Dubuque · Old Main & Downtown
Hotel Julien Dubuque
Opened in 1915 on a corner the hotel says has held a hotel since 1839; its own history repeats stories that Al Capone hid out on the eighth floor.
- Built
- 1915Built 1913–15 after a 1913 fire destroyed the earlier Julien; a hotel has stood on the corner since 1839 (hotel history).
- Type
- Grand hotel
- Rooms
- 133
- Area
- Old Main & Downtown
- Credentials
- Inside a National Register historic district
The story
A hotel has occupied the corner of Second and Main since 1839, beginning with Peter Waples’ four-story Waples House, which was enlarged and renamed the Julien House in 1854. That hotel burned in 1913, and the present building opened in 1915. Louis H. Pfohl bought it in 1962 and remodeled it as the Julien Motor Inn, adding a lobby mirror salvaged from New York’s Ziegfeld Theatre. The hotel says Abraham Lincoln is said to have stayed in 1859 and that it gained notoriety through Al Capone; after a $30 million restoration it reopened as Hotel Julien Dubuque in September 2009.
Good to know
- Address: 200 Main Street, Dubuque, IA 52001
Sources (4)
Last verified October 2026. Details change; confirm with the inn before you book.