Old Main Street Historic District is a nationally recognized

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...

located in

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

, United States. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1983. At the time of its nomination it consisted of 33 resources, which included 30

contributing buildings 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 dist ...

and three non-contributing buildings. with In 2015 the boundaries were increased to include five more buildings. Four of the buildings are

contributing properties 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 distr ...

that were excluded from the original district because they were slated to be torn down as a part of the expansion of

U.S. Route 61 U.S. Route 61 or U.S. Highway 61 (U.S. 61) is a major United States highway that extends between New Orleans, Louisiana and the city of Wyoming, Minnesota. The highway generally follows the course of the Mississippi River and is designat ...

. While the highway was built the buildings were spared. The fifth building is non-contributing as are three structures. This is primarily a commercial area located immediately south of the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

. Originally, this is where the city's commercial district was located because of its proximity to the ferry and riverboat landings. After 1860 most of the larger retail businesses, banks, and professional offices moved further north on Main Street, and new wholesale businesses moved here and built new structures. The buildings are all constructed in brick and are between three and four stories tall. It is considered to be the "largest concentration of significant nineteenth-century commercial architecture" in Dubuque. The

Bishop's Block The Bishop's Block, also known as the Bishop's Block Apartments, is a historic building located in Dubuque, Iowa, United States. It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. It was included as a contributing prop ...

(1887) and the German Bank (1901) are individually listed on the National Register, and the Hotel Julien Dubuque (1914) is also a contributing building.

References

National Register of Historic Places in Dubuque, Iowa Historic districts in Dubuque, Iowa Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa {{DubuqueCountyIA-NRHP-stub

See also

References