Where to Stay in Dubuque, Iowa

What is Dubuque known for?

Julien Dubuque worked lead in the ground here from 1788, the charter came in 1833, and the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium tells the river's part of that story from the landing below the bluffs. Churches crowd the skyline. Holy Ghost Catholic Church and Saint Patrick's Church stand on the upper streets, while the Dubuque Museum of Art holds the city's collection.

What are the main landmarks in Dubuque?

Eight names carry the list. The National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium stands at the landing and the Dubuque Museum of Art holds the collections up in the city, while Holy Ghost Catholic Church, Saint Patrick's Church, and St. John's Episcopal Church account for the spires. Two houses complete it.

The Kelley House and the McMahon House survive on residential ground, and the Mystique Ice Center adds the one wholly modern entry.

What is the history of Dubuque?

Julien Dubuque came for lead. The Quebec-born trader established a mining and trading settlement on this stretch of the upper Mississippi River in 1788, working ground that would keep his name long after the workings themselves had gone quiet. A charter followed in 1833.

That charter makes Dubuque the oldest city in Iowa, a distinction the place has never had to share, and it fixed the county seat of Dubuque County on the bluffs rather than inland. The port did the rest. River trade on the upper Mississippi drew people to a landing hemmed in by bluffs, and the churches went up as fast as the congregations formed, among them Holy Ghost Catholic Church, Saint Patrick's Church, and St. John's Episcopal Church.

Houses followed the same money. The Kelley House and the McMahon House survive from those decades of building on the slopes above the water. Later generations turned the waterfront over to display rather than cargo, and the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium took the river itself as its subject, while the Dubuque Museum of Art gathered the collections the older city had accumulated.

The Mystique Ice Center belongs to a much later chapter. Illinois and Wisconsin reach the water close by, and the Tri-State Area has shaped the city's dealings for as long as there has been a crossing here.

Where is Dubuque?

The city occupies two levels. Dubuque stands on the Iowa side of the upper Mississippi River, built partly on the narrow landing at the water and partly on the bluff shelf above it, with Dubuque County running back into farmland. Three states almost touch here.

Illinois and Wisconsin both reach the river close by, which is why the surrounding country goes under the name Tri-State Area.

What is the climate of Dubuque?

Winter arrives from the north with nothing in the way. Cold air runs down the upper Mississippi valley and settles in the trough below the bluffs, so Dubuque holds frost longer than the open farmland of Dubuque County above it. Summers turn humid.

Storms build over the Tri-State Area through the warm months, and the river adds its own moisture to every one of them.

How do you get to Dubuque?

Three state lines converge near the crossing. Roads into Dubuque come from Illinois and Wisconsin as readily as from the rest of Iowa, and the Tri-State Area works as a single catchment for anyone driving toward the river. The port explains the older routes.

Traffic once arrived by water at the landing occupied by the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium, and Dubuque County roads carry what comes overland.