Rock Island

Like its neighbors, Rock Island has a compact downtown with plenty of food and drink options and no shortage of activities to keep you busy for a few days.

Direct your questions to Visit Quad Cities (563.322.3911).

• NOTE: See the Quad Cities overview for regional information, including more detail on tourism centers, festivals, and getting around.

In 1831, the Illinois legislature created Rock Island County; two years later, Farnhamsburg won a contentious battle for the Rock Island County seat. In 1835, the county picked an undeveloped 62-acre site as the new county seat and called the city Stephenson. In 1841, the name was changed to Rock Island, and the new town expanded by annexing territory that included the neighboring town of Farnhamsburg.

Following consolidation in 1841, Rock Island grew into a transportation and manufacturing center. The first railroad reached town in 1854, just as steamboat traffic peaked at 175 landings every month. Charles Buford founded the Buford Plow Company in the mid-1800s, kicking off farm implement manufacturing in the region, arguably the most important industry in the Quad Cities. By the 1870s, Rock Island was the center of three major railroads that connected the city to markets from New York to San Francisco, while the Mississippi River ensured access to markets from Minneapolis to New Orleans. The growth of the railroad business in Rock Island was helped by the construction of a railroad bridge in 1856.

In the early twentieth century, Rock Island was more or less ruled by a mobster named John Looney, who cultivated a culture of fear and corruption that dominated the city. The city’s reputation was so foul that when future-President Woodrow Wilson visited the region in April 1912, he moved the location of his speech from raucous Rock Island to mild-mannered Moline.

Black Hawk State Historic Site (1510 46th Ave.; 309.788.0177) is part preservation and part park. Visit the Hauberg Indian Museum (309.788.9536) for the history part. It is located inside the impressive lodge built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s and features dioramas displaying Sauk and Meskwaki life in the 18th century and a a dugout canoe. To explore the park, just walk around. A wide range of wildflowers add a dramatic touch to the landscape between mid-April and mid-May. Black Hawk Prairie is west of the lodge, a small area set aside to replicate the type of tallgrass prairie that once dominated the landscape here.

When it comes to the architecture devoted to memorializing the dead, few places have impressed me more than Chippiannock Cemetery (12th St. @ 29th Ave.; 309.788.6622). You are welcome to stop at the office and pick up a map but wandering aimlessly can be very rewarding. Most of the older sections will be on your left as you enter the cemetery and then to the right and up the hill. The markers are a testament to the incredible carving skills of stone masons: a cloth draped delicately on a marker, a perfectly chiseled anvil, a chalice support by tree limbs. Colonel Davenport and his family are buried here; their graves are marked by a simple obelisk near the top of the hill. Also interred here is lumber baron Frederick Weyerhaeuser. Perhaps the most remarkable memorial, though, is dedicated to siblings Eddie and Josie Dimich, who were five and nine years old, respectively, when they died from diphtheria on the same evening in 1878. The children had a devoted pet dog, a Newfoundland, who used to follow the children everywhere. After the children died the dog would make the short walk from home to the cemetery every day until he himself died, or so the story goes. Regardless, when the dog died, the children’s father commissioned a stone carver to create an image of the dog and had it placed next to his children’s graves.

Quad City Botanical Center (2525 4th Ave.; 309.794.0991) offers quiet spaces to enjoy in its tropical house and multiple outdoor gardens.

Augustana College has a few sites worth visiting. The Augustana College Art Museum (Centennial Hall, 3703 7th Ave.; 309.794.7231) houses an impressive collection of art in temporary exhibits in the upper and lower lobbies, as well as pieces from their permanent collection in a lower level gallery. The Fryxell Geology Museum (Swenson Hall; 309.794.7318) may be modest in size, but it makes a big impression with its collection of fossils and rocks. The fossil of a Tylosaurus Proriger, a sixteen-foot-long eel-like reptile, will either impress or scare the heck out of you. Look for it on the rear wall. The back corner of the museum has a display showing off the fluorescent quality of several different minerals; pull the black curtain around you for a fun light show. The museum is in Swenson Hall on the heart of the campus, near the admissions office and the planetarium..

Sunset Park (Between 18th Ave. & 31st Ave.; 309.732.2000) is a good place to stop for a picnic and to take in some river views. In winter, I have spotted several bald eagles here.

Schweibert Riverfront Park (17th to 20th Streets next to the river) is a fun public space, with water jets, public art, occasional outdoor shows, and great views of the Mississippi River.

Sylvan Slough Naturalized Park (4501 3rd Ave.) is part quiet riverside park and part demonstration project showcasing ways to reduce storm water runoff.

The Great River Trail begins in Rock Island at Sunset Park and ends 62 miles upriver in Savanna.

Quad Cities Arts (1715 2nd Ave.; 309.793.1213) is housed in the 1920s-era London Building; it is part gallery space and part retail space that shines the light on the work of local and regional artists. The quality is consistently high, and you can find something in virtually any price range.

The Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse (Rock Island: 1828 3rd Ave.; 309.786.7733) is a dinner theater with a very busy performance schedule throughout the year.

Bally’s Quad Cities Casino and Hotel (777 Bally Blvd.; 309.756.4600) opened a land-based facility in December 2008. The art deco-inspired casino has a spacious 42,000 square feet of gaming space, with over 1,100 slot machines and 24 gaming tables, plus a hotel and restaurants.

The St. Patrick’s Day Grand Parade begins in Rock Island and crosses into Davenport via the Centennial Bridge, thus giving the Quad Cities bragging rights as host of the only St. Patrick’s Day Parade that marches in two states, and, I imagine, that crosses a big river in the process (309.324.5000; March, generally the Saturday before St. Patrick’s Day).

If you are into fast cars, albeit small ones, the Rock Island Grand Prix (Labor Day weekend) is your event. Professional kart drivers (as in go-karts) from near and far zip around the streets of downtown Rock Island for a $25,000 prize. This race is a springboard to NASCAR for many drivers. Seriously. (Check out my photos from the Rock Island Grand Prix.)

• NOTE: See the Quad Cities Introduction for more regional festivals.

Looking for a laid-back place to try something new or enjoy your favorite craft beer? Check out Radicle Effect Brewerks (1340-31st St.; 309.283.7605), where you’ll find an impressive (and constantly changing) selection of beers from the US.

Enjoy a tasty craft beer at Wake Brewing (2529 5th Ave.; 309.558.0878). If the weather is nice (or it’s too loud inside), take your beer to the patio.

Located in the middle of The District (downtown Rock Island) in a long and narrow storefront, Soi 2 Thai Street Food (1825 2nd Ave.; 309.206.4159) serves some of the tasty noodle and curry dishes one expects from a Thai restaurant, as well as several dishes that you may not have tried before, such as mango chicken.

Camelot Campground (2311 78th Ave. West; 309.787.0665), south of I-80 and east of Iowa Highway 92, rents 120 cramped sites, many with full hookups.

The Victorian Inn (702 20th St.; 309.788.7068) is a cozy bed-and-breakfast with beautiful Fleming tapestries in the dining room; it is located in the Broadway neighborhood.

Heading upriver? Check out Arsenal Island.

Heading downriver? Check out Andalusia.