On Friday, the back seat of my car was strewn with the remains of half-eaten food: part of an apple turnover, a bite of something called a Blarney Stone (a sweet cake lathered in frosting and rolled in crushed peanuts), half of a pizza, a plastic container full of barely sampled spaghetti (minus the meatball)—the
Dubuque’s capitalists struck it rich and poured money into extravagant buildings to prove their worth. Fortunately for us, many of those buildings are still around, including four churches that would be treasures in a city much larger than modest Dubuque.
Dubuque, Iowa is blessed with an impressive collection of beautiful, historic churches.
I have a hard time writing blogs while I’m on the road, because my days are packed from dawn to dusk. Yesterday, for example, I ran around Dubuque for about 10 hours checking out another church, 5 more B&Bs, some shops, and a library. By the time I finished dinner, it was 8:30 and my energy level was near
A small section of what is now Bettendorf was once known as Lillienthal, after the family that ran a tavern and dance hall. One noted resident of Lillienthal was Oscar Kobs, who served as town crier during the Civil War, calling residents to meetings on the town commons. Lillienthal was absorbed into the town of Gilbert
Elias Gilbert arrived from the East Coast in 1850 and built a house and barn, planted corn, and tried to grow tobacco. In 1858 he used his authority as county surveyor to platt 29 lots for the town of Gilbert that included the area formerly known as Lillienthal. The former town's boundaries are now part of Bettendorf
