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Postcards From Home


Rock Island House (Ann Goldman Building)

17th Street & Second Avenue  This Real Photo postcard from Shannon Hall’s collection is postmarked 1914 and captioned “Opening of the 1600 block, Rock Island, Illinois.”  The prominent “R I House” sign atop the building at the left reveals that the camera is looking west on Second Avenue with the Rock Island House hotel and … [ Continued


Rock Island Lines Depot

3031 Fifth Avenue It took nearly fifty years for Rock Island to get a passenger depot worthy of the city’s status as the founding home of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad.  As late as 1900, when the eastbound freight switchyards of the Rock Island Line, as the railroad was commonly called, were moved … [ Continued


“NEW” YMCA

500 20th Street  Sometimes a building becomes so familiar to us that we don’t really notice it anymore.  That may well be the case of Rock Island’s Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) building shown on this circa 1915 postcard from Shannon Hall.  It covered 12,000 square feet at the southwest corner of 20th Street and … [ Continued


Frank Mixter House

734 20th Street  NOTE:  This article was written when the site was vacant, before construction of a large new house was begun  in 2007. Perhaps you have traveled past the corner of 8th Avenue and 20th Street and noticed the incongruity of the large open lot on the northwest corner.   After all, this area in … [ Continued


Long View Park Rustic Bridge

The rustic scene depicted in this post card from circa 1917 shows Long View Park as it looked in the early 1900s.  A nationally known landscape artist from Chicago, O.C. Simonds, is responsible for the original design of the park.  Known for his naturalistic design emphasizing the natural beauty of the land and native plantings, … [ Continued


Long View Park Upper Lagoon Area

After being planned and under construction for years, by July 10, 1908, Longview Park, then called Long View, was complete enough for its formal dedication.  A crowd estimated at 15,000 attended the ceremony, with many speeches and presentations.  The event was centered in the area shown on these two postcards. These forty acres in the … [ Continued


Eagle Building F. O. E.

The Rock Island Aerie 956 of the Fraternal Order of Eagles was organized in 1905 with only 133 members.  For the first three years, meetings were held at one of the large upstairs meeting halls that were common in downtown commercial buildings.  Finally, in 1908, the Eagles paid $8000 for the first home of their … [ Continued


Crescent Bridge

Foot of 7th Street Did you ever wonder how the Crescent Bridge got its name?  Or do you even know where the Crescent Bridge is?  For years it was hidden behind Rock Island’s levee near 7th Street and was best seen from the river or from the Centennial Bridge.  Since it’s usually seen with the … [ Continued