Editing Dubuque County, Iowa (section)

==History==
===Early history===
Dubuque County is named for French trader [[Julien Dubuque]],<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ | title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States | publisher=Govt. Print. Off. | author=Gannett, Henry | year=1905 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n103 109]}}</ref> 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 [[Meskwaki]] people. 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 city of Dubuque was chartered in 1833 as the first city in Iowa.<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 27, 2020 |title=City of Dubuque History: Founding, Timeline, and Milestones |url=https://www.zippia.com/city-of-dubuque-careers-771493/history/ |access-date=November 2, 2022 |website=www.zippia.com |language=en-US}}</ref> 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 Arsenal|Rock Island]] in the [[Mississippi River]]. The territory north of this line (which started just south of the present-day [[Davenport, Iowa|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]].

Dubuque County became part of [[Wisconsin Territory]] once it was split off from Michigan Territory on July 3, 1836. A massive reorganization and reduction of the county's size was executed on December 21, 1837, when its original area was separated into 13 named new counties and a "non-county area". The land in present day Minnesota and the Dakotas was transferred to the newly created Fayette County in this action. Dubuque County became a part of Iowa Territory upon its creation on July 4, 1838.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/documents/WI_Individual_County_Chronologies.htm|title=WI: Individual County Chronologies|website=publications.newberry.org|access-date=September 28, 2016|archive-date=April 14, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170414132220/http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/documents/WI_Individual_County_Chronologies.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1858, [[Saint Francis Catholic Church (Balltown)|Saint Francis Catholic Church]] was established in Dubuque County.

===Middle history===
In the 1980s, the farm crisis set in, and devastated large sections of the Midwest, including Dubuque County. Since the area was heavily dependent on agriculture-related industries like Deere and Company and the [[Dubuque Packing Company]], unemployment soared. In one month of 1982, Dubuque County had 23% unemployment, the highest in the nation. The county experienced huge population losses during this time, as workers left the area. It would not fully recover from this until the late 1990s, when the economy diversified, shifting away from manufacturing, and toward various service-related establishments. The county is now growing and flourishing.

===Modern history===
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Since the 1990s, the area has become much more prosperous. Today, the county boasts record employment levels and a growing population. The surging economy can especially be seen in the West Side of the City of Dubuque, and in neighboring Peosta and Asbury. These areas have expanded so much that concerns now lie with trying to manage the growth, a sharp change from just 20 years ago.

It is one of Iowa's two original counties along with [[Des Moines County, Iowa|Des Moines County]]; both were organized by the [[Michigan Territory|Michigan Territorial]] legislature in 1834.

In 2021, the Dubuque County Minutemen baseball team advanced to the American Legion World Series semi-finals, the first team from Iowa to advance that far since Cedar Rapids, IA in 1975.