Modern Woodmen of America Interior
1504 3rd Avenue The next time you go to the Rock Island County Building, make it a point to go through the main entrance near the west end of the building. As soon as you are inside the building, stop and look up. Odds are you’ve never noticed the elaborately paneled wood ceiling in the … [ Continued
Rock Island High School
1400 25th Avenue The fireworks on July 4, 1858, were more spectacular than ever. Crowds gathered in Union (later Spencer) Square for the display were startled to see flames shooting from their brand new high school, burning it to the ground before it could even be occupied. Only two years earlier, five separate school districts … [ Continued
View of Vandruff Island from Black Hawk Tower
Vandruff’s Island lies just outside Rock Island’s border, with this view from Black Hawk’s Watch Tower being enjoyed by thousands through the decades. This postcard, from the Augustana College Library Special Collections, dates from around 1920 and shows the island with the Rock River on either side and the town of Milan visible in the … [ Continued
New Post Office – Federal Building
19th – 20th Streets; 2nd – 3rd Avenues Postcards from Home typically tells about buildings a century or so old. Too often, the subject has been demolished leaving only pictures to document its existence. Even when a building is still standing, its current appearance often is different from the postcard illustration. Today’s postcard from the … [ Continued
