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.
CAMP 17
CAMP 17. Long-time resident of Dubuque often refer to Miller Riverview Park as Camp 17. In 2006 an article in the TELEGRAPH HERALD quoted then-City of Dubuque Leisure Service Department Manager Gil Spence as saying that 17th Street once ran near Miller Riverview Park. There was also an old racetrack near the area which was used as a campsite leading to the name Camp 17.
In 2006 the newspaper was contacted by Jennifer Tigges. She said her father, Donald McCord, told her that there were once leased lots with cottages on them along a dirt road stretching from EAGLE POINT PARK to where Miller Riverview Park was later located. Each lot along the road had a number and the last number of 17. A friend of McCord was coming down the river to visit, so McCord spray-painted "Camp 17" in numbers and letters about one-foot high on the front of his cottage which was located near the wing dam. Tigges commented that the sign was visible from the river for many years.
