Descriptions of places that no longer exist.
History Vacation home on Geneva Island Founded in 1836 by Dr. Eli Reynolds and Harvey Gillett about three miles upriver from Muscatine, the village of Geneva was very nearly the county seat of Muscatine County. It was, in fact, designated as such by the Wisconsin Territorial legislature in 1837, but the
Although the Quad Cities region today includes a city named Milan, there was an earlier town of the same name in a different location. The first Milan was platted in 1837 into 30 blocks and adjoined the village of Hampton, which was platted a year later. This Milan included the area once known as Well's Ferry; Block #1 was the
Henry McNeal, courtesy of Rock Island County Historical Society Canadian Henry McNeal and Kentuckian Joel Thomspon arrived in the winter of 1827-1828. They settled on land next to the Mississippi River in an area that was technically off-limits at that time, which technically made them squatters. McNeal built a cabin where the Village of Hampton's Soldier’s Memorial
Lucius Wells In 1827, Lucius Wells built a cabin about a mile north of where Henry McNeal would settle in the following year. Wells began ferry service to Iowa in 1829; his horse-powered boat had room for two teams of horses and two wagons. Lucius also built a sawmill a couple of years later. The
The Sauk and Mesquakie nations trace their roots to northeast Canada. Both nations were composed of Algonquin speakers who lived in stable villages; members frequently intermarried. Because of land pressure from advancing European settlements that sent them searching for new hunting grounds and a series of lost battles with the Iroquois, the Sauk and Mesquakie had little choice
More than twenty towns sprang up along the Mississippi River in the first seven years after the end of the Black Hawk War; many disappeared as quickly as they were planned. In one case, a group of investors platted Rock Island City near the site of Saukenuk, purchasing six hundred acres from George Davenport for the
