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.
KING MANSION
KING HOUSE. Original residence of Dubuque pioneer John KING. When Judge King built his mansion there was no other house west of Central Avenue and south from Diagonal Street to Twenty-fifth street. At the start, Judge King built only the center section of the house. Later he added the wing to the north and at a still later period the south wing. The house stood at the top of a gradual incline that extended all the way down to the level of Central avenue, then known as the PLANK ROAD.
Included in the homestead was all of the property between Central Avenue and Broadway and from Diagonal Street to Twenty-fifth Street. On the slopes at every side of the house were vineyards and orchards. To protect the products of his vines and trees, Judge King had a five-foot wall of stone built about the entire property extending all the way down Central Avenue, on Twenty-fifth and Diagonal streets and all the way along Broadway between these two streets.
In the years after the death of Judge King the property which he beautified by the planting of vineyards, fruit trees and berry bushes and flowers of many varieties has been made into a subdivision, new streets were laid out through it, and new homes were built on its slopes. The Fulton school annex and its playgrounds were located at the foot of the slope in front of the old residence.
Today the "King Mansion" can best be seen from Traut Terrace. The home is the only one along the higher Broadway Street that faces east.