Beth Israel Synagogue
2128-30 Third Avenue This stately building on the corner of 3rd Avenue and 22nd Street usually arouses curiosity. Although now it’s a sports bar, it still evokes its religious past as Beth Israel Synagogue. Comparison of its appearance today with that on the early 1900s postcard shows many changes, yet much of its original style … [ Continued
Immanuel Lutheran Church
5th Avenue at 20th Street 1923 5th Avenue Like hands folded in prayer, the tall tapered spires of Immanuel Lutheran Church are emblems of a religious structure that has graced downtown Rock Island for over a century. At 162 feet high, the main steeple may well be the tallest in the community. Even the building’s … [ Continued
Swedish Lutheran Church
1326 Fifth Avenue From the archives of Rock Island’s First Lutheran Church comes this rare Real Photo postcard of one of its early buildings. It was located on the southwest corner of 14th Street at 4th Avenue and was then known as the Swedish Lutheran Church. Most of the information in today’s story comes from … [ Continued
South Park Chapel
1500 30th Street This early 1900s Real Photo postcard identifies the little L-shaped building with a huge entrance tower and belfry as South Park Chapel. That was the first name of what is now Rock Island’s South Park Presbyterian Church. One definition of a chapel is a small house of worship, usually associated with a … [ Continued