Key West is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in Dubuque County,

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 th ...

, United States, near the extreme southern end of the city of

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 ...

. Parts of the community are now within the city of Dubuque, while others are unincorporated. Owing to the presence of U.S. Highways 151, 61, and 52, and the nearby

Dubuque Regional Airport Dubuque Regional Airport is a regional airport located eight miles south of Dubuque, in Dubuque County, Iowa. On U.S. Highway 61, the airport is owned by the city of Dubuque and is operated as a department of the city government. The city coun ...

, the area is home to a growing number of businesses. Some of these are high tech companies being built in the Dubuque Technology Park, to the east. Development in the area will likely increase rapidly following the planned construction of the city's Southwest Arterial. The village does have a number of local establishments that allow it to maintain a certain degree of autonomy. It has its own church, St. Joseph's - Key West Catholic Church, a school (Table Mound Elementary), a cemetery ( Mt. Olivet),

Fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames a ...

/ EMS department, and a hotel
Econo Lodge Inn & Suites
.

History

The town of Key West was settled in 1834, the year after Dubuque's founding. There was plenty of timber, prairie land and streams for water in section 12 of Table Mound Township, in Dubuque County, on the road that became the Old Military Road. Key West's population was 56 in 1902, and 52 in 1915. The town was named because it was considered the main egress from Dubuque westward.

Education

St. Joseph School, under the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque The Archdiocese of Dubuque ( la, Archidiœcesis Dubuquensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the northeastern quarter of the state of Iowa in the United States. It includes all the Iowa counti ...

, was in Key West.

Notes

Information on Key West's beginnings is from the book My Old Dubuque by Len Kruse

External links

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Dubuque County, Iowa Unincorporated communities in Iowa 1834 establishments in Michigan Territory