Encyclopedia Dubuque
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FARLEY, Jesse P.
FARLEY, Jesse P. (Tennessee, Apr. 2, 1813--Dubuque, IA, May 8,1894). MAYOR. Farley came to Dubuque in the spring of 1833, but did not permanently settle here until that fall after making a contract to build a house and store. He opened a store, Farley, Norris & Co., in September bringing his family to their new home in 1837.
In 1840 the Jesse P. Farley and Company store was Dubuque's only brick commercial building. He was a principal owner and investor in the KEY CITY PLANING MILLS and KEY CITY STEAM BAKERY. He helped organize the Dubuque Insurance Company and the CENTRAL IMPROVEMENT COMPANY. In 1850 he established a line of steamboats between St. Paul and St. Louis. As president of the Dubuque and St. Paul steamer line, Farley consolidated the first steamer line in Dubuque--the Galena, Dunleith, and Minnesota Packet Line--with his own. This created the Galena, Dubuque, Dunleith, and Minnesota Packet Company usually referred to the Minnesota Packet Company. In 1858 when he closed his dry goods store, he was one of the ten wealthiest people in Dubuque County.
He was elected to the board of town trustees in 1840. The following year when the government was reorganized with a mayor and council, he became a member of the city council and served from 1841 to 1842. He did not hold public office again until 1851 when he returned to the city council and served as mayor the following year. In 1850 he helped organize the first Dubuque steamboat line. Farley continued in the mercantile business until 1858. One year earlier he was ranked as one of Dubuque's thirteen wealthiest men.
In 1879 Dubuque architect F. D. Hyde designed a home for Farley near WASHINGTON PARK. Costing $20,000, the house was considered one of the city's finest, boasting twelve rooms, expensive plate glass windows, and five ornate fireplaces.
Farley's business interests were wide-ranging. He served Dubuque as its mayor three times. His name is generally linked to the FARLEY AND LOETSCHER MANUFACTURING COMPANY, an investment made in 1876. RAILROADS were one of his major business ventures. In 1853 along with Lucius Hart LANGWORTHY, Farley helped organize the DUBUQUE AND PACIFIC RAIL ROAD COMPANY. The city of Farley, along its tracks, is named in his honor. Farley lost much of his wealth in the Panic of 1857 and tried to recover it through the sash and door company.
Farley was appointed the reorganization manager of the Saint Paul and Pacific Railway when it entered receivership in 1873. Devoting seven years to the embattled railroad, Farley fought a lawsuit in the early 1890s against the Great Northern Railway over routes for the two lines. Refusing an offer of James J. Hill to settle for one million dollars, Farley carried the case to the United States Supreme Court. To pay court costs including as much as $1,000 per hour to George Edmonds, an attorney, Farley mortgaged his factory and six hundred acres of land. The court ruled against him and Farley had to sell his home to the Sisters of Saint Francis for $15,000 to help pay his bills. This building, with many additions, became MARY OF THE ANGELS HOME. Farley died two years later.
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Source:
Hudson, David; Bergman, Marvin; and Horton, Loren. The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa.Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2008
History of Dubuque County Iowa. Chicago: Western History Company, 1880