We recently made a trip back to my hometown area of the Quad Cites, (Rock Island & Moline, Illinois and Davenport & Bettendorf, Iowa, & surrounding towns) to lay my father's ashes to rest at the National Cemetery at the Rock Island Arsenal.
Here are some shots of where I grew up...
This is the house I grew up in. It has changed quite a bit.
it used to have a 2 car carport to the left, 1/2 brick under the picture window, with a full length planter from the porch to the end of the house.
There used to be wrought iron railing all along the porch and stairs leading up to it
& the sliding doors in front of the car used to be the original one car garage.
Our pool was in the back where you couldn't see it, not on the side of the house.
And most of all, it used to have a flat roof, not a hipped roof...
...just my opinion, but it doesn't have the curb appeal it used to have.
My grade school, Immanuel Lutheran, in Rock Island.
the hills out in front of Immanuel Lutheran.
Good sledding back in the day!!
The "other" house I grew up in. This is Ann & Bill Graham's house.
Ann used to watch me after grade school & in the summers while my parents were at work.
This used to be a small grocery store just up the street from Ann's house.
they used to have a big stand of 1 cent candy...for a quarter you could get full day's sugar buzz!
What's left of the original Sherrard High School.
Only 1/2 the building remains and is now partially the city library in Sherrard.
I haven't been able to find out what happened to the other 1/2 of the school,
but it looks a lot like a fire.
It also used to be covered with English Ivy, it's nickname was the Ivy Tower.
pretty funny, you can see where the hallways used to be.
Home of the Tigers!
The new Sherrard High, not as much personality as the old "Ivy Tower".
My class was the first class to graduate from the new H.S. in 1978
My dad's shop in Milan. It still bears his name nearly 30 years
after he sold it: Merl's Business Machines
The old building could use a coat of paint!
Downtown Milan.
My dad's masonic lodge was just above his business.
Clock tower building at the Rock Island Arsenal.
A beautiful military installment on an island in the Mississippi river
between Rock Island & Davenport.
There is a very nice military museum and over 160 Confederate solders are buried here
as the base was a P.O.W. camp during the civil war.
The Army Corps of Engineers have harnessed the mighty Mississippi
in this Northern region. By building a 16 lock and dam system to make the river deep enough
for large barges to travel up and down the river.
This is Locks & Dam #15 at the Arsenal.
Circa 21 Dinner Playhouse.
One of my favorite buildings in Rock Island is the old "Fox Theater",
now a dinner theater.
LOVE this building...
I spent many a Saturday afternoon watching movies here growing up.
One of my most vivid childhood memories is leaving this place with my dad & little brother after seeing John Wayne in the War Wagon.
Some of the beautiful details of the building.
Wish I could have gone inside, it has some great Indian motif carvings as well.
Chief Blackhawk and the Sac/Fox Indians are big all over the Quad Cities.
Many things are named for the great Chief, who was actually a Sioux that had been captured as a young child by the Sac and raised as one of their own and become one of their greatest warriors and eventually chief.
possibly masonic symbols?
a tribute to the American Buffalo
The Centennial Bridge at night.
The link from Rock Island to Davenport used to be a toll bridge...
guess they finally paid it off.
...from the Quad Cities, we ventured up to the Windy City...
..more shots from that part of the adventure coming soon!
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