DUBUQUE ROWING CLUB

DUBUQUE ROWING CLUB. On April 30, 1870, the Dubuque Rowing Club was organized with about one hundred members and a capital of two thousand five hundred dollars. Its president was Gen. William Hyde Clark. The purpose of the organization was the "recuperation of our young men and elders whose sedentary habits require it." (1)

On May 1, 1870 the club appointed a committee to design a uniform. It was also agreed that the board of directors should be given the power to purchase one barge, two gigs, three skiffs, and a boathouse 60 x 20 feet at a cost not to exceed $600. The directors were also authorized to levy an assessment on members when they felt it necessary. (2)

June 4, 1870 was "red letter day" for the club; it was the first public rowing exhibition. The rowers were G. Stephens, M. S. Cunningham, James Stout, Alfred Hobbs, and A. H. Gibbs, coxswain.

At the annual meeting in 1872 the club's membership stood at fifty-five active members. There were ten fully-paid members and ten honorary members. The membership in the club was limited to one hundred and the value of the boats and boathouse was given as $1,500. The 1872 season began with all the boats being painted blue and white with gold bands. The names of the boats were in gilt "delicately shaded with blue." (3)

Later the club owned the barge Desoto, two four-oared gigs, two four-oared skiffs and one captain's cutter— Vixen. The fourteen-oared barge Desoto was launched June 25, 1870: it was built by Daniel Hewitt and was forty feet long, five feet wide; it had fourteen oars, double banked man-of-war fashioned. (4)

Dubuque rowers completed in regattas around the state. In 1890 the Dubuque teams participated in the Iowa State Amateur Rowing and Boating Association event at Spirit Lake and brought back ten medals. (5)

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Source:

1. "Dubuque Rowing Club," Daily Herald, April 28, 1872

2. "Dubuque Rowing Club," Daily Herald, May 1, 1870

3. Daily Herald, April 28, 1872

4. Oldt, Franklin T. History of Dubuque County. http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/franklin-t-oldt/history-of-dubuque-county-iowa-being-a-general-survey-of-dubuque-county-histor-tdl/page-26-history-of-dubuque-county-iowa-being-a-general-survey-of-dubuque-county-histor-tdl.shtml

5. "A Blaze of Glory," Dubuque Daily Herald, July 18, 1890, p. 3. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=_OG5zn83XeQC&dat=18900718&printsec=frontpage&hl=en