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.
PARK BOARD
PARK BOARD. In 1908 the original "park committee" purchased the five acre site of the grave of Julien DUBUQUE. In 1909 the Iowa legislature passed a law authorizing the election of park boards in special charter cities of which Dubuque was one. Prior to that date, the city's few parks were under the direct supervision of the city council.
Early in 1910 the city council passed an ordinance authorizing a park board. People attending a public meeting selected a fifteen man cimmittee which chose a four man park committee which was to serve two years. The committee had as its chairman Oliver Perry SHIRAS. Herbert ADAMS was chosen the vice chairman, Frederick E. BISSELL served as secretary and Harry Ennis TREDWAY was the treasurer. The first park board included Shiras, Adams, and Frank J. PIEKENBROCK. Glenn Brown replaced Shiras in 1916. Charles Landon and William CLEMENS, Sr. replaced the other two men in 1932.
The work of the "non-salaried, members of a group that for years has done its big job in quiet obscurity" was the subject of an article in the Telegraph-Herald on July 2, 1950. Entitled "Mr. A, Mr. B, and Mr. C Quietly Handle City's Big Parks Job," the three men were Waldo ADAMS, Arthur BENNETT, and Leo CLEMENS. Adams took office in 1935; Bennett in 1943; and Clemens, brother of William, in 1949.
The park board between 1908 and 1917 combined seventeen small land units into a 160-acre park and had a 642 foot stone and concrete wall built on the bluff overlooking the MISSISSIPPI RIVER and the locks and dam. Plans called to an additional 500-foot section to be added in 1951. The park board of Mr. A,B, and C revised the road system in GRANDVIEW PARK to allow one way traffic in a grand loop. All park properties except for the library area were maintained by park workers under the supervision of the board. The board was also responsible for have the hillside lots being clipped along Montrose Terrace, Eighth Avenue below the DIAMOND HOUSE, the west side of the 12th Street hill, and OAKWOOD PARK on the west side of Sageville Road. Seven street corners were maintained by the park board, Grandview Avenue, and the grave of Julien Dubuque. In 1950 the park board was faced with where to build a stadium.
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Source:
Kreger, Bill, ""Mr. A, Mr. B, and Mr. C Quietly Handle City's Big Parks Job," Telegraph-Herald, July 2, 1950, p. 16
