Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
KEHL, Robert
KEHL, Robert (Dubuque, IA, Sept. 10, 1934--Dubuque, IA, July 3, 2013). The son of George and Christina (Wild) Kehl, Robert was born in Dubuque and graduated from the Ottumwa High School in 1952. He attended LORAS COLLEGE and married Ruth Ann Kurtz on August 6, 1960. (1)
Work was a major factor in Kehl's life. He started his first business at the age of eighteen and had twenty-seven different businesses throughout his career. (2) Listed in city directories as being a salesman and driver for TRAUSCH BAKING COMPANY during most of the 1950s, Kehl began his food service business in Dubuque between 1952 and 1956 with BOB'S PLACE, a 24-hour diner and gas station located on U.S. 52 north of 32nd Street. (3)
In October 1960, Kehl and his wife Ruth, purchased TONY'S CAFE from Tony Helling. In 1967 this was renamed ROBERT'S SMORGASTABLE AND RESTAURANT. With his wife, he also ran a catering business for an excursion boat named the JULIE N. DUBUQUE. When Art Bull, the owner of the boat, decided to move his operation south of Dubuque, Kehl used savings to purchase a l50-passenger paddle-wheeler which was renamed the "River Rogue." Kehl's boat used the Hawthorne Street ramp for one year before moving to the ICE HARBOR in 1974. With business booming, Kehl sold the "River Rogue" when its size limited its use to serving one hundred passengers for dinner.
In 1977 the Kehls launched the "Spirit of Dubuque", a $350,000, 377-passenger paddle-wheeler. Christened on May 14th by Iowa Governor Robert Ray, the boat was built in Morgan City, Louisiana, by the Scully Brothers Boat Builders. (4) Using this boat, Kehl began offering his famous prime-rib dinner cruises once each week. By 1979 the dinners were served nightly; it was apparent that a larger boat was needed.
The growth of business led the Kehls to spruce up the Ice Harbor and convert it from a railroad and industrial center to a tourist mecca. Gravel for a parking lot was laid and the appearance of the area was improved with the planting of trees and a general cleanup. The Kehls also purchased the abandoned Burlington Northern freight house in 1978 and donated it to the DUBUQUE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY. This building became the FRED W. WOODWARD RIVERBOAT MUSEUM in 1982. The same year the Kehls opened The Barge, a two-story combination office, gift shop, and lounge.
In 1984 Kehl unveiled the "Mississippi Belle", a $2 million, 800-passenger paddle wheeler built for daylong cruises. To provide more time for the prosperous river business, Robert's Smorgastable was closed.
In 1986 with increasing numbers of passengers, Kehl bought a second 800-passenger boat, the "Mississippi Belle II." Roberts River Rides then offered several cruise options including all-day trips between Dubuque and the Quad Cities (with a return trip by bus), all-day round trips between Dubuque and McGregor, half-day trips between Clinton and the Quad Cities, and 1.5 to 3.5 hour sightseeing trips around the Quad Cities and Dubuque areas. The original Mississippi Belle was renamed the Quad City Queen and was permanently docked in Bettendorf.
In 1988 Kehl began operating the "West Virginia Belle" between Huntington and South Charleston on the Ohio and Kanawha rivers. During the same year the "Quad City Queen," "Mississippi Belle" and the "Spirit of Dubuque" carried an estimated 226,000 riders.
Robert Kehl initially fought gambling, thinking that it would ruin his riverboat cruise business. (5) Changing his mind in 1990, he was granted the first riverboat gambling license in the nation. (6) On April 1, 1991 with the passage of legislation permitting gambling boats on the Mississippi, Kehl unveiled the DUBUQUE CASINO BELLE, the grandest ship in his fleet. Six months after launching riverboat gambling out of Dubuque, Kehl and the Dubuque Racing Commission they had earned the $4 million payment on the bonds sold to make improvements n the Ice Harbor. Remodeling continued on the Mississippi Belle II which began a gambling boat based in Clinton in May, 1991. (7)
Kehl announced on August 24, 1992 that he had sold the Dubuque Casino Belle. (8) He cited reasons for the sale including gambling restrictions in Iowa, his health, and the attractiveness of the offer which was $5 million more than $12 million he had originally paid for the boat. (9)
In 1993 the Kehls announced their plans to move to Las Vegas. They had, however, recently purchased 14,6 acres of land along U. S. 151/61 in Key West for commercial use. (10) The Dubuque Racing Association and Kehl jointly paid for an appraisal of the Casino Belle Portside building early in the summer of 1993. The initial offer of $1.2 million was quickly rejected by Kehl who said it paid $3.7 for its construction. (11)
By 2013 Kehl’s family business operated five casinos in Iowa: the Riverside Casino and Golf Resort south of Iowa City; the Grand Falls Casino here in northwest Iowa; the Diamond Jo in Dubuque; the Mississippi Belle II in Clinton and the Catfish Bend in Burlington. The Kehl business was also working on the opening of a new land-based casino in Davenport. Kehl was the founder and president of Kehl Riverboats, which built and renovated 13 floating casinos, and a founding board member of Iowa's first land-based casino, the Riverside Casino and Golf Resort. (12)
In addition to his business activities, Kehl was a director of DUBUQUE BANK AND TRUST COMPANY from 1986 until 2005 and a director of the Savanna-Thomson State Bank in Savanna, Illinois. An inspiring philanthropist, Kehl lead the drive for improved health care for tri-state residents. The Kehl Diabetes Center of UnityPoint Health-Finley Hospital was one of his legacies along with a major financial donation to CLARKE UNIVERSITY that led to the construction of the Robert and Ruth Kehl Center, the home of the school's sixteen athletic teams. He is considered one of the three founders of the NATIONAL MISSISSIPPI RIVER MUSEUM AND AQUARIUM along with Wayne Andrew NORMAN, Sr. and William WOODWARD. (13)
Robert Kehl, with his wife Ruth, were designated the 1984 National Small Business Persons of the Year by the Small Business Administration and received at the White House by President Ronald Reagan. (14)
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Source:
1. "Robert J. Kehl," (Obituary) Des Moines Register. Online: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/desmoinesregister/obituary.aspx?pid=165670043
2. Ibid.
3. Phone conversation with Bob Kehl, 1972
4. "Spirit of Dubuque," Steamboats.org. Online: http://steamboats.org/riverboats-casinos-restaurants-pictures/spirit-of-dubuque.html
5. "Riverboat Gambling Pioneer Robert Kehl Dies at 78," KIWARADIO.COM. Online: http://kiwaradio.com/local-news/riverboat-gambling-pioneer-robert-kehl-dies-at-78/
6. "Updated: Robert Kehl Dead at 78," Telegraph Herald, Online: http://m.thonline.com/mobile_new/news/breaking/article_d5a01c0e-e3fb-11e2-9351-001a4bcf6878.html
7. Webber, Steve. "Kehl Writes Another Chapter," Telegraph Herald, August 24, 1992, p. 1
8. Ibid.
9. Bergstrom, Kathy. "DRA Offer Could Keep Boat Here," Telegraph Herald, August 24, 1992, p. 1
10. Bergstrom, Kathy. "Kehls Thinking About Move to Las Vegas," Telegraph Herald, August 4, 1993, p. 3A
11. "DRA Looks to Buy Kehl's Portside Building," Telegraph Herald, September 4, 1993, p. 3A
12. "Riverboat Gambling Pioneer Dies," Cedar Valley Business Monthly Online: http://wcfcourier.com/business/local/riverboat-gambling-pioneer-kehl-dies/article_1eced772-e4fa-11e2-aa13-0019bb2963f4.html
13. "Updated..."
13. "Robert J. Kehl"