Our casual, cosmopolitan club is a destination of its own, located in the heart of Downtown Dubuque and the historic Millwork District. Join us in celebrating adventurousness and creativity, history and culture, and art and nightlife at one of our upcoming events.
It all started in July 2013 with a fateful vacation to the Midwest by Brooklynites Scott Cornwell and Susan Price. The couple drove from their New York City home to Grundy County, Iowa, where Susan's ancestors settled in the 1850s. From there they headed to Scott’s hometown, Prairie Du Sac, Wisconsin. An unplanned stop in-between in Dubuque turned into 24 hours, when the river town and its people captured the hearts of this adventurous duo.
Soon after, they found a near-derelict property for sale in Dubuque. To many, the place seemed to be just another abandoned building slated for demolition, but Scott and Susan saw something different. It brought back some of their favorite experiences and nightlife in historic buildings in New York City.
The two jumped at the opportunity to recreate those experiences in Dubuque. Six months later, the pair headed west to save and share the unique building. Through hard work and determination, their labor of love in Dubuque, Smokestack was born.
Smokestack opened in July 2015, and then expanded to its two rooftops, 2nd floor gallery, and public garden in 2017, fulfilling Scott and Susan’s vision to share the property in its entirety. Smokestack has become a new favorite destination for art, culture and nightlife in Dubuque, seeing citizens and visitors from all over the world.
Smokestack has now created Dubuque's only professional recording studio, Smokestack Studios.
Our partner Asylum Recording, under lead engineer Matt "Mr. Zills" Gregory, offers recording, mixing, mastering, duplication, distribution, restoration, remastering, reamping, editing, and correction with industry standard quality for all musical genres - from hip hop to folk to heavy metal. Asylum is also available for live sound and stage production services.
Before Smokestack, this was the home of the Jefferson House Hotel, the Sanitary Milk Company, C&T Motorcycles, a Farley & Loetscher building, and it is the exact birthplace of Iowa.
Dive in to the history of a changing Iowa and learn more about The Smokestack.
Smokestack has recently become an emerging partner site of Silos & Smokestacks as a result of its rich history. Learn more about Silos & Smokestacks' work in telling the story of Iowa's past, present and future here.