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Encyclopedia Dubuque

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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.




BISSELL, Frederick Ezekiel

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Ancestry.com--https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/37242746/person/28880201808/facts

Photo courtesy: Linwood Legacies
Advertisement in 1928 Dubuque Senior High Yearbook. Image courtesy: Paul Lembke

BISSELL, Frederick Ezekiel. (Dubuque, IA, Jan. 24, 1878--Dubuque, IA, Dec. 16, 1958). Bissell, the son of Lester C. BISSELL and the father of Richard BISSELL, attended Harvard where he was a member of the Hasty Pudding Club, Institute of 1776, The Owls Club, Signet Society, and the College Literary Club. He was the president of "Harvard Crimson, the Harvard paper, which four years later was directed by future U. S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He joined the H. B. GLOVER COMPANY after he graduated and rose to the position of president. (1)

Deeply committed to the City of Dubuque, he served as president of the board of education where he advocated for playgrounds and FINLEY HOSPITAL (THE). He was one of the original members of the Planning and Zoning Commission (1929) and supported filling riverfront land for industrial sites. Bissell was a founder and director of the Dubuque Humane Society (1901), member of the LINWOOD CEMETERY Association, charter member of the Rotary, and a national councilor of the Boys' Club of America. As a member of the Chamber of Commerce, he played a key role in bringing the city manager form of government to Dubuque. Bissell served as secretary of the first Park Committee that, around 1900, had the function of raising money to purchase land for playground and picnic areas. Judge Oliver Perry SHIRAS, one of the largest single donors, made possible the purchase of eight acres of land known as EAGLE POINT. (2)

Bissell helped bring the game of golf to Dubuque and possibly Iowa in the late 1800s. Collecting one dollar from each of fifty friends, he established the groundwork for the DUBUQUE GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB in 1898 with land donated by William L. BRADLEY, Sr. Bissell and his friends laid out the path of the first two fairways with hand mowers. (3)

Bissell and his wife were sponsors of the short-lived publication, DUBUQUE DIAL.

Gravestone in Linwood Cemetery

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Source:

1. F. E. Bissel, Dubuque Civic Leader, is Dead," Telegraph-Herald, December 17, 1958, p. 8

2. Ibid., p. 1

3. Ibid., p. 1

Linwood Legacies Self-Guided Tour. Online: http://www.linwoodcemetery.us/about/history/