Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
BENNETT HOUSE
BENNETT HOUSE. The Bennett House was constructed by Richard BENNETT in 1881.
The 1874-1875 Dubuque City Directory stated that this business was located at 22 S. Main.
It burned in c. February-March 1877. That April Bennett announced plans to replace it with a new block. The block was extended south with a $3,600 expenditure in 1883 and the metal cornice likely dates to this work, unifying the façade. Peter Huss operated the Huss House, beginning in 1895. (1) The Park Hotel was here in the 1930s and the Main Hotel during the 1940s. (2)
The storefronts have been restored since 1986. The building nicely dates the use of the slightly curved stone lintels to the mid-1870s. One possible origin for this building (depending on how much was rebuilt in 1877) is an 1868 account where the former Martin Carroll Bakery, southeast corner Main and First streets, was being converted into a store for Alexander SIMPLOT. The building was brick and the work cost $3,000 (Times, January 1, 1869; Herald, December 13, 1868) (3)
In the late 1980s, this building was located at 84 Main Street.
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1. "Bennett House Sold," The Dubuque Herald, November 24, 1895, p. 8
1. State Historical Society of Iowa, Site Inventory Form, December 1, 1999. p. 6. Online: http://www.cityofdubuque.org/DocumentCenter/Home/View/2927