Masterpiece on the Mississippi - a City of History
-
11/28/2009
Dubuque, Iowa is built into the limestone bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River in the heart of the Upper Mississippi River Valley, ranked the third most beautiful place to live in the United States by USA Today Magazine. In 2009 IBM chose Dubuque to locate a 1,300 employee Information Technology Service Center in a downtown office building that is on the National Historic Register.
In a 5 year study Dubuque was selected as the #1 mid-sized city in the country for high tech output. Dubuque was also selected as the #1 city for housing affordablity. From 2006 to 2007 Dubuque was ranked #22 in the country for the rate of job growth. In 2007 and 20008 Dubuque was ranked in the top 100 communities for young people. In 2008 it was selected as the most livable city in the United States with a population under 100,000. In 2007 Dubuque was named an All-America City by the National Civic League.
With 18,000 college students in 7 colleges in the tri-states and the 7th best rated School District in the country, with Senior High chool rated in the top 100, it is a place to educate your children and your workforce. The National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium, the Dubuque Art Museum, the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra, three community theaters, USHL Hockey in a new 3.200 seat arena, 1.6 million visitors per year, numerous festivals, two new casinos built at a cost of over $150 million and the activites from several colleges provides abundant access to cultural and entertainment activities. If you want more, 2.9 million people live within 100 miles in college towns like Madison, Wisconsin and Iowa City, Iowa. Chicago,Illinois and Milwaukee,Wisconsin are three hours away and a little furher is Minneapolis/St. Paul.
Besides IBM, major employers include McGraw-Hill, Prudential, McKesson, John Deere, Hormel, Medline, Nordstroms, Quebecor, Heartland Financial, Cottingham and Butler, Mercy Hospital (top 100 hospitals in the country), Medical Associates, University of Dubuque, Clarke College and Loras College.
Dubuque has sustainability as its #1 policy priority defined as a livable, viable and equitable community with environmental/ecological integrity, economic prosperity and social/cultural vibrancy. While this was adopted by a vote of the Mayor and City Council the definition was created by a citizen task force and is supported by the Greater Dubuque Development Corporation and through a community dialogue called Dubuque Squared being conduted by the Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce and the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque. IBM has designated Dubuque as their Smarter Sustainble City model city for their international Smarter Planet initiative creating a national demonstration of how to use precious resources like water, electricity, natural gas, and vehicle miles traveled through the provision of information to make the best decisions.
Dubuque has hundreds of acres of parks, miles of scenic bike trails and is bordered by the Mines of Spain State Park and the Upper Mississippi River National Fish and Wildlife Refuge. Dubuque is a Masterpiece on the Mississippi.
Michael | Dubuque, IA