The Fenelon Place Elevator (also known as the Fourth Street Elevator) is a

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

funicular A funicular (, , ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite en ...

railway located in

Dubuque Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a r ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

, United States. It was listed in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1978.Stewart, Connie (2011-11-05)
Railway not inclined to be a target
''LA Times''. Retrieved on 2011-11-07. It was included as a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...

in the Cathedral Historic District in 1985, with and in the Fenelon Place Residential Historic District in 2015.

History

A predecessor to the Fourth Street Elevator was built in 1882 for the private use of local banker and former state senator J.K. Graves. The funicular was opened to the public in 1884, charging 5 cents per ride. After several fires, the current funicular was built in 1893 on the footprint of the 1882 incline; the 1893 funicular inaugurated the use of the

cable car Cable car most commonly refers to the following cable transportation systems: * Aerial lift, such as aerial tramways and gondola lifts, in which the vehicle is suspended in the air from a cable ** Aerial tramway ** Chairlift ** Gondola lift *** Bi ...

technology that continues in use today.

Location

The upper station of the elevator is located at 512 Fenelon Place, whilst the lower station is located at the western end of Fourth Street. At the top, there are two observation decks, which offer a commanding view of the downtown Dubuque area. The states of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, and

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

can all be seen from the observation decks.

Function

The

is long, and angles up at 41 degrees with a vertical elevation of . The two cars start at opposite ends, passing each other at the midpoint of the elevator. The two cars counterbalance each other, drawing motive power from an engine in the station house at the top of the hill. The engine only needs to overcome inertia and friction and compensate for the varying weight of the passengers in the cars. The Fourth Street Elevator is run from April 1 to November 30. The hours are from 8 am to 10 pm.

Gallery

Fourth Street Elevator car from above.jpg Fourth Street Elevator in Dubuque, Iowa from bottom.jpg 4thElevator4.jpg Operator's House for the Fourth Street Elevator in Dubuque, Iowa.jpg View North from the Fourth Street Elevator in Dubuque, Iowa.jpg Photo from observation deck of the Fourth Street Elevator.jpg

References

External links