Encyclopedia Dubuque
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ALDERSON, James
Family History: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jmoyna&id=I026570
ALDERSON, James. (Dubuque County, Iowa, Apr. 17, 1864 --Strawberry Point, IA, Nov. 2, 1953). MAYOR. Alderson graduated from the Iowa State Teachers' College in Cedar Falls and the Northwestern University medical school before opening his practice in Shullsburg and then Benton, Wisconsin. He came to Dubuque in 1898 when the SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR was still happening. He served from 1907 to 1915 as a member of the water board and spent much of his time supporting a change of government to the city-manager style. and served as the city's mayor in 1920 when the city-manager form of government was begun. He served as mayor from 1920 to 1926.
During his years as mayor, the principal actions of the city included filling the Rafferty and 4th street sloughs, extending the water and gas mains, building new streets including Rockdale Road, and improving the fire department.
Alderson was a member of the board of trustees of FINLEY HOSPITAL (THE) for fourteen years. He managed a hospital in Wichita, Kansas during WORLD WAR I and returned to Dubuque to practice and serve as president of the Dubuque County Medical Society. From 1926 to 1948 he was a member of the Dubuque public library board and from 1928 to 1937 served on the school board. He retired from medicine before becoming mayor.
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Source:
"Former Mayor Sees Dubuque Moving Ahead," Telegraph Herald, September 15, 1946, p. B16