Encyclopedia Dubuque
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
OLINGER, Peter
OLINGER, Peter. (Luxembourg, June 11, 1854--Dubuque, IA, July 29, 1904). MAYOR. Olinger was elected mayor of Dubuque in 1894 capping a political career that began in 1882 with his election as alderman from the Third Ward. Newspaper accounts of his tenure as mayor celebrated his administration's fiscal soundness in which $60,000 of city indebtedness was repaid. His term also saw such civic improvements as increased brick paving and expanded sanitary connections.
Olinger migrated to the United States in 1871 and came directly to Dubuque. After eighteen months as a farm hand, he moved to the city and began a livery business that he maintained for fifteen years.
In 1891 Olinger sold his livery business but retained his interest in buying and selling horses. He owned the celebrated horse "Keno F."
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Source:
Oldt, Franklin. History of Dubuque County, Iowa. Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1880, p. 855
Portrait and Biographical Record of Dubuque, Jones and Clayton Counties, Iowa. Chicago: Chapman Publishing Company, 1894, p. 128