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.
MARSHALL PARK
Marshall Park. The site of the DUBUQUE ARBORETUM AND BOTANICAL GARDENS, the park was created when Jackson MARSHALL donated fifty-one acres of picturesque land north of town along West 32nd Street to the City of Dubuque.
Marshall worked a variety of transient jobs for the railroad before returning to Dubuque in 1922. In addition to his work on the city's boilers, Marshall performed in barbershop quartets and minstrel shows. He lived at 2605 Windsor Avenue and used his farmland as a retreat for himself and friends.
Marshall's hide-a-way, purchased for three thousand dollars, was valued at over $250,000 at the time of his death. Marshall originally offered the land to the Masonic Order as a local, state, or national retirement home for members. Disagreement over whether money should be provided to maintain the land caused Jackson to offer his property to the City of Dubuque. The only conditions to his gift were that he be allowed to live occasionally in an old farmhouse on the property, that the city begin development of the area as a park within one year, and that the land would always be used as a park.
See: BATTLE BOWS
