J. W. MARKLE--572 FENELON

J. W. MARKLE HOME. Located at 572 Fenelon Place, the brick and stucco home is an example of what has been called 'Dubuque German.' The house was built in 1875 by J.W. Markle AKA Captain Markle and Eliza Markle. This is based on information from the NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES registration form for the Fenelon Place Residential Historic District that was certified in 2015 as well as the original abstract of the property. (1) By 1894 Charles F. Markle, a banker and J. W. Markle's son, owned the premises. (2) He continued to own the house for a period after his mother's death in 1895 and had previously built his own house on Fenelon. That house was torn down after a fire a few years ago. (3)

J. W. Markle in addition to his business served around 1857 as the recorder of Dubuque. In 1859 he joined with others in traveling to the Pike's Peak region of Colorado in search of gold. In a letter of May 22, 1859 he reported:

                     I have met Mr. Bates just in from the mountains. 
                     He showed us the washing of 17 pans, which yielded 
                     between $80 and $90 of the most beautiful quartz gold 
                     ever seen. He has struck, it is said, one of the 
                     richest quartz lodes ever discovered--estimated by 
                     good judges to be worth a million and a half dollars. (4)

By February of 1860, however, Markle was back in Dubuque helping to organize and serving as vice-president of the Whig Party. (5)

1886 advertisement. Photo courtesy: Telegraph Herald

The homeowners participated in an unusual advertisement in 1886 for a type of range.

See: J. W. MARKLE & CO.

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Source:

1. Brandon Duccini, e-mail, March 12, 2019

2. "In the Social Realm," Dubuque Herald, July 8, 1894, p. 5

3. Duccini

4. "Additional From Pike's Peak," Express & Herald, June 16, 1859, p. 4

5. "Immense Meeting of Old Line Whigs," The Herald, February 14, 1860, p. 3

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