Public Buildings



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



“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 … [ 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 … [ Continued



John Looney Riot

16th Street at Third Avenue  This column has often featured rare Real Photo postcards from the early 1900s.  Such postcards provide uncommon and unaltered views of historic Rock Island.  Their … [ Continued



Hollywood Supper Club

1825 Second Avenue The Hollywood Supper Club, under the ownership of Woodrow “Woody” Cather, was a landmark in downtown Rock Island for thirty years from the 1930s to the 1960s.  … [ Continued



Modern Woodmen of America Headquarters (County Office Building)

1504 3rd Avenue  The intersection of 15th Street and Third Avenue was a hubbub of building activity in the late 1890s.  Within a two month period in early 1897, a … [ Continued



Rock Island Savings Bank

Third Avenue & 18th Street  The Rock Island Savings Bank was brand new when this postcard was mailed in 1911—so new, in fact, that instead of using a photo as … [ Continued