PETER KIENE AND SON

PETER KIENE AND SON. Peter Kiene & Son was founded in 1857 by Peter Kiene, Sr. His son, Peter KIENE, was admitted to partnership in 1876. The business consisted of fire, marine, tornado, accident and life insurance in addition to loaning money and dealing in real estate. They were also agents for ocean steamship companies. The company employed three clerks. (1)

The insurance transactions of the company was confined mainly to the city and vicinity. In loaning money, the business covered a territory throughout northern Iowa. By 1887 this department of the business was the largest in the city with their transactions amounting to several millions of dollars. Loans were made on real estate securities, principally farm lands in the interior. (2)

The company's officers were Peter Kiene, Franc W. ALTMAN, E.A. Fitz, Otto M. Lorenz, and William Zumhof.

Before September 20, 1904 a large amount of money was borrowed for the IOWA IRON WORKS. Notes were signed or endorsed by W. W. BONSON and Robert BONSON and given to Peter Kiene with the assurance that he would be responsible for the debt. There was no further accounting between the Bonsons and Kiene, who paid the interest on the indebtedness but sold the notes to other parties. In 1914 the firm of Peter Kiene and Son fell into bankruptcy. The total Bonson indebtedness came to $150,000 (worth $3,697,860.00 in 2018).

Their assets turned over to the bankruptcy court included holdings in the Bonson Concentrator Company with its subsidiaries, over forty separate tracts of land and their holdings in over 1,000 acres of mineral lots, lands and properties in Dubuque County, and the residence and farm of about 140 acres known as "Burnage Villa" which had been the homestead of the Bonson family for over thirty years. The only exceptions were claimed for life insurance and person and household goods and wages. (3)

The 1878-79 Dubuque City Directory listed the southeast corner of Main and 5th.

The 1880 Dubuque City Directory stated that this business, insurance, was to be found at the corner of 7th and Main.

The 1883 through 1904-05 Dubuque City Directory stated that this business was located in the Kiene Building at the corner of 4th and Main.

The 1909 through 1913 Dubuque and Dubuque County Directory stated that this business was located at 406 Main.

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Source:

1. The Industries of Dubuque: Her Relations as a Trade Center, Dubuque: J. M. Elster and Company, Publishers, 1887, p. 78

2. Ibid.

3. Bonsons File Petitions in Bankruptcy," The Telegraph-Herald, February 17, 1914, p. 1