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.
NOVELTY IRON WORKS
NOVELTY IRON WORKS. Succeeding the company of J.L. Dickinson & Company, the Novelty Iron Works was bounded by 10th and 11th STREETS east of Washington Street. The company began business on January 1, 1876 with a capital of $60,000 and officers including C.S. Burt, president; George O. Cowles, secretary and treasurer; and J.L. DICKINSON, superintendent. The usual workforce of fifty men produced machinery for flour mills, saw mills, steam engines, water wheels, and well-drilling machines. Shipments reached as far west as California. Monthly payrolls in 1880 reached $1,800.
The Novelty Iron Works building was later used by EAGLE WINDOW AND DOOR for between forty and fifty years ending in 2000. In 2004 the building was the home of Architectural Salvage and Antiques. The site became the Restoration Warehouse in 2006.
The Novelty Iron Works building was once part of the CARADCO and then the headquarters of EAGLE WINDOW AND DOOR. In 2005 developer Bob Johnson purchased the building and assisted with the city's development plans as part of the MILLWORK DISTRICT REVITALIZATION. Repeating the theme of the Caradco Building, the Novelty Iron Works building was planned as a mixed-use commercial and residential center. The first phase of development planned for completion in the fall of 2013 was the construction of 76 apartments units and about half of the commercial space. The Gym was the building's first commercial tenant. Nearly all of the Novelty Iron Works apartments were scheduled to be market-rate with one, two or three-bedroom units available.
