Polish immigrants from
Illinois,
Indiana, and
Wisconsin first settled the area after the
American Civil War. They were soon followed by
Volga Germans from
Minnesota, Wisconsin, and
Dubuque, Iowa. A rural
post office named Dubuque opened in 1879, and the village was formally established in 1887. Devout
Catholics, the local townsfolk built their first church in the early 1870s. They replaced it in 1901 with St. Catherine Catholic Church, which still stands. The post office closed in 1909. By the 1920s, Dubuque had begun to lose its population and its business community. Today, all that remains is the Catholic church and a cemetery. ==Geography==