Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
Marshall Cohen—researcher and producer, CNN
Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
ENZLER, Jerry
ENZLER, Jerry. (Bethesda, MD- ). Recipient, FIRST CITIZEN AWARD, 1991. Enzler was hired in 1977 as curator of the HAM HOUSE. With his guidance, the Historical Society saw its budget grow from $13,000 in 1979 to $730,000 in 1989 with a staff of twelve full-time and thirty part-time employees. Museum attendance increased from three thousand visitors annually to 73,000. Dubuque museums annually accounted for an estimated $6,000,000 in revenue to the city.
In 1979 Enzler initiated the opening of the FRED W. WOODWARD RIVERBOAT MUSEUM with a $200,000 grant from the Woodward Foundation and over one million dollars raised locally. This grant writing success has become one of many. Enzler directed the successful grant application in 1979 to the National Trust for Historic Preservation that resulted in $135,000 being awarded to Dubuque. This was the seventh largest grant issued in the United States and the largest for any project on inland waters.
In 1983 $200,000 was granted by the National Endowment for the Humanities with an additional $900,000 being donated locally. Under Enzler's direction, this money was placed in an endowment for the complete restoration of Ham House, the start of the NATIONAL RIVERS HALL OF FAME, and completion of the Riverboat Museum.
Enzler working with many community leaders and groups was responsible for the growth of TOURISM in Dubuque’s ICE HARBOR area beginning with the creation of the NATIONAL MISSISSIPPI RIVER MUSEUM AND AQUARIUM.