Encyclopedia Dubuque
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
LYONS, Edwin B.
LYONS, Edwin B. (Centralia, IL-Dubuque, IA, Sept. 15, 1970). Lyons came to the BAYLESS BUSINESS COLLEGE in 1909 as its principal. He had previously served in the same capacity at Brown's Business College in Danville, Illinois. Prior to that he had worked fourteen years with the same firm in business colleges it maintained in Peoria, Decatur and Rockford, Illinois. (1) Lyons went on to purchase the Dubuque school and make it one of five he eventually owned in Iowa. He operated the Dubuque business school until it was sold in 1959.
Lyons, remembered for the E. B. LYONS INTERPRETATIVE CENTER bearing his name, established Dubuque's famous PEONY TRAIL in 1947 in memory of his wife. Through a trust fund, he fulfilled his wife's dream with a trail of peony plants on the islands along two miles of Grandview Avenue and in city parks. In 1949 he served as chairman of the Peony Trail Committee. (2) For many years, he served as a director of the YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION (Y.M.C.A.) He was also treasurer and business manager for the UNIVERSITY OF DUBUQUE, elected vice-president of the Rotary Club in 1924, and chosen a clerical delegate to the annual convention of the diocese of Iowa by ST. JOHN'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
In 1962 Lyons offered $12,000 to develop a nine-hole, par-3, golf course adjacent to BUNKER HILL GOLF COURSE. He suggested that the 18th hole could be moved southward to make room for the new course. The 18th, a par-4, would become a par-3. This would provide just over seven acres at the west end of Bunker Hill, including the practice range, for the suggested course. The idea was rejected by the Dubuque Recreation Commission as a result of a letter received from C. D. Wagstaff, the golf course architect of the renovated Bunker Hill course, who did not recommend the change. (3)
In 1972 trustees of the estate announced that a trust fund with $290,000 had been established to give funds to the Dubuque Park Board and the City of Dubuque. The money was for use within or outside the city limits to acquire or develop additional park and recreation areas.
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Source:
1. "New Principal Bayless College," Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, June 9, 1909, p. 12
2. "Peony Trail Beauty Stirs Up Dubuquer," Telegraph Herald, August 28, 1949, p. 19
3. "Lyon's Golf Offer Rejected," Telegraph Herald, September 1, 1962, p. 1
