The Mathias Ham House is a 19th-century house in

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

that is on 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 ...

. It is located at the intersection of Shiras and Lincoln Avenues, near the entrances to Eagle Point Park and Riverview Park.

Description

The house was designed by

John F. Rague John Francis Rague (1799–1877; pronounced ''ra-gu'') was a mid-19th century architect who designed and built numerous public buildings including the 1837 Illinois State Capitol#Former capitols, Old Capitol of Illinois and the 1840 Iowa Old ...

and built for local businessman and

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

miner Mathias Ham in 1857. Ham had owned an island in the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

at Dubuque, called Ham's Island (which has since renamed City Island and then Chaplain Schmitt Memorial Island, after Father

Aloysius Schmitt Father Aloysius H. Schmitt (December 4, 1909 – December 7, 1941) was a Roman Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, who served as a chaplain in the United States Navy at the beginning of World War II. Early life and ordination Born in ...

). The architect,

, who had designed the original state capitol buildings at

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest o ...

and at

Iowa City, Iowa Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...

, designed the house in the

Italian Villa style The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian ...

. The Mathias Ham House has been restored and transformed into a museum showcasing life during the

Antebellum era In the history of the Southern United States, the Antebellum Period (from la, ante bellum, lit= before the war) spanned the end of the War of 1812 to the start of the American Civil War in 1861. The Antebellum South was characterized by the ...

; it contains American and European furnishings from that period. The property also features the Louis Arriandeaux Log House, a double log cabin in the dogtrot style, which is considered the oldest building in Iowa. The cabin was built in 1833 at 2nd and Locust Streets in Dubuque, then moved to Eagle Point Park in Dubuque before being moved to the Mathias Ham House Historic Site. Additionally, a one-room schoolhouse (the former Humke School) was relocated to the property. A replica

mine shaft Shaft mining or shaft sinking is the action of excavating a mine shaft from the top down, where there is initially no access to the bottom. Shallow shafts, typically sunk for civil engineering projects, differ greatly in execution method from ...

and "badger hole" or "badger hut" were constructed on the property to educate the public about Dubuque's lead mining history.

Museum

The museum is operated by the Dubuque County Historical Society, which also operates the

National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium The National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium is a museum located in Dubuque, Iowa, USA. The museum is a property of the Dubuque County Historical Society, which also operates the Mathias Ham Historic Site. The museum has two buildings on it ...

References

External links

Ham House Museum Information Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ham, Mathias House Buildings and structures in Dubuque, Iowa Culture of Dubuque, Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Dubuque, Iowa Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Historic house museums in Iowa Museums in Dubuque, Iowa Houses in Dubuque, Iowa