DUBUQUE STEAM SUPPLY COMPANY

DUBUQUE STEAM SUPPLY COMPANY. The Dubuque Steam Supply Company was organized May 20, 1879, with the following officers who still served in 1911: George Benjamin BURCH, President; John N. Manning, Superintendent; A. J. Van Duzee, Treasurer, and A. Palmer, Secretary. The business was located near the corner of Sixth and Iowa STREETS. The company used four large boilers located in the company's basement to generate the steam. Machinery necessary to distribute the steam was housed in the upper floors. (1)

The Holly System of heating which was to be constructed had been adopted in Detroit, Lockport, Rochester, and Springfield, Massachusetts and was to be installed in Brooklyn, Albany, and Milwaukee. At about the same cost as coal, the new system was believed to be an inducement for the development of small industry. The heat being produced was said to be more uniform in the building. Steam generators were to be built at points from which most of the city could be heated effectively. (2)

From the building where the steam was generated, large supply pipes were buried along the leading streets of the city. From these mains, feeding pipes were connected with any store, office or residence where the steam was wanted. The pipes extended to 11th and Iowa, 15th and Main, 5th to 15th streets along Locust and from 6th to 9th along Bluff. (3)

According to supporters of the new system, in case of fire, every house had the means to extinguish it right at hand. Perforated pipes could be placed in the rooms of the house; when the flames broke out, the steam could be turned on and the fire quenched. (4)

Proponents suggested that steam could be taken from the mains and used to run fire engines. In this way fire engines would be made much lighter and more easily and rapidly transported. Every house was supplied with hot water at all times. All the cooking could be done by steam. (5)

After the first winter in operation, the company's officials announced that two additional one hundred-horse power would be added to those already in use. This was partially due to the increase in consumers from 64 in 1879 to an estimated 104 for the winter of 1880. (6)

While the idea was promising, it did not gain enough customers to pay the costs of expansion. Judson Keith DEMING, stepson of one of the early officials, suggested that it the company had maintained service only to the downtown area it might have remained in business longer. Since the company was located at 6th and Iowa, it had to pay large amounts of money to transport coal from the railroad years. A further cost was the loss of steam which was not returned to the plant if not used by caught in traps located in each building. (7)

The company was reorganized several times. Before it closed in the early 1890s, the firm was renamed Dubuque Consumers Steam Supply Company. After it was closed, the Key City Gas Company purchased its pipes and and dug them up so that they would be out of the way when gas pipes were buried. (8)

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Source:

1. "Metal Dug From Street Recalls Old Plant Here," Telegraph Herald, August 12, 1945, Section 2, p. 1

2. "Steam vs. Coal and Wood," The Daily Herald, May 25, 1879, p. 4

3. "Metal Dug..."

4. Ibid.

5. Ibid.

6. "Growing Establishment," Dubuque Herald, October 7, 1880, p. 4. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=uh8FjILnQOkC&dat=18801007&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

7. "Metal Dug..."

8. Ibid.