RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Kansas >> Barton County >> Dubuque >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Dubuque, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Dubuque and the surrounding area.

  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Dubuque:
    • 38.696935, -98.615891
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Dubuque
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Barton County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Barton County
    • Since Dubuque is near Russell County and also Ellsworth County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Russell County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ellsworth County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Dubuque

Communities Also Named Dubuque ...

We found five communities that are also named Dubuque.

There is one other community in Kansas that is also named Dubuque.

Beyond Kansas, we know of four communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these four communities, four are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Located In Kansas ...
    • Russell County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Dubuque [Russell County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Iowa
      • Dubuque County
      • This Dubuque is located in Dubuque County and lies 492 miles [791.8 km]<2> to the northeast of the Dubuque that is located in Barton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dubuque County community of Dubuque.
    • Montana
      • Fergus County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Montana community of Dubuque [Fergus County].
    • Ontario
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ontario community of Dubuque.
    • Washington
      • Snohomish County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Washington community of Dubuque [Snohomish County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Dubuque ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Beaver
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Beaver is located in Barton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaver
  • Black Wolf ‑ Historic
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Black Wolf is located in Ellsworth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black Wolf
  • Frederick
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Frederick is located in Rice County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frederick
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 18 people
  • Great Bend
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
  • Homer
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Homer is located in Russell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homer
  • Lorraine
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Lorraine is located in Ellsworth County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lorraine
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 125 people
  • Lucas
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
  • Redwing
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • Silica
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the south)
  • Wolf Creek
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)
    • Wolf Creek is located in Lincoln County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolf Creek

How Far From Dubuque to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Dubuque to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<4> community of Dubuque once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Dubuque and extending to:

  • Great Bend, which is the Seat of Barton County, lies 24 miles [38.6 km]<2> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Dubuque to Great Bend, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • Topeka, which is the State Capital of Kansas, lies 159 miles [255.9 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,158 miles [1,863.6 km] to the east (E). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 46 days and walking would take 66 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,731 miles [10,832.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,483 miles [12,042.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,382 miles [8,661.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Dubuque could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Dubuque) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Dubuque, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<6>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Dubuque to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Dubuque. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.6969, Longitude: -98.6159    
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 321.807 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 319.402 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 314.751 degrees.