In 1839, Henry McNeal, one of the first settlers of Hampton (Illinois), moved to a spot further southwest along the Mississippi and began farming. McNeal, along with Alonzo Nourse and Alfred Sanders, platted the village of Watertown in the 1850s and began an advertising campaign to attract industry and residents. Watertown had a stagecoach stop, then the railroad arrived in 1872 and gave [...]
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Happy Hollow, Illinois
In 1868, Samuel Heagy and Albert Stoddard formed the Hampton Coal Mining Company and began pulling coal from the bluffs around Hampton (Illinois). The coal, soft in texture, was deposited in discontinuous pockets, making it time-consuming and expensive to mine. The influx of miners led to the founding of the the village of Happy Hollow around 1870. It was [...]
East Moline, Illinois
NOTE: See the Quad Cities overview for regional information on tourism centers, festivals, and getting around. Early History Before there was East Moline, there was Watertown and Happy Hollow, but by the time East Moline was platted in 1895, these early villages had vanished and the land was mostly undeveloped swamp. The only signs of [...]
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