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.
WALLIS, John Rider
WALLIS, John Rider. (Dubuque, IA, Jan. 4, 1887--Aug. 6, 1985). Wallis graduated from the DUBUQUE HIGH SCHOOL and then attended the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, in the class of 1910.
He returned to Dubuque to enter business and was involved in real estate and constructed the first modern apartment house in the city in 1911. He was a leader in establishing the FEDERAL DEPOSIT & TRUST COMPANY in 1914 and served over the years as a director, vice president and cashier.
In WORLD WAR I, Wallis served as a first lieutenant in the United States Army 88th Field Artillery from 1917-1919.
In 1924 Wallis was instrumental in financing and constructing Dubuque's tallest office building. He was also one of the organizers and later a director of the DUBUQUE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, financial officer of the UNIVERSITY OF DUBUQUE from 1940-1944, and served as convention chairman of the Republican Central Committee.
Prior to WORLD WAR II, he was a state examiner for the Reconstruction Finance Corporation in the Des Moines headquarters from 1932-1934 and during the war was the director of the Office of Price Administration from 1944-1948.
On January 1, 1953 Wallis became the manager of the DUBUQUE AUTOMOBILE CLUB.
See: WALLIS, John Rider (Home)
---
Source:
Dodge, Edward N. Business Men of Iowa, Des Moines: Midwest Publications, Inc. 1953, p. 743
