas James MULGREW, and W. E. Ellwanger. The Club's first president was C. M. Peaslee.
During the first six years of its existence, the Club established rules and regulations for automobile drivers, marked roads into the city with "directory signs" showing local laws, and posted warning signs near schools and other public buildings. It was responsible for securing a motorcycle policeman and traffic policeman. As a pioneer in the movement to establish good roads in Iowa, the Club was among the first to support the establishment of the Hawkeye Highway and the Dubuque-Platteville Road. The Club also organized "motor drives" to Cascade, Dyersville, and other cities in the county. The group proposed in 1916 to have fruit trees planted along highways and to continue naming farms as a means of aiding drivers in finding directions.
In the May 3, 1939 issue of The Dubuque Motorist, the Dubuque Automobile Club announced that for the last ten years the Dubuque Automobile Club had been the fourth largest A.A.A. Motor Club in the United States in proportion to car registrations out of the 750 independent A.A.A. Motor Clubs. The Club offered to members touring information including maps, road and detour information, emergency road service and answers to local questions.
The 1937 Dubuque Consurvey Directory listed 876 Locust.
