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.
WHALEN, Lyle
WHALEN, Lyle. (Cresco, IA, Sept. 28, 1941- ). Whalen, owner and operator of the Island Princess excursion boat and Pelican Pier bar and restaurant, began repairing friends' cars at the age of sixteen. He established Whalen Body Rebuilders when he was eighteen and kept the company until about 1980. (1)
In 1973 he purchased AIH. Whalen also owned The Bridge truck stop, WHALEN'S SELF SERVICE CAR WASH, RAY'S BEE LINE auto alignment shop, and Iowa Bumper Rechroming-a Des Moines firm he merged with AIH. In 1990 AIH employed fifty people and served seven hundred customers within a 100-mile radius of Dubuque.
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Source:
Gilson, Donna. "Dubuque's Whalen Finds, Fills Niches," Telegraph Herald, October 28, 1990, p. 10