THOMPSON, John

Cemetery marker in Linwood Cemetery

THOMPSON, John. (County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, Aug. 1, 1821-Dubuque, IA, Sept. 25, 1901). MAYOR. Thompson's family came to Erie County, Pennsylvania in 1840. He moved to and lived in Chautauqua, New York and worked there as a harness-maker before he traveled to Iowa and went into business with L. D. Randall. Their partnership grew to become the largest wholesale leather and saddlery hardware business west of the MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

Thompson served Dubuque as its mayor for three terms, being unanimously re-elected by both parties without opposition for his second term.

In 1864 during his term as mayor, the council passed a resolution instructing the harbor committee

              to open a channel at the intersection of Third street 
              with the slough leading into the inner harbor and to 
              build a bridge across said channel with a draw of 
              sufficient width to allow boats to pass up into the 
              inner slough, thus giving steamboats access to the 
              inner harbor and levee, affording a safe and convenient 
              place for laying up steamboats and barges in winter and 
              also furnishing a convenient place for building barges 
              and doing all kinds of steamboat repairs; that the 
              committee be also instructed to take up the bridge which 
              now crosses the inner slough at Third street and to fill 
              up the channel under said bridge. 

In 1865, for the first time, a regularly paid and disciplined police force was maintained.

At this time the council refused to appropriate $500 for the State Fair to be held here in the fall of 1866. Within a few days the citizens raised $3,421 to secure the fair for two years, prepare the grounds, etc. The city, however, failed to get the fair in 1866.

Water works for the city were proposed in July, 1866. It was declared that the old method of hauling water from the river must be abandoned and a new modern system installed. In August, 1866, the council authorized the Water Company to lay pipes in the city.

The council committee reported against granting the use of the streets to a railway company until such a plan was clearly authorized by the legislature. After much controversy it was finally decided to submit to popular vote the question of permitting the horse railway to occupy the streets. The result were: For the railway, 2,185; against the railway, 127.

As mayor of Dubuque during the CIVIL WAR, Thompson took an active role in raising volunteers for the Union Army and enjoyed the admiration of General U.S. Grant who often dined at Thompson's elegant Locust Street mansion.

In 1877 Thompson traveled west to visit the Sioux. He had been granted a trade permit to supply "store goods" for trading posts in an area reaching to Canada and encompassing several tribes and an estimated 15,000 Native Americans.

Thompson later sold his home to William A. RYAN who had the structure, known today as the RYAN HOUSE, moved thirteen feet south.

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Source:

"Dubuque Sought Business Methods From Beginning," Telegraph Herald, March 27, 1921, p. 14. Online: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=bi5eAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SmANAAAAIBAJ&pg=6644,4092622&dq=james+fanning+dubuque&hl=en

Oldt, Franklin T. History of Dubuque County, Iowa. Online: http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/franklin-t-oldt/history-of-dubuque-county-iowa-being-a-general-survey-of-dubuque-county-histor-tdl/page-21-history-of-dubuque-county-iowa-being-a-general-survey-of-dubuque-county-histor-tdl.shtml

Linda McNair Cohen, relative