Business & Commercial



Safety Building

18th Street & Third Avenue  The big power pole in the foreground and the absence of street signs, are the only clues that this is a vintage depiction of the … [ Continued



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 … [ 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 … [ Continued



Circus Day – Second Avenue

Second Avenue W from 18th Street Oh, the excitement!  On Rock Island’s normally staid downtown streets, where men wore suits and a woman was never seen without a hat, there … [ Continued



J. E. Janes’ Restaurant

1810 Second Avenue If the holidays find you in charge of providing a nice meal for many unacquainted people, take a tip from the Janes family.  In their restaurant, shown … [ Continued



Sawmill Fire

26th Street near Mississippi River The special midnight edition of The Argus headlined, “Worst Fire in City’s History Involves Loss of Over $500,000.”  The aftermath of that fire is shown … [ Continued



Gustafson & Hayes

1714-16 Second Avenue Of course you have seen these buildings in downtown Rock Island. You can easily find them.  You don’t even need to look up their locations in early … [ Continued



Harms Hotel Tap Room

18th Street at First Avenue  Before we explain our postcard today, we must tell you a bit about Rock Island’s Hotel Harms. In the near future we will give the … [ Continued