WEST 11TH STREET HISTORIC DISTRICT

WEST 11TH STREET HISTORIC DISTRICT. The West Eleventh Street District has its eastern boundary on and along the bluff line. When the district was first being built up, the area around the city was entirely cleared of trees due to the need for wood fuel for the LEAD smelters. Prior to reforestation at the turn-of-the century, the earliest houses on or behind the bluffs therefore enjoyed an unobstructed view eastward of the MISSISSIPPI RIVER and the Wisconsin hills. The southward view was generally abandoned in later years.

The West Eleventh Street Historic District gains its name from its historical association with the ELEVENTH STREET ELEVATED RAILROAD. The district occupies high ground that includes the bluff front to the east. Two ridges or bluff fronts form a right angle at the southeast corner of the district. The first, fronting east, is comprised of Grove Terrace and Highland Place. The second, fronting south, is comprised of West Eleventh, Jefferson and finally Wilbur streets. These step down successively to the south. This area boasts some of the most substantial stone retaining walls at Alice and Wilbur.

Reaching the top of the bluff was first accomplished by wooden steps. In 1871 a Captain West constructed a 100-step flight of stairs to his home. Beginning the 1877 the HILL STREET AND WEST DUBUQUE STEAM RAILWAY COMPANY began serving customers and remained in business until 1884. The other two transportation services of importance were the FOURTH STREET ELEVATOR and the previously mentioned Eleventh Street Elevated Railroad.

People living on the hill were subject to the problems of erosion made worse by the lack of trees and ground cover. Stone retaining walls used to terrace the vineyards often failed because, as observed by the editors of Die Iowa (April 22, 1875), they were commonly constructed "in the American fashion without regard for the burden to be carried." Massive walls that survived often used combinations of exposed rock and supplemental walls. So unstable was the land, the city council in 1914 prohibited street excavations for residents of Arlington, Grove Terrance, West 11th, and Walnut for a ten-year period.

Street construction closely preceded the building of sewers, but home construction and the provision of sewers was not closely related. Homeowners had to pay connecting fees. The Telegraph with perhaps the encouragement of the city council argued in mid-1894 that property owners and landlords would see property values increase if sewer connections were made. A much discussed event that summer was a property owners along Bluff Street cleaning out his cistern and dumping the sludge in the street. Water connections were made much more quickly.

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Source:

National Register of Historic Places. Online: http://www.cityofdubuque.org/DocumentCenter/Home/View/2928