This is the Farley & Loetscher Manufacturing Company at 750 White Street. The building is still standing, but the original parapet has been covered over, along with the tops of the upper row of windows, and the painted wording on the upper edifice has been sandblasted off leaving a row or lighter colored bricks encircling the structure. A recent photo of the building is below.

Farley & Loetscher was originally founded by Christian Loetscher in 1875. By 1879 Jesse Farley had joined the firm, and he had invested $85,000 for the firm's new building. The company grew to such an extent that it eventually had it's own electrical plant and telephone system. The wood, shavings, and sawdust leftover from the manufacturing processes was gathered up, shredded, and then fed into a furnace to heat the various plants. Their buildings, except for a few warehouses, were all interconnected by a series of bridges over the city roads. Employment eventually peaked at 1,250, but increasing wages and lower demand for millwork eventually caused the firm to be purchased in 1960 by Clear Fir Sales Company. The firm ended production in April 1962. An advertisement form the 1939 Dubuque city directory below shows the wide array of products available from the firm.

The Encyclopedia Dubuque states that the firm made the millwork for the Navy torpedo boat Ericsson and Revenue Cutter Windom, the interior of the Willard Hotel in Washington, and the outer doors of the main chambers of the U.S. Supreme Court, in addition to many other structures.

I'm old enough to recall the billowing smokestack being a symbol of prosperity.