Encyclopedia Dubuque
"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.
PORT OF ENTRY
PORT OF ENTRY. A port of entry is any place where customs officials are stationed to check people and foreign goods entering a country. During the 1840s, Dubuque was the only urban center in the valley of the MISSISSIPPI RIVER to successfully improve navigation for STEAMBOATS. The city council spent nearly $4,000 excavating a channel between the outer and inner sloughs of the riverfront before 1841. Gradually the sloughs were filled up and streets were extended to the outer rim of islands. Levees and steamboat landing areas were constructed on the islands surrounding the main channel.
The improvement in navigation had a dramatic impact on business. In 1847 a total of 218 steamboats arrived in Dubuque. A decade later the city saw 908 steamboats dock. Customs on imported goods were collected at the DUBUQUE CUSTOM HOUSE AND POST OFFICE.