Our postcard today depicts the Publication Building of Modern Woodmen of
America (MWA) that, for 75 years, was located at 318 16th Street right
behind the current Rock Island Police Station. MWA moved to Rock Island from
upriver in Fulton in 1897 and shortly thereafter constructed their first
building here, a Home Office on the southeast corner of 15th Street and
Third Avenue. Basement space in that office building was used for their
printing department. Major printing jobs, however, were contracted to
private companies, not necessarily located in Rock Island.
In 1906, the Post Office ruled that the society's news magazine, "The Modern
Woodman," must be mailed from Rock Island, not a printer's location. In
response, the Modern Woodmen Council decided they must build their own
printing plant. Rock Island architect George Stauduhar drew the plans for
the new building, to be known as the Publications Building. It was to be
located on 16th Street just around the corner and behind the Home Office.
Designed in the Italian Renaissance style, it featured a red clay tile roof
above brick and limestone walls. The small dormer at the front of the roof
was designed to hold a clock.
Notice the huge recessed arch that frames both the impressive main entrance
and the second floor balcony with its iron railing. Above the balcony
window, the MWA emblem was created in mosaic tile in the large circular
inset. Other architectural details on the front include keystones over the
windows and beveled stonework joints on the first story. These elegant
details extend around the sides a short distance, but are then supplanted by
plain utilitarian brick courses, appropriate to the building's industrial
use.
The printing operation soon outgrew its 50 by 100 foot building, and in 1922
an addition was made at the rear of the building that doubled its size. That
addition is depicted as a shadowy sketched outline, and we think it may
represent the architect's concept of the new addition, thus dating the
postcard.
Publications were very important to MWA - some say that the continued
success of this fraternal organization is due to its outstanding
communication with its members. MWA itself is quoted early in the twentieth
century as saying "no organization anywhere has ever kept its members more
fully informed of every detail of its affairs." It's hard to conceive now,
but the Argus reported that an estimated number of 20,000 out-of-town people
attended a MWA picnic here in Rock Island in 1901. Through the years, MWA's
success and need for communications and hence printing facilities grew. By
the 1980s MWA another expansion of the printing facility resulted in a new
building, located east of 20th Street near Second Avenue.
As MWA has expanded into new spaces, Rock Island County acquired their
historic buildings - both the Home Office and the Publications Building. The
Home Office adapted easily to county offices. But what about the
Publications Building? Despite its elegant exterior, its interior - both
the original and the addition - was utilitarian rather than beautiful. It
was, very simply, a printing plant, with a heavy-duty design; strong enough
to support a large print operation. But that strong structure and lack of
interior partitions meant it could have been adapted for other uses. So what
use would work? In 1989 the community got the final answer - this elegant
Italian Renaissance Publications Building would be razed for a 50 by 200
foot addition to the county parking lot.
Although the building was landmarked by the Rock Island Preservation
Commission, that wasn't enough to spare it from demolition. Sometimes we end
these columns by suggesting you drive or walk by a historic site for a
closer look. This time, we don't think it's worth your effort.
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