Rock Island Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks Lodge No. 980 was
organized on June 26, 1905 with B. F. Knox serving as exalted ruler.
Initially, the lodge met at the Illinois Theatre on the southeast corner of
16th Street and Second Avenue, now Hyman's Furniture. It only took a short
time for the Elks to build their own home on 18th Street, moving to the
postcard building in 1908. Downtown Rock Island was booming in this, the
first decade of the twentieth century. New buildings were going up all
over - the Best Building (now Plaza Office Building), the London (Quad City
Arts), the Safety Building, and more had been built or were under
construction in 1908. Other buildings were being extensively improved. It
must have been a great relief to all when the Elks decided to construct
their fine new building on a lot that had been an eyesore for years. Since
at least the early 1890s, when a small building termed "vacant and
dilapidated" was on the lot, this prime real estate was unused and very
inappropriate in our prosperous downtown.
The three-story Elks Club Building was designed with three storefronts that
could be rented to provide income for the Elks while they occupied the upper
floors. During the early years, these storefronts held a pool hall, saloon
and a tailor. A door at the far left (north) was the entrance to upstairs,
the Elks lodge and offices.
The Elks left in the late 1920s, moving to a new home on 19th Street, and
their upstairs space was taken over by the Loyal Order of Moose. By the
1940s, the Moose were gone, too, and the Teamster's Union had moved in. But
there was stability at the corner entrance - it always led to a saloon or
tavern. Other areas of the building were used for everything from a tobacco
warehouse to an electronic school, to a VFW Post - and there were many
intermittent vacancies. Finally, in the mid 1990s, it became the home of
the Blue Cat Brew Pub, which remains there today.
But when we compare the Blue Cat's home to the building on the postcard, we
notice a big difference. The entire third story is missing! When and why
was it removed? We think it likely happened around 1940, and probably
resulted from a fire or some other catastrophe. There usually isn't much
reason to remove the top floor of a building, even if it's vacant, when it
can be simply closed off and not used. Still we can easily recognize parts
of the current building on the postcard of the three story one - even the
chimney that protrudes on the right side of the picture is in the same
place. However the loss of the elaborate cornice and windows is
significant.
It is interesting to notice that the top trim on the wide brick panels
between the groups of windows made those panels appear like square columns
supporting the cornice. That column detail, on a smaller scale, is still
there between the individual second story windows within each group. These
quite modern windows, with a fixed sash between two double-hung windows, are
known as a "Chicago style window." These windows were very popular in
commercial buildings such as this. You can spot more Chicago style windows
downtown, too.
Renovations in recent years have made the building much more attractive than
it had been since the loss of its top floor. Although there is now only one
major entrance to the pub and restaurant, the pattern of windows on the
storefronts have been reworked to be reminiscent of the historic appearance.
The iron support column at the former saloon corner remains and the old
stairway entrance to the Elks lodge can still be used to get upstairs.
Renovations also exposed a vintage chewing tobacco sign that you can see
painted directly on the brick wall, probably from the building's days as a
tobacco warehouse.
The Blue Cat is a wonderful example of how a building that has been poorly
remodeled in the past can be partially restored to reflect the historic
architecture that remains.
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