The History of Rock Island in Post Cards Postcards were originally printed in the Rock Island Argus and Moline Dispatch, 2001 and are reprinted with permission Courthouse What a beautiful courthouse! Today's postcard never fails to elicit oohs and ahhs when people see it for the first time. Then the question is, "But what happened to it?" Rock Island County was officially established in 1833 and Stephenson, as the city of Rock Island was known then, was the county seat. Stephenson Square, the block between what is now Second and Third Avenues and 14th and 15th Streets, was selected as the site of what would be known as Courthouse Square. Soon a new fine brick courthouse was erected on the south or Third Avenue side of the square. Old photos show it as a nearly square brick building with round-topped windows, a hipped roof, and a tall central cupola and a wide one-story front porch facing north onto the square. (1885 portrait/bio album: courthouse built 1836 50ft square,) Some years later, that early courthouse was extensively remodeled to become much more imposing - more governmental looking -- with the addition of four massive two-story columns supporting a triangular pediment on the front (north side). The remodeled building looked a great deal like the Buford House (now Word of Life Church) on 7th Avenue at 18th Street that we wrote about a few weeks ago. A winding exterior staircase extended from either side of the front porch directly to the second story. As the population of the county increased, an even bigger courthouse was needed to replace the old one, which was by then called "Rock Island County' s disgrace." In 1895, the county's building committee voted to accept a design submitted by the Kansas City architectural firm of Gunn & Curtis for a new four-story building that was called, on different occasions, Spanish Renaissance or Roman in style. The 60-room courthouse was the work of Rock Island contractor and stonecutter Charles J. Larkin and was completed in time to be dedicated on March 13, 1897. It cost $112,201, not including the heating system. After the new courthouse was occupied, the old one on Third Avenue was demolished. The courthouse is 170 foot long and the exterior is made of Bedford limestone -- a hard, fine-grained stoneÑwhich was selected to be blue in tint at the foundation level and buff above that. The marvelous interior was every bit as beautiful as the exterior. The lower two stories have deeply recessed joints between the stones, while the upper floors are smooth. Notice the variety of forms and functions on the exterior - round topped entrances and windows, circular windows in the triangular pediments, balconies, and bulbous standing-seam metal roofs and, above it all, domes -at least six of them, large and small. It's not surprising that from the earliest drawings for this courthouse, it was nicknamed "The Dome." That name, of course, referred to its prominent main dome that ultimately extended 154 feet above the street. Our postcard, from about 1910, shows the courthouse as it appeared when it was built. But when we fast-forward fifty years to 1958 there's a front-page picture in the Argus showing the domes being removed. Only sixty years after being built, the copper roofing on the domes had "worn out". Rather than repairing or replacing the roofing, a decision was made to remove all of the domes, leaving a truncated version of this originally spectacular building. We preservationists hope this wouldn't happen today - and would like to envision a day when the domes are restored. Today, the courthouse still has its beautiful exterior masonry and the interior has kept most of its original fine materials - even some original furnishings. Floors in the central rotunda area and the corridors were of marble or tile and other floors were of durable and beautiful hard maple. The rotunda and corridors had pink Tennessee marble wainscoting. Other interior walls were paneled in quartersawn oak or were frescoed. Notice that our postcard also depicts the Civil War soldiers monument. Over 30,000 people gathered to mark its unveiling in 1869. It was created by Rock Islander sculptor Leonard Wells Volk, who maintained his shop at 2nd Avenue and 16th Street. Volk, who had come to Rock Island in 1853, later founded the Chicago Academy of Design. He is also reported to be the only sculptor to model Abraham Lincoln from life and he was able to make life-masks as well as casts of Lincoln's hands. He created several statues and busts of both Lincoln and his rival Steven A. Douglas, which were are in Springfield and Chicago. Although our Civil War monument is still beautiful from a distance, a closer look shows that it is weathered and worn, many of its names unreadable, and the originally sharp edges soft and rounded. Wouldn't it be nice to see this fine work restored and preserved for future generations? Printed with permission Copyright 2001, Moline Dispatch Publishing Co.     Clock Tower Building on Arsenal Island   Rock Island - the real, the original, Rock Island - is the geographic and historical center of the Quad Cities. This is not some overgrown sandbar island-wannabee, subject to the whims of the Mississippi's current. Rather, this sturdy thousand acre stone plateau that rises above the original shallow rapids forces the river to alter its path around it. Rock Island is the visible reminder of what created our community. Aptly named for its solid rock underpinnings, Rock Island was revered by local Indian tribes. It held mysterious caves in its riverfront cliffs, with forests and rich soils above. It was home to the earliest European settlers, including Col. George Davenport. It anchored strategic Fort Armstrong, then on the western outskirts of the United States. It brought John Deere to Moline, with the promise of free power from its old dam. It provided the bedrock foundation for the first railroad bridge across the Mississippi. It served as one of the largest Civil War prison camps in the north. And, it has been a federal arsenal since the 1860s, with manufacturing capabilities exceeded by none, private or public. Finally, it gave its name to our city and county and to other fledgling villages as well - Moline was originally called "Rock Island Mills" and both a "Rock Island City" and "Rock Island Village" existed briefly. Now, to avoid confusion with all the other Rock Islands, past and present, we usually refer to the original Rock Island as "Arsenal Island." In 1874, Mark Twain wrote, "The charming island"..three miles long, and half a mile wide, belongs to the United States, and the government has turned it into a wonderful park, enhancing its natural attractions by art and threading its fine forests with many miles of drives. Near the center of the island, one catches glimpses, through the trees, of the vast stone four-story buildings, each of which covers an acre of ground. .....The Rock Island establishment is a national armory and arsenal." Since 1969, the entire island has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. An even rarer and more prestigious honor, its old limestone buildings are a National Historic Landmark. And one of these old stone buildings stands head and shoulders (well, at least a couple of stories) above the others. It's the Clock Tower Building, located on the western end of Rock Island, which has kept vigil over the western end of Arsenal Island for 135 years, and is depicted on today's postcard. Interestingly, although the postcard is captioned "Entrance to Rock Island Arsenal, Davenport, Ia.," the Arsenal has always been considered to be in Rock Island and the picture, looking west on Rodman Avenue, is actually what one would see exiting the island. Congressional legislation established an arsenal here in 1862 (an arsenal is a place for the manufacture or storage of arms and equipment). At that time, it was envisioned as a small facility for "deposit and repair" of ordnance (ordnance includes all sorts of military supplies, from weapons and ammunition, to vehicles and equipment). In 1863, Major C. P. Kingsbury, the first Commander of the Arsenal, arrived to construct the first permanent arsenal building, to be called Storehouse A. During that same period, the prison camp was being constructed on the western end of what is now the golf course. Much of the island was still occupied by private landowners as well as non-owning "squatters". An early drawing shows Storehouse A looking like much like the Clock Tower Building does today except for the roof, which had hipped rather than gabled ends. Construction of Storehouse A, which rests on the solid bedrock of Rock Island, began in September of 1863. It proceeded very slowly because, among other factors, construction materials were difficult to obtain and the prison camp construction and operation had a higher priority. Maj. Kingsbury, who had who had been able to complete only the first floor, was reassigned in 1865. By then, the prison camp was closing. The second Arsenal Commander was Lt. Col. Thomas Rodman, sometimes called General Rodman, because of his honorary title of Brevet Brigadier General. Col. Rodman, known as the Father of Rock Island Arsenal, resumed construction of Storehouse A. He requested a change to the previous army-approved design so he could add gables to each end of the roof. The gables increased the usability of the attic by providing ventilation and light. He also increased the height of the tower by 20 feet to accommodate the changed roofline and, in the bargain, make an even more imposing structure. Although there are some references to stone being quarried on the island itself, the limestone for Storehouse A came from a quarry in LeClaire, Iowa. Stones were brought down the Mississippi to the west end of the Island. It' s also been claimed that wood salvaged over years from the original nearby Fort Armstrong (completed 1817, abandoned 1845, burned 1855) as well as material from the Confederate prison camp went into the construction, mostly in basement window frames. Storehouse A, now known as the Clock Tower Building, was finally completed in 1867. The recently restored clock that gives the building its name is original. It has four 12-foot diameter faces, hands of 5 and 6 feet, and a 3500-pound bell. The weights that drive the movement hang down three stories. The tower itself is 117 feet tall and twenty-five feet square. And it was designed for more than just holding the clock - it also supports a hoist to lift material to the main floors of the structure. The other building, shown on the right in today's postcard, is the gatehouse that was completed in 1875. Intended as the main west entrance to the island, it also could confine people who were charged with breaking arsenal rules. Originally it had a steeply pitched diamond-patterned roof, probably slate, with "gingerbread" under the eaves. A small front porch fronted the street, now called Rodman Avenue. Stone columns holding massive iron gates (folded back toward the viewer in the postcard) framed the street and sidewalks. Most of the stone columns and all of gates are gone, but the gatehouse remains, although without its porch and gingerbread and with a new roof. The original plan called for other arsenal buildings to be at the west end of the island near the Clock Tower Building, but Col. Rodman believed the high land at the island's center would be a better location. He went on to begin construction of the many stone manufacturing buildings and homes on the island. Limestone for these buildings came from many sources, including Joliet, Lemont, and Anamosa. Unfortunately, Col. Rodman died in 1871 at only 56 years old, before all of his buildings were completed. He is buried at the eastern end of the island. In its anniversary issue of November 27, 1912, the Argus carried a photo of the Clock Tower Building captioned, "Condemned Storehouse at West End of Island". World War I may have provided a reprieve, as it continued in use until after the war, when the Army again proposed that it be razed. Objection from local residents, who recognized it as a major landmark, both from land and water, saved the building. It was finally vacated in 1930, but the Corps of Engineers moved into it in 1934, while the lock and dam was being constructed, and has remained there ever since. Thanks to an Argus/Dispatch reader who submitted this postcard to us. Much of our information came from "An Illustrated History of the Rock Island Arsenal and Arsenal Island," by Thomas Slattery, which was published in 1990 by the Arsenal's Historical Office. Printed with permission Copyright 2001, Moline Dispatch Publishing Co.     Tri City Railway Car Barns 5th Avenue near 35th Street They were known as street railways, and the streetcars that followed those rails were much like a train, except they were only one car long. For forty years they created a steel network that extended well outside of our major city limits. One could hop on a streetcar in Rock Island and quickly get to Carbon Cliff, Milan, the Arsenal, or Davenport. Streetcars or trolleys (modern gasoline-powered trolleys are more accurately called a trolley bus) started out as horse drawn conveyances. Since each trolley was self-powered, it may be difficult to understand why the rails were even used. However since the early roads were not paved and the pneumatic tire hadn't been invented, it's easy to see that a vehicle on steel rails would offer a vastly smoother, more comfortable and hence more desirable ride than an ordinary carriage. The first Moline-Rock Island horse railway Center Station was located on Moline Avenue - today's Fifth Avenue - at an address noted only as "east of 31st Street," and was termed an "architectural ornament" at its opening in 1868. It had a "nicely plastered office area" in addition to the less finished stables. Trolleys were reported to seat 16 people - 14 if the women were wearing hoop skirts - but a reporter once observed 51 people on a car. Receipts for a single day were reported at $185 - a quite tidy sum for the era. Later as Moline and Rock Island grew closer together and the streets became more defined, the address of the station would be changed to 3448 5th Avenue. Street railways were very popular, so popular that small companies developed in each of our individual cities. People rode them to work and shop - much easier than harnessing a horse at the beginning and end of the day - and much faster than walking. But on holidays and weekends, the streetcars weren't used much. How could the streetcar developers drum up business? By providing a destination where everyone would want to go on days off. In 1882, Bailey Davenport started a trend by building a street railway all the way out 11th Street to the new Watchtower recreation area. A few years later, in 1892, an inn and amusement park at Watchtower provided more active entertainment. Moline Central Railway developed Prospect Park as a destination in the 1890s. Other railway destinations include Credit Island and Campbell's Island. Some of our areas largest park areas are a result of the desire to keep streetcars running - and hence profitable -- during slack times. In 1889, Center Station was destroyed by fire. Fifteen vehicles and 42 horses were reported lost. Our postcard represents the building constructed to replace Center Station. The front of this brick building was 2-stories with the offices upstairs, while the rear portion was a single story with earthen floors and a wood truss roof. A paint shop was at the east side of the building. Farther east were separate buildings containing blacksmith , woodworking, and repair shops. Although additions were later made to the rear and the east, the front portion we see on the postcard remained basically the same. In the early 1890s, the various street railways were purchased by a single company. During that decade, they were combined into a single entity known as Tri-City Railway Company, which continued to own and improve its recreational parks. Around 1899, the railway system was taken over by a group of local businessmen that included S. S. Davis. Davis, who is credited with bringing electricity to the area, was probably responsible for electrifying the railway lines. Although the old stables were no longer needed as a horse barn, they were used to store the streetcars, hence our postcard's caption, "Tri City Railway Company Car Barn." After 1908, offices of the Tri-City Railway moved downtown to the new Safety Building but the car barns remained here on Fifth Avenue. Streetcars continued to serve the region until 1936, when all the streetcar lines - except for one across the Government Bridge - were converted to bus lines. What caused the sudden elimination of streetcars? It has been claimed that it was a devious scheme actively pursued by hidden subsidiaries of General Motors. These subsidiaries would buy streetcar companies with the sole purpose of closing them. It is said that GM wanted streetcars off the road so people would buy their busses and cars. Others have claimed that streetcar transit was simply obsolete - big busses with pneumatic tires could go anywhere and not be tied to a steel rail. What's true? We don't know - but we still think it would be great to hop a streetcar to Carbon Cliff in downtown Rock Island! The car barn building was used for bus storage for many years, then sat vacant until it was demolished in the 1970s. While not especially distinctive in its architecture, it represented an important era in local and national history. Now only a postcard remains to remind us of the heyday of public transportation.     Rock Island Post Office Rock Island had a post office before we even had a town. Starting in 1825, Colonel George Davenport's small trading post on the island was where the small amount of mail was received and sent. Col. Davenport's commission reportedly appointed him postmaster of Rock Island, Missouri. By 1834, the first official post office was established in the 2-room log home of Postmaster Joseph Conway in Farnhamsburg (near what is now Sacred Heart Church). The post office operated out of different downtown buildings at various times, until 1896 when the first Federal Building was constructed at the southwest corner of 2nd Avenue and 16th Street. That building, which is shown in today's postcard looked very different in 1896. A drawing that appeared in the Argus of the era shows a 2-1Ú2 story brick building with steep gables facing all four directions. A different early postcard of a street scene, shows the building with a small one-story "porch" on 2nd Avenue that has a massive arch framing the recessed main entrance. Windows on the first floor were also located under wide arches. The building was constructed by contractor John Volk and was reported to be a "model of beauty, convenience, and thorough and fine finish". The interior had light colored tile floors and darker marble wainscoting. Glass and brass-screened windows atop carved oak counters separated the clerks from the public. Even the furnishings - from roll top desks to wardrobes - were of oak. Offices featured large mirrors in addition to the oak. Little more than a decade after construction, plans were made to expand the building, although the expansion was not accomplished until 1914. Although initial estimates were $45,000, the final cost was reported to be $125,000. When we compare the post office on today's postcard with the original post office, we see that a full third story has been added. It also appears that the red brick was covered with stucco (stucco reached its height of popularity in Rock Island between 1910 and 1920). First and second floors had minimal exterior changes, other than the stucco surface. The first story "porch" was eliminated and the one-story addition shown on the right is new. The three-story section at the far left may have been added as well. The windows on the top story appear to be the same as those that were originally in dormers on the steep gable roof, but the roof has been both lowered and flattened. The photo used for the postcard was probably taken shortly after the remodeled post office was occupied. Notice how the people are posed - they are grouped in a casual manner, but all are looking toward the camera, even the bicyclists. Although the auto is unoccupied, the cyclists are astride their vehicles. Ads for bicycles of all types - both for men and women -- appeared on a daily basis. An Argus article in February 1914 celebrated the opening of the remodeled post office by publishing a history with a list of previous postmasters, most of whom served very short terms. It is interesting that many were prominent community leaders in other fields. Among them were Col. John Buford, Virginia native who became Illinois State Senator; William Jackson, leading attorney who was known as the father of Rock Island parks; Major C. W. Hawes, Head Clerk of Modern Woodmen; John W. Potter, founder of the Argus; and August Huesing, bottler who established A.D. Huesing. This remained the home of the post office and federal building until a new post office was completed in 1957. It was built under a lease-purchase law that allowed it to be constructed by private contractors then leased to the government, with the lease payments being applied to the purchase price. City officials offered Spencer Square, a beautifully landscaped downtown park to the federal government in exchange for our old post office. Construction was delayed when 21 heirs of the three men who owned Spencer Square from 1836 to 1876 filed suit in federal court to contest the city's ownership and hence its right to dispose of Spencer Square. Needless to say, the suit failed and the new $2 million dollar now sits on the square block between 19th and 20th Streets that was Spencer Square. Within a year, the pictured post office disappeared from city directories. Its site is now part of the Royal Neighbors of America parking lot. Rock Island Public Library Rock Island Public Library Because this postcard is a "real photo," we know it's an accurate representation of the Rock Island Public Library, which was built in 1903. And although it's nearly 100 years later, very few things have changed in this view of the building on the corner of 19th Street and 4th Avenue, except for the hitching post near the center of the picture which is long gone. Our public library history begins in 1855, when Argus Editor J. B. Danforth called for a public library. Citing the popularity of reading and the high cost of books, he believed that a library would provide access to quality reading materials, rather than affordable trash novels. Within a few months, a "Rock Island Library and Reading Room Association" was organized. Donations from local businessmen and subscriptions from the general public enabled the first library to open in October 1855. That first library was not public, since the city could not tax its residents for a library. Therefore access was limited to those who subscribed at a yearly fee of $3.00. That first library venture only lasted two years. When it closed, the books were stored in members' homes. In 1865, a library was revived with the formation of another privately funded organization, the "Young Men's Literary Association". Although the earlier dispersed books were not all returned, gradually enough new ones were accumulated to open the new library. The association also sponsored lectures, featuring well-known speakers, from Clara Barton to Ralph Waldo Emerson. These lectures were a source of revenue that the association used to buy more books. In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed much of Chicago, including its books. As a direct result, the State of Illinois in early 1872 authorized communities to assess taxes to provide public libraries. In Rock Island, this meant the demise of the private Young Men's Literary Association, but it also meant that we would have a truly public library. Before the association turned over its assets to the city in favor of a new public library, it did one important thing: It hired fifteen-year-old Miss Ellen Gale as its librarian. Miss Gale remained as librarian until her retirement in 1937. Including her years with the Young Men's Literary Association, Miss Gale was a librarian for 68 years! On November 25, 1872, Rock Island Public Library opened its doors - the very first public library in the state to do so. It was housed in one rented room, measuring only 24 x 48, in the Mitchell and Lynde Building just north of 2nd Avenue at 17th Street (now the site of National City Bank). During the next 25 years, library usage grew, but its space didn't. By 1895, a new library was clearly needed. Two years later local lumber baron Frederick Weyerhaeuser helped the cause - by providing a list of names of wealthy men who, along with Weyerhaeuser, were potential benefactors for a building fund. During this same period of time, wealthy steel magnate Andrew Carnegie began subsidizing library construction across the country, ultimately funding an incredible 1679 "Carnegie Libraries," 106 of them in Illinois. Moline's downtown library is a Carnegie Library. Did Rock Island ask Mr. Carnegie to fund a library? Maybe - it can't be verified. The possibly apocryphal response makes a good story anyway. Mr. Carnegie reportedly said, "Any town that has Frederick Weyerhaeuser need not ask a library from me." Mr. Weyerhaeuser did come through. Ultimately he and others gave many dollars to enable completion of the library. In 1900 a lot at 4th Avenue and 19th Street was purchased and an architectural competition was held. The selected design was created by local firm Drack and Kerns, and the new building was constructed by contractor Collins Brothers. When the formal opening of the new library took place in 1903, it was called "Rock Island's Temple of Literature." Our postcard, postmarked in 1913, shows the library sometime in its first few years. It depicts a beautiful, classically inspired stone structure that was indeed reminiscent of a Greek or Roman temple. It had a triangular frame or pediment above the doorway and over some of its windows. Two-story fluted Ionic-style columns supported a top band or "frieze" engraved with the names of a dozen famous writers. We recognize many of those names today - Longfellow, Shakespeare, and Hawthorne among them. Two others are obscure - Tegner and Bancroft. Tegner was a Swedish poet with no real connection to our community. Bancroft, a statesman, historian and author, had actually visited Rock Island, albeit very briefly, in 1854. He was part of an entourage of politicians -- including former president Millard Fillmore, -- business leaders, and the press who arrived here on a train from Chicago in 1854, when the tracks had been extended to Rock Island. The large group then immediately boarded several riverboats for a fast trip upriver to St. Paul and back. Since 1903, the most significant change in the historic building is the loss of the fancy roof trim, which has been missing for at least 55 years. The original wooden doors were replaced with metal ones in 1964, and the windows were replaced in 1973. Care was taken to make the new windows have the same glazing pattern as the originals, although the new ones are tinted glass rather than clear. Originally the second floor ceiling had a wonderful glass dome over a circular rotunda opening to the first floor that was encircled by a brass railing. This allowed the light to continue onto the first floor. The rotunda was removed in 1954 and the skylight was covered. Other, more minor, changes over the years included rearrangement of shelving and interior furnishings. One of the most interesting things about the library is its color - although its stone appears yellow now, it was originally gray. In fact, it was constructed of stone that was called "gray canyon stone" from a quarry in North Amherst, Ohio. The apparent inconsistency between the actual color and the stone name had intrigued local historians and architectural buffs - until the new building addition in 1985. At that time, it was found that the stone was indeed gray when it was freshly cut or protected from the elements. The current color is the result of weathering - possibly tiny amounts of iron in the stone oxidizing or rusting to a mellow gold. Over the years, the function of the library changed a great deal from Miss Gale's day. The library became more than a "literature temple." It became a center for all kinds of information, from books to records, movies to microfilms, even computers. Finally a decision had to be made. Could this old library building ever accommodate the continuing needs of the community? The answer from the Library Board, with the support of the City Council, was a resounding YES - but it meant the original building must be expanded. A large addition to the north and east was constructed in 1985, creating the necessary space and access while respecting the design of original building and disturbing that building as little as possible. Its color and texture was selected to complement the old stonework. Much interior restoration and renovation occurred at the same time, including the restoration of the domed skylight. A finishing - and beautiful - touch was the Harris and Katz family donation of a sculptural fountain for the north side of the new addition. The official name of the fountain is "Essere Umano (to be human)" , but most of us just know it as the "library swans." Much of the historical information in this article is taken from Roald Tweet 's history of the library, "Miss Gale's Books," published in 1997. Why not visit our library, read the book, and learn the rest of the story. Then wander through this beautiful and enduring building and appreciate its architecture even more. 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