"SHSI Certificate of Recognition"
"Best on the Web"


Encyclopedia Dubuque

www.encyclopediadubuque.org

"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.




LEVI, Alexander

From Encyclopedia Dubuque
Revision as of 00:11, 3 January 2016 by Randylyon (talk | contribs)
Jump to navigationJump to search
Alexander Levi.

LEVI, Alexander. (France, Mar. 13, 1809--Dubuque, IA, Mar. 31, 1893). In 1837 Levi became the first immigrant to become a naturalized citizen in the future State of Iowa while it was still part of Wisconsin Territory. He was also the first initiatory member of the Masonic Order in Dubuque. (1)

Levi moved to Dubuque on August 1, 1833, and began a variety of business ventures including the sale of groceries, dry goods, and clothing. Levi also believed in advertising as shown by the following placed in the DUBUQUE VISITOR, May 11, 1836, p. 3

            A. LEVI & CO. Would inform their friends and the 
            public generally, that they have on hand and will 
            at all times keep a large and fresh assortment of 
            Groceries and Provisions, viz. Mess and Prime Pork, 
            Fresh Flour, Corn Meal, Whiskey by the barrel, French 
            and Peach Brandy, Tobacco and Cigars, Candles by the 
            box, Tar by the keg, First rate Bacon, Butter and Lard, 
            Corn and Oats, Porter and Cider, Wines of all kinds, 
            Loaf Sugar, Soap by the box, pipes 

Levi established his grocery and provision business at the corner of 8th and Main. This business grew to become the JAMES LEVI AND COMPANY department store. (2) He also owned extensive MINING property and real estate along South Locust Street. He was president of the DUBUQUE GOLD MINING COMPANY which was incorporated in 1860 and justice of the from 1846 to 1848. (3)

The Iowa News of 1837 listed Levi as a church contributor giving five dollars to the Presbyterian and later six dollars to the Catholic Church. (4) In 1856, faithful to his JEWISH COMMUNITY, Levi organized B'nai Jeshrun, the Jewish congregation that met in a rented hall at Locust and 5th STREETS. Of the twenty acres he owned in Section 13 of Julien Township, Levi deeded .6 acre for Jewish burials. This land was later deeded to the City of Dubuque that conveyed the property to the LINWOOD CEMETERY Association. His home became St. Margaret's Hall of ST. JOSEPH'S ACADEMY.

Minette Levi.

Alexander Levi returned to France where he married Miss Minette Levi. (5) One of their daughters married James Levi, a nephew. James Levi had worked for his uncle as a salesman for three years. When Alexander died, James and Alexander's son Eugene took over the family business in Dubuque which became JAMES LEVI AND COMPANY.

Inscription on cemetery marker

See: A. LEVI

--

Source:

1. Oldt, Franklin T. History of Dubuque County, Iowa. Chicago: Western History Company, 1880, p. 838

2. Fleishake, Oscar. The Illinois-Iowa Jewish Community on the Banks of the Mississippi River, Unpublished Doctor's Degree Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The Harry Fischel School for Higher Jewish Studies, Graduate Division, Yeshiva University, 1957, p. 10

3. Fleishaker, Oscar. The Illinois-Iowa Jewish Community on the Banks of the Mississippi, Doctoral Degree Dissertation to the Faculty of the Harry Fischel School for Higher Jewish Studies, Graduate Division, Yeshiva University, 1957, p. 12

4. Fleishaker, p. 10

5. Oldt.


"Naturalization of Dubuque Jew 100 Years Ago Hailed," Telegraph Herald Sept. 5, 1927

175 Years, Volume 3, "Levi A Man of Entrepreneurial Vision," Telegraph Herald, September 15, 2008