URBAN RENEWAL

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URBAN RENEWAL. Wayne Andrew Norman, Sr. once credited Dubuque with having so many styles of architecture because of the growth of its many industries. (1) As captains of industry rose, they constructed their homes in the style popular at the time. Often industries developed so quickly that one style of architecture might be seen right next to another.

Some buildings, however, became the objects of such continual neglect that they eventually caused safety concerns and the need to remove them. Dubuque's unusually rich architectural heritage allowed the belief to persist that the loss of a landmark could be afforded. In 1932 Dubuque's first OCTAGON STYLE ARCHITECTURE home was torn down. The demolition contractor remarked that he had never seen a building so well constructed--eight inch thick concrete walls reinforced in the corners with oak branches embedded in the mortar. (2) The list of significant landmarks lost in Dubuque, however, grew to include the Illinois Central Railroad passenger depot; ELEVENTH STREET ELEVATED RAILROAD; DUBUQUE CUSTOM HOUSE AND POST OFFICE; "Ridgemount," the James Langworthy House; the James Marsh residence; James BEACH home; William H. PEABODY house; MILWAUKEE RAILROAD SHOPS; Old Central Engine House; Turner Hall; John Emerson house; Bissell-Babbage-Andrew McDonald house; GREYSTONE, CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL; and most recently the ODD FELLOWS TEMPLE. (3) In 2014 the condition of the DUBUQUE BREWING AND MALTING COMPANY building led to doubts it could be saved. In addition to safety concerns , some of these landmarks were demolished for parking or to expand another business. At least one was added to and then removed from the list of historic buildings because of the regulations of maintenance the owner would need to follow.

Dan Savage in his book Skipping Toward Gomorrah went to far as to describe Dubuque as:

    In the right light, Dubuque looks like a tintype of a smiling
    Victorian woman who has literally had half her teeth knocked out... (4)

Many watched the dissolve unit wizardry in the slide presentation of Father William E. WILKIE in the mid-1970s. Sitting in shock at the "before" and "after" pictures photographed decades apart of the downtown area, viewers became aware of the aftermath of urban renewal in the 1960s and 1970s. (5)

The reconfiguration of much of the downtown area of Dubuque can be linked to the urban renewal movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Following WORLD WAR II, and continuing into the early 1970s, “urban renewal” referred primarily to public efforts to revitalize aging and decaying inner cities. The movement included massive demolition, slum clearance, and rehabilitation. (6) Dubuque, like cities across the country, was faced with the flight of business to suburban malls. Begun by PLAZA 20 and then KENNEDY MALL, ASBURY SQUARE, and CENTURY PLAZA, the construction of malls promised to place business near people who were occupying suburbs. Downtown buildings were left vacant.

In 1965, a 15-square bounded by Fourth, Ninth, Locust and Central was proposed for urban renewal. (6) In August, 1965 Cyril FERRING met with a group of members of the Chamber of Commerce to urge "a retention--but a modern one--of what you have." (7) Ferring, a resident of Chicago, had participated in that city's refurbishing of the Old Town Triangle.

    "Practically no one has what you have here, most of it has been
     destroyed." (8)

In August 1965 Gent WITTENBERG, then the deputy director of urban renewal in Toledo, Iowa, was hired as Dubuque's first director of urban renewal. The city had just received federal approval for its fifteen-block central business district urban renewal. (9) By 1969 ORPHEUM THEATER, was scheduled for demolition as part of Dubuque's urban renewal program. (10)

In the 1960s and 1970s, cities were open to try various urban renewal strategies to bring economic development back into the core of the city. Suburban shopping malls were becoming popular and drawing shoppers out of the downtown. In an effort to draw them back, planners experimented with the American pedestrian mall which were usually former streets now blocked from traffic and converted to wide sidewalks between stores. Approximately two hundred pedestrian malls were installed during this time period. (11) TOWN CLOCK PLAZA, Iowa's first open tree-lined pedestrian mall, was dedicated in 1971 by George Romney, then head of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Deteriorating buildings along Main and Iowa STREETS were torn down. Planners declared the result would be a center for business, finance, government, and culture.

In the 1970s, the "Your Town Clock Committee" was organized to have the TOWN CLOCK moved from its current location at 825 Main Street to the new TOWN CLOCK PLAZA. The city council approved. The $70,000 cost for the move was raised through donations raised over a 14 month period. (12)

The Durrant Architecture firm of Dubuque designed a pre-cast four-column pedestal that was then placed in the plaza. The actual tower was brought to the site on Feb 12, 1971, and bolted to the pedestal. The faces of the clock were placed at the new location on Feb 16, 1971. Afterwards the cupola was placed at the new site, which completed the move. After the reassembly was complete, the clock stood about 108 feet above the street, which was about two feet taller than at its previous location. (13) The move helped increased the visibility of the Town Clock which became the centerpiece at special events held at Town Clock Plaza. (14)

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Source:

1. Interview of Wayne Norman, August 1980

2. Sommer, Lawrence J. "The Heritage of Dubuque: An Architectural View," East Dubuque, IL: Tel Graphics, 1975, p. 14

3. Ibid., p. 14-28

4. Savage, Dan. Skipping Toward Gomorrah, New York: Dutton, a member of the Penguin Group, SDeptember 2002, Online: http://books.google.com/books?id=jjrS4RtW_LAC&pg=PT33&lpg=PT33&dq=dubuque+urban+renewal&source=bl&ots=5srtfj9DUd&sig=8eCQ-E_bMX-cCzgpRvNLFh7uM6Q&hl=en&sa=X&ei=jaY4VIDBDpWeyATiqoC4Cg&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAjg8#v=onepage&q=dubuque%20urban%20renewal&f=false

5. Personal experience of the writer.

6. "Urban Renewal," Encyclopedia of Chicago. Online: http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1295.html

6. Thompson, Dave. "Chamber Told to Keep Dubuque Style, Charm," Telegraph Herald, August 20, 1965, p. 1

7. Ibid.

8. Ibid.

9. "Gent Wittenberg to Head Urban Renewal in Dubuque," Toledo Blade, August 30, 1965, p. 1. Online: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19650830&id=bD0xAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZgEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2108,1333947

10. "Theater at Fourth and Main: A Rich and Vivid Tradition," Online: http://fiveflagscenter.com/AboutUs/History.aspx

11. Judge, Cole E., "The Experiment of American Pedestrian Malls: Trends Analysis,Necessary Indicators for Success and Recommendations for Fresno’s Fulton Mall," October 11, 2013. Online: http://www.downtownfresno.org/_files/docs/americanpedmallexperiment.pdf

12. "Urban Renewal," Geocaching, http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC54QDA_town-clock?guid=06b67970-c538-4f60-b857-397569764c59

13. Ibid.

16. Ibid.