Dubuque [key], city (2020 pop. 59,667), seat of Dubuque co., NE Iowa, on the Mississippi River; chartered 1841. It is a trade, industrial, cultural, and rail center and a river port for an agricultural and dairying area. It makes foods, beer, metal products, chemicals, and machinery; high-technology industries are growing. The National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium anchors a redeveloped waterfront. One of the oldest cities in the state, it was named for Julien Dubuque, who had settled nearby c.1788. Native title to the territory ended with the Black Hawk Treaty of 1832, and white settlers began to pour in. Iowa's first newspaper, the Du Buque Visitor, was established in 1836. Dubuque developed first as a mining town, then as a lumbering and milling center. It is the seat of the Univ. of Dubuque, Clarke College, and Loras College. St. Raphael's Cathedral (1857) and the Ham House Museum are in the city; nearby are Crystal Lake Cave, the U.S. locks and dam on the Mississippi, and the New Mellera (Trappist) Abbey.
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