As the funicular car rose above the scene before me, like the basket of a hot air balloon leaving the earth behind, I thought to myself, this was someone’s own private elevator, really.
That someone was J.K. Graves, a banker who lived in a privileged perch along the top of a ridge overlooking the city, the Mississippi River, and his office directly below. Before building his cable car in 1882, he and his neighbors had to ride north to take a switchback road down the ridge into town, a journey of about 30 minutes. After installing his cable car, he could just board “the World’s Shortest and Steepest Railroad” and be lowered 189 vertical feet (296 feet of track) to street level in a few minutes. He’d use it to go home for lunch and a midday nap each day. After two fires and a few upgrades, Fenelon Place Elevator became a two-car funicular and a recommended highlight of a trip to Dubuque, Iowa.
