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.
LAKE PEOSTA
LAKE PEOSTA. Located in the northeast corner of this map, the area around Lake Peosta was once a hideout for criminals.
For Bev Wagner of Dubuque, however, the area was a childhood home of wonder and charm. Located on the eastern side of the railroad tracks, her family's property included the former home of her grandparents, her home, and a collection of out buildings.
Access to the property, there was no road, was achieved by climbing over a hill from Garfield Street where their car was parked and then down a wooden ramp. Her father also built a series of wooden steps along the path at intervals to ease the walk over hazardous inclines.
Isolated from other families by fields of willows, Mr. and Mrs. Charlie Gantenbein and their children Bev and Chuck lived a life that included the joys of fishing in the summer from their boat dock and skating in the winter.
Bev's father had one rule,"If you were going to skate, you had to help shovel the snow off the ice." Lake Peosta was only several feet deep and anyone interested in using the quiet waters for water skiing in the summer were warned of the submerged stumps and metal barrels.
High water in the spring was an annual occurrence. A flood wall was constructed around the family house, but often with little effect. Bev's mother would row her family from the house to the ramp to get to school or work. Bev related that when the basement flooded, her mother would stand on the bottom step with a fishnet to catch floating vegetables for dinner.
In 1956 the family's property was purchased by the city. Plans were underway to fill Lake Peosta to establish the first of the city's INDUSTRIAL PARKS.
The Gantenbein home with all its furnishings was lifted from its foundation and moved north along the railroad tracks to the corner near the present Point Restaurant. The former site of the house was soon prepared for the construction of BARNSTEAD/THERMOLYNE.
Several days later, it was pulled along Rhomberg Avenue to its current location.
The house that had once been located at 1810 Shiras was relocated to 1410 Garfield.