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City of Rock Island

Rock Island is a true river city, located at the confluence of two major waterways, the Rock and the Mississippi Rivers. Before European settlers arrived in the 1830s, this was the site of numerous Sauk and Fox Indian villages. The U.S. Army’s role in securing the upper Mississippi led to Ft. Armstrong being built along the river. Founded as a trading area, the early settlement was ideally situated to take advantage of transportation offered by the Mississippi River. When larger boats began to traverse the river, the area became the home of riverboat captains needed to guide these boats through the hazardous Rock Island Rapids. The coming of the railroad and the first railroad bridge to cross the Mississippi in 1856 gave impetus to the town’s growth.

Early construction in the city paralleled the river. Until the 1850s there was virtually no development south of the present 7th Avenue. With the announcement of the first railroad bridge in the 1850s, there was wild speculation in real estate. Many developers rushed to subdivide land south of 7th Avenue, hoping to benefit from the prosperity they believed this railroad link to the western United States would bring to the frontier town of Rock Island. This frenzy of land speculation failed as development happened more slowly than anticipated and many dreams of financial bonanza ended in bankruptcy.

By the end of the decade, only a few hardy and generally wealthy folks built their homes in what would become known as Broadway. One of these homes is the Buford Mansion (now the Word of Life Church) at 1804 7th Avenue. Rather than being situated facing the street, it was sited at the head of 18th Street, providing the Buford family with an unobstructed view down the street to the river. It also provided residents and visitors a view of the grand antebellum-style home of the Buford's. Streets elsewhere in Rock Island had a similar homes built for a wealthy family located at the end of the street, marking the edge of town. These early homes, which for the most part no longer exist, generally would be called miniature farms or estates today, with grounds containing several acres of working orchards and gardens.

Development of the Neighborhood

Serious development of the Broadway area began after 1860, with housing subdivisions platted by a number of prominent local businessmen. The post-Civil War years brought a period of economic growth and prosperity to Rock Island. The economic center of the city was downtown; land within walking distance to the downtown was in high demand as prime residential property, understandable considering the difficulty of transportation by horse and buggy before paved roadways. Fine quality homes were built for the professionals and managers who worked downtown. Doctors, store owners, industrialists, capitalists and architects built their homes in Broadway, as did those involved in both river and rail transportation. Laborers, plasterers, cornice makers, and woodworkers were also among the neighborhood’s residents.

Prosperity brought improvements in public amenities. In 1882, gas street lamps were replaced with electric lights. Within five years of Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone in 1876, Rock Island’s telephone subscribers totaled 100. Free mail delivery was offered to residents in 1888. Newly created police and fired departments were paid staff rather than volunteers. By 1893, a new ten-room hospital was ready to admit patients; a home for orphans opened a few years later. Neighborhood children attended Public School Number 4, now known as Old Lincoln School, a grand Romanesque Revival schoolhouse. In 1901-02, thanks to a large donation from Frederick Weyerhauser, the public library finally received a permanent home.

In general, lots closest to downtown were developed first. Homes between 7th and 9th Avenue are likely to date from 1860 to 1880, with the homes south of 9th avenue generally dating from 1880 to 1905.  By 1910 there was virtually no space available for new homes, although a handful of homes were built after 1910. These are frequently on small lots, which may have been split from larger lots, or were built to replace early homes destroyed by fire or other calamity. The final residential development within the Broadway boundaries was the Weisman Apartments at 1302-1308-1314 20th Street, constructed in 1948 in the International-style of architecture.

Broadway’s Neighbors

Residential areas to the west and east of the neighborhood were also developing generally around the same time. The development of the Longview neighborhood, to the immediate west of Broadway, did not occur until after the death of landholder Bailey Davenport on January 10, 1890. In the 1880’s Bailey, son of George Davenport, owned 2,200 acres of land in and around Rock Island.

Several properties that were originally private estates mark the south boundaries of Broadway. A 1907 Prairie style home and carriage house of Stuart Harper and his wife, Grace Velie Harper, overlooks Lincoln court at the southern tip of Broadway between 17th and 20th Streets. The home and carriage house has been converted for use as the Parish Hall and sanctuary of the First Evangelical Lutheran Church. The Villa de Chantal, built by the Sisters of the Visitation as a convent and boarding school on 16 acres of grounds, provides a wooded boundary from 20th Street to 22nd Street. The southeast corner of Broadway is nestled into the hillside and grounds of the Hauberg Civic Center, originally the estate of John and Susan (Denkman) Hauberg. (Penny Woolworths property borders us on the east side of 23rd, but we have no information on that property.)

Recent History of Broadway

People were compelled to leave the Quad Cities in the 1980s as a steep economic downturnresulted in extended plant shutdowns. Heavily dependent on the farm implement industry, all areas of the local economy was adversely affected by the failure of International Harvester and the slowdown at the Deere plants. The real estate market, which was already slumping from the impact of inflation and high interest rates, declined even further. Home values dropped.Maintenance of homes, especially in older neighborhoods, declined and even stopped completely. Many homes were purchased as investment properties, resulting in homes becoming divided into multiple apartments. Still, many Broadway homes continued to stand as testament to the quality and beauty of the original construction. Deteriorated properties became a common site along side well-maintained homes that had stayed in the same family for decades.

A Preservation Movement Begins

In June 1981, the newly formed Rock Island Preservation Society held their first Tour Yesterday, on 20th Street in Broadway.The event encouraged appreciation and understanding of the homes, creating a festival atmosphere complete with Victorian costumes, an antique fire engine, horse drawn carriages and educational placards in front of each building. In ensuing years, the Preservation Society’s Tour Yesterday featured 19th, 22nd and 23rd Streets as well as other areas of Rock Island. The society decided to develop identification for the area, in order to foster unity and pride. Considerable thought and brainstorming went into finding the right moniker. Broadway was selected: The historical name of 23rd Street was Broadway and was still used by the Broadway Presbyterian Church.

Broadway Historic Area Association

Recognizing that the Preservation Society’s focus was city wide, a group of neighbors gathered together to concentrate on their own immediate neighborhood. During the summer of 1988, these residents formed the Broadway Historic Area Association to stimulate the revitalization of the 19th century neighborhood.The association was incorporated as a not-for-profit organization, with a purpose of education about and identification of the unique aspects of this historically significant part of Rock Island.

During its first year, the association realized the following goals:

• Produced a logo and a neighborhood newsletter, which was hand delivered to every home
• Designed and sold Broadway tee shirts, sweatshirts, and sweatpants to pay for printing costs and to create an identity
• Conducted two Vision for the Neighborhood brainstorming meetings for residents toestablish goals and priorities.
• Began a planting program of fifty flowering pear trees (Trees were sold at cost).
• Produced Broadway street signs, with installation completed in August 1989.

Broadway Neighborhood Conservation Plan

Interest in a formal neighborhood plan for the Broadway area had come from a variety of sources as revitalization increased. The residents believed a plan for the neighborhood was essential since the downzoning of the area in 1989. The Rock Island Preservation Commission (not to be confused with the Rock Island Preservation Society) had been interested in pursing a plan that highlighted historical and architectural aspects of the neighborhood. In addition, the City of Rock Island wanted to formalize neighborhood planning for all city neighborhoods. An introductory meeting in April 1991 began the course that would result in the City’s first neighborhood plan.

The Mission Statement: The mission of the City of Rock Island in creation of a Broadway

Neighborhood Conservation Plan is to:

• Address the strengths; weaknesses; opportunities and threats identified by the City and neighborhood residents;
• Formulate goals;
• And identify specific action strategies aimed at addressing these identified elements and neighborhood goals in a manner that can be adopted as official City policy in the context of a city-wide comprehensive planning process and carried out by identified participants.

A group of committed residents, city staff members and other interested people met over the next year to study, discuss and formulate the plan, and on April 20, 1992 the conservation plan was formally approved by the Rock Island City Council.

Broadway Historic District Association

One of the highest priorities of early Vision for the Neighborhood public meetings was for the historic area to become an official Historic District. A number of obstacles had to be over come in order achieve this goal. First, a decision had to be made concerning which designation would be sought. A local historic district overseen by the Rock Island Preservation Commission, which had considerable protections but also more restrictions, did not have strong support. On the other hand, a historic designation on the National Register of Historic Places had the support of many neighbors but a preliminary analysis of the neighborhood indicated that Broadway lacked the architectural integrity to qualify for the National Register. In other words, too many of homes had been remodeled, muddled, or striped of detail to qualify. There was also the expense of preparing an application documenting the 800 plus structures within the boundaries of Broadway. Finally, there was the need to ensure that all residents understood and agreed with a historic designation.

For years, Broadway homeowners have opened up their hearts and homes to visitors.  The Annual Tour of Homes, originally centered around Mother's Day, now occurs on the third weekend in May.  The Annual Tour of Homes is both a fundraiser that supports neighborhood improvement projects like sidewalk repairs and tree plantings, and also compliments the association's original goal of education about Broadway and neighborhood preservation.  The annual tour continues to be a major event for the City of Rock Island, attracting thousands of visitors to Broadway each May.