Postcards From Home



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 … [ 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 … [ 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 … [ 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 … [ Continued



Old Rock Island Post Office

Second Avenue & 16th Street Rock Island had a post office before we even had a town.  Starting in 1825, Colonel George Davenport’s small trading post on the island was … [ Continued



“New” City Hall

 This 1945 postcard, published for Hickey Brothers Cigar Stores, shows the beautiful new Art Deco style building on the corner of 16th Street and Third Avenue that was dedicated in … [ Continued



Rock Island House Café

Second Avenue & 16th Street They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and this picture postcard does indeed tell its own story.  The postcard from Shannon Hall’s collection … [ Continued



Spencer Square – Part I

2nd – 3rd Avenues; 19th -20th Streets The tale of Spencer Square is one that has a beginning, a middle, and, sadly, there’s also an end.  But it’s a long … [ Continued