FRED W. WOODWARD RIVERBOAT MUSEUM
From Encyclopedia Dubuque
FRED W. WOODWARD RIVERBOAT MUSEUM. One of the three museums maintained by the DUBUQUE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Development of the museum began in 1978 when Robert KEHL and his wife Ruth donated the old Chicago, Burlington and Northern freight house on the ICE HARBOR.
The building, on the NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES, was built in 1901 as the third and last structure built by railroad companies at the Dubuque ICE HARBOR. The building, later the site of the DUBUQUE BOAT AND BOILER WORKS, was a forty-year veteran of manufacturing in Dubuque before the company closed in 1972. Private donations along with gifts from the Woodward Foundation, FLEXSTEEL INDUSTRIES INC., JOHN DEERE DUBUQUE WORKS, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation provided nearly one million dollars in cash and services to renovate the building and create the museum.
The doors to the museum opened on July 15, 1982, to an enriching collection of exhibits ranging from Native American artifacts to BOAT BUILDING in Dubuque.
