Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
FOURTH STREET ELEVATOR
FOURTH STREET ELEVATOR (also known as the Fenelon Place Elevator). The steepest and shortest railway in the United States and possibly the world, the elevator has a length of 296 feet to carry passengers 189 feet from Fenelon Place to Fourth Street. In 1955 it was stated that the elevator had carried more than 7 million people since its opening. (2)
In 2020 Amy Schadle stated on "You Know You Are From Dubuque" the following explanation for the two names.
Fenlon Place Elevator is the official name. The legal name I
to file all my taxes etc. The name is from the location-
Fenelon Place at the top of the bluff. This is where in 1893
the neighbors who formed the corporation lived. Now Fourth
Street Elevator is the local name because the street at the
bottom is Fourth Street and many people started at the bottom.
I also grew up calling it the Fourth Street Elevator.
The incline in places is nearly seventy-four degrees. The 286-foot long track has three rails that widen to four to allow the cars to pass each other.
The elevator was constructed for Julius K. GRAVES who was faced with a daily round trip of sixty minutes to reach his hilltop home from downtown and return to work. Originally Graves planned to cut a tunnel up to 100 feet into the bluff. This would allow the elevator to lift vertically. (3) He soon gave up this idea and petitioned the city council to construct an elevator after seeing the advantages of incline railways in the Alps of Europe. The petition was granted on June 5, 1882. A one-car model was designed and built by John Bell, a local engineer. Graves' private elevator went into operation on July 25, 1884. (4) The Swiss-style car was moved up and down the hill using hemp ropes, a coal-fired steam engine boiler, and winch. The machine used to lift and lower the car was designed by C. B. Trewin and constructed by the Adams Company.
Use of the elevator seemed to be year-round. In January, 1885 records indicated that it carried over 7,000 riders. (5)
One unusual event occurred during the elevator every FOURTH OF JULY. At 4:00 a.m. the day was announced with the firing of a CIVIL WAR cannon.
Nearly two years later, on July 9, 1886, the elevator was destroyed by fire. (6) Remembering that his neighbors had often asked for rides, Graves opened his elevator to all riders for a fare of five cents. On May 25, 1893 the elevator burned again. (7) Accustomed to having the use of the elevator, ten neighbors (each of whom invested $250) formed the Fenelon Place Elevator Company and bought Graves' interest in the system.
In 1893, during a visit to the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois, company members purchased a steel cable from the company that built the Brooklyn Bridge for the cars to replace the hemp ropes that had been used. (8) A twenty-five horsepower electric motor was manufactured by the Adams Company. A turnstile, a relic of the Exposition, was placed in operation with an automatic counter. The company had three rails installed with a bypass in the center to permit the use of two counterbalanced cars. (9)
One of the original members of the Fenelon Place Elevator Company, Clifton Baker TREWIN, gradually bought up eighty shares of stock as the other members lost interest in the enterprise or died. By 1916 he owned the company and in 1916 replaced wooden cars with others made of steel. Ownership of the elevator eventually passed to his daughter, Mrs. Dorothy I. Huntoon.
On July 2, 1925 lightening hit the motor's transformer twice. (10) A more powerful motor was purchased in Davenport installed and the elevator reopened for business on July 4th. (11) The same year an intercom system was installed in the cars.
The cars were rebuilt in 1977 by the BRADLEY IRON WORKS, INC. and the original gear drive was replaced with a modern gearbox with a DC motor. Mrs. Donald Huntoon, owner of the Fenelon Place Elevator Company, said the repairs cost more than what the entire bluff elevator originally cost to build. (12) The fare for traveling one way remained a nickel from 1882 until 1962. The fare became ten cents after a fire required costly repairs.
In 1978, after extensive rebuilding of the vintage 1916 cars and replacing worn teeth on the gears used to raise them, the fare increased to twenty-five cents for adults and fifteen cents for children. Fares for one-way travel in 2008 were posted as fifty cents for adults. As many as 150,000 passengers have been carried annually with an estimated eight million passengers between 1884 and 1964.
On August 4, 1978, the Fenelon Place Elevator was placed on the NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTR_cj9hlXk
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Source:
1. Phase V Architectural/Historical Survey/Evaluation Final Report. Online: http://weblink.cityofdubuque.org/WebLink8/DocView.aspx?id=44950&page=1&searchid=9d0a32ca-655e-4868-b2d1-db38eb62e79b, p. 24
2. Winning, Jack. "It's Our Fourth Street Elevator," Telegraph Herald, July 17, 1955
3. Phase V Architectural/Historical Survey/Evaluation Final Report. Online: http://weblink.cityofdubuque.org/WebLink8/DocView.aspx?id=44950&page=1&searchid=9d0a32ca-655e-4868-b2d1-db38eb62e79b, p. 22
4. Ibid.
5. "The Fourth Street Elevator," Dubuque Sunday Herald, February 18, 1885, p. 8
6. Oldt, Franklin T. History of Dubuque County, Iowa. Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1880 http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/franklin-t-oldt/history-of-dubuque-county-iowa-being-a-general-survey-of-dubuque-county-histor-tdl/page-21-history-of-dubuque-county-iowa-being-a-general-survey-of-dubuque-county-histor-tdl.shtml
7. Winning
8. Shipley, Florence D., "A House on the Brow of the Hill," Telegraph-Herald, June 5, 1966, p. 8
9. Winning
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. "Cable Cars Back to Track," Telegraph Herald, July 10, 1977, p. 11
Dubuque Folklore. American Trust and Savings Bank. 1976
Pratt, LeRoy G. Discovering Historic Iowa, Iowa Department of Public Instruction, 1975
Fourth Street Elevator; You Tube user: gTR_cj9hlXk
