Dubuque County
| Dubuque County, Iowa | ||
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The Dubuque County Courthouse. This particular courthouse is an example of Beaux-Arts architecture.
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 Location in the U.S. state of Iowa |
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 Iowa's location in the U.S. |
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| Founded | 1834 | |
| Named for | Julien Dubuque | |
| Seat | Dubuque | |
| Largest city | Dubuque | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 617 sq mi (1,598 km2) | |
| • Land | 608 sq mi (1,575 km2) | |
| • Water | 8.3 sq mi (21 km2), 1.4% | |
| Population (est.) | ||
| • (2015) | 97,125 | |
| • Density | 154/sq mi (59/km²) | |
| Congressional district | 1st | |
| Time zone | Central: UTC-6/-5 | |
| Website | www |
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Dubuque County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2010 census, the population was 93,653. The county seat is Dubuque. The county is named for Julien Dubuque, the first European settler of Iowa.
Dubuque County comprises the Dubuque, IA Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is the seventh largest county by population in the state.
Dubuque County is named for French trader Julien Dubuque, the first European settler of Iowa, and an early lead mining pioneer in what is now Dubuque County. Dubuque was French Canadian, and had (by most accounts) a friendly relationship with the local Fox tribe of Native Americans. He and other early pioneers established a lucrative mining and trading industry in the area. When lead deposits began becoming exhausted, the pioneers developed boat building, lumber yards, milling, brewing, and machinery manufacturing to take its place.
The establishment of the City of Dubuque in 1833 led to large-scale settlement of the surrounding area. This was greatly encouraged by the Roman Catholic Church, which sent priests, bishops, and nuns to establish churches in the unpopulated countryside. Primarily, Irish and German (many of whom were Catholic) immigrants came to the region.
At an extra session of the Sixth Legislative Assembly of Michigan Territory held in September, 1834, the Iowa District was divided into two counties by running a line due west from the lower end of Rock Island in the Mississippi River. The territory north of this line (which started just south of the present-day Davenport) was named Dubuque County, and all south of it was Demoine County [sic]. Thus, at that time Dubuque County nominally included not only much of what is now the state of Minnesota but portions of what are now North Dakota and South Dakota.
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