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.
OPTIMIST CLUB
OPTIMIST CLUB. A international organization of nearly 3,000 chapters with more than 80,000 members, the Optimist Club was founded in the United States in 1919 in Louisville, Kentucky. The first Optimist Club was established in Dubuque in 1953. In 2023 there was a morning, noon, and evening Club along with a Junior Optimist Club at STEPHEN HEMPSTEAD HIGH SCHOOL.
Of the three local clubs, the Noon Club is perhaps the best known. Annually the club sponsors its Salute to America by placing 2,500 American flags throughout the community on Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, Labor Day and Veterans Day. Other accomplishments have included establishing STORY BOOK HILL CHILDREN'S ZOO AND THE MIRACLE LEAGUE OF DUBUQUE baseball park. The club annually donates an estimated $45,000 to about twenty-five youth organizations.
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Source:
Steinbach, Chris, "Noon Optimists Celebrate 70 Years," Telegraph Herald, August 26, 2023, p. 2A