Rock Island County, Illinois Genealogy Trails

Broadway Historic District
Bordered somewhat on the north by 7th Avenue, 13th Avenue on the south, 17th Street to the west and to the east 23rd street.
The Broadway area began serious development after 1860. (C. Horton -2008)

The Broadway Historic District was founded by a group of residents who lived in this residential area in the heart of Rock Island back in 1988. The name was chosen from the historic name of one of its streets.

The mission of the Broadway District is education -- about this historic neighborhood and its contribution to Rock Island's history and architecture. Broadway offers a wealth of historic architecture as well as wonderful examples of gentrification of an older neighborhood.
 

Every year for the past 15 years Broadway has sponsored a walk through the area to visit some of its historic homes.
The walk has always been held on Mother's Day.

In 2002, the Broadway Walk featured food and entertainment as well as craft consignments in a local park area and trolley rides to the various houses. The houses are named for their original owners, not the current inhabitants.
(Photos and Data by Diana Alm)

 

The houses on the 2002 tour were:
 

The A. D. Huesing House
842 20th Street

The A. D. Huesing House

Albert Dietrich Huesing and his wife, Charlotte, built this house in 1885. They raised three children, two boys and a girl, here. Mr. Huesing was a well-known businessman with interests in banking, insurance and bottling. His name is still familiar for the bottling business he founded, A. D. Huesing Company, a distributor of Pepsi products.

The style of the house is Italianate which was popular between 1840 and 1885. The wrap-around porch was added some time between 1906 and 1922. The brick columns add a Craftsman-style detail to the home.

This beautiful house was "modernized" with aluminum siding and enclosure of the porch sometime in the mid-20th century. In 1999 the present owners began the exterior restoration of their home which included landscaping the yard and gardens and pouring walkways and drive to the carriage house in back with stained and patterned concrete. The project was completed in 2001.

 

The Alexander Steel House
725 19th Street

The Alexander Steel House

 In Victorian times houses in this neighborhood would often be shared by several generations of a family. They would maintain separate living spaces under the same roof. Considering how many families immigrated to this country a few at a time -- a practice known as chain migration-- it would have been a practical way to support the new arrivals until they got settled. Today's owner lives in the front parlor and dining room while his great niece and her family live in the rest of the house.

Alexander Steel, the original owner, came from Scotland through Ohio. He operated a hardware business for almost 30 years and was active in many civic affairs.

According to the city directory this house was built in 1882. However, the owners recently discovered two exterior bricks that had the dates 1867 and 1869 etched into them. Could it have taken them 15 years to finish building it?

The Italianate style of this house was popular between 1840 and 1885. It would not have been painted.


 

The George Oscar White House
603 23rd Street

The George Oscar White House

 Built in 1872 this Italianate home began as a rental property for the first 30 years of its life. In 1903 George Oscar White bought the building to live in himself. He used a small building next door to manufacture parts for the Geo. White Buggy Company.

Mr. White did extensive remodeling of the home, increasing its height in the rear and adding and removing porches. The structure includes a conglomeration of windows. The original windows have lintels and sills of limestone.

In 1990 the house was almost condemned. A neighbor, Pat Berg, bought the house to prevent its demolition. Its restoration combined museum-quality restoration with modern conveniences and technology. In 2000, she sold it to its present owner who enjoys displaying her Abraham Lincoln and Civil War memorabilia in it.

 

The Lucy Reynolds Channon House
1710 Lincoln Court

The Lucy Reynolds Channon House

 The Channon House is typical of the Craftsman style, popular in the early 20th century as housing moved away from the downtown riverfront area to the hillsides above the river valley. Built in 1915 this house faces a large open, circular space that allows an unobstructed view of downtown Rock Island, the Centennial Bridge, and Davenport, Iowa.

Mrs. Lucy Reynolds Channon (1850-1939) was a lifelong resident of Rock Island. Her father, Elisha Potter Reynolds, Sr. was one of the first railroad contractors in the Midwest. He built part of the Burlington and Rock Island Railroads. The town of Reynolds is named for him. Lucy's mother, Eliza Young Reynolds, died when she was just five. Lucy married William Wood Channon in 1872.

Each spring Broadway District hosts a "Great Unveiling" where neighbors and volunteers gather on a Saturday morning to remove replacement siding that obscures the original siding. The Channon house participated in this event in 1997. The front porch had been enclosed and the entire house had been wrapped in aluminum siding. When the owners discovered the original balustrade under the porch they decided to do a full restoration. They also added a period style coach house in place of the single-car garage.

 

The Anastasia Murphy House
2207-2209 7th Avenue

The Anastasia Murphy House
Original window

Original window, Murphy House
An original wall

An original wall, Murphy House

 The Anastasia Murphy House is an example of the gentrification that is happening in the Broadway District of Rock Island. When an architect remodels a building according to gentrification standards the goal is always to remain as true as possible to the original look of the building.

The Murphy House is an example of the Second Empire architectural style, the earliest of the Victorian styles.

Anastasia Murphy, the original owner of he house, was described in her obituary as "one of the best-known women in this community... gifted with considerable talent as artist, pianist, and vocalist. Many of her huge oil paintings have been preserved in her home." The Murphy (west) half of the house was occupied by family members until 1984.

One member of this family was John Williams who, by accident, happened to be visiting the house during the tour at the same time as Lucille Guffey, who had rented an apartment there. (John was the son of Naomi Anastasia Murphy Williams, a daughter of Anastasia Murphy.) They had fun catching up on old memories of the house.

Now, the Tuscan Group is converting the structure into four two-story Chicago-style lofts. The lower two-story units are each 2250 square feet, and the upper two-story units are 2010 square feet. Each unit has a two -car carriage house, a fireplace, interior exposed brick and wood structural beams, interior balconies, original walnut balustrades, and a rear veranda or patio.

The visitors on last year's tour were able to see the Murphy House in its early stage of renovation. Some were dismayed by the deterioration of the property. This year there is a striking change.

 

The Leopold Simon - William Sharp McCombs House
842 19th Street
The Leopold Simon - William Sharp McCombs House Leopold Simon, builder of this house in 1885, was a partner first in Simon & Mosenfelder and later in Simon and Landauer -- both men's clothing stores, known for fine tailoring and quality merchandise. He sold the home to William McCombs, co-owner of Young and McCombs Department Store.

The Queen Anne style of architecture was popular between 1880 and 1910. The house has fine detailing throughout. A large stained glass above the front door depicts a trailing vine that meanders across the windows of the door, transom and sidelight. The door opens to a beautiful foyer witha turning stairwell anchored by a graceful newel post lamp. The dining room has a tiled fireplace and built-in cabinetry. The double parlors are divided by ornately carved fretwork.

As a bachelor, the present owner used to rent out portions of the house, but now he and his wife have restored it to a single family dwelling where they are raising their two children.

 

Other Houses in this district are:
Contributed by: C. Horton 2008

Brinkerhoff House
902 22nd St.
Design Style: Queen Anne with a Stick Style decor.
A local developer, Michael Higgins, build this house in 1894.
On August 6, 1894, it was bought by Sherman, born in 1857 in Milton, IL and Nina Grover Brinkerhoff.
They had two children Vern and Nina Belle.

Charles H. Newton
811 20th St.
Design style: Italianate
Build abt. 1876

C. T. Foster House
2208 7th Avenue
Design Style: Vernacular Italianate
Built abt. 1883
The first resident of this house was Charles Swanson, he was a supervisor and carpenter.
Others lived here. However in 1907, Dr. Cyrus T. Foster and wife Josephine moved in.
Dr. Foster was murder on Oct. 10, 1924, as he walked by his house by two assassins.
In December a Peoria gunman, "Peaches" Kinney was arrested in connection with this crime.
Mrs. Foster remained in the house until she sold the hose to here daughter Madeline, the wife of William Bourell.

Frank P. Welch House
817 23rd Street
Design style: Free Classic Queen Anne 
This is a landmark house, built in circa 1897. Owned by Frank P. Welch, president of Illinois Oil Company.
In 1940 this house was divided into 5 apartments. Grace, his widow lived in one of these apartments until she died in 1990.

Frederick and Rose Titterington House
816 22nd St.
Design style: Colonial Revival
Built in 1904
Designed by Mr. Titteington and John Volk

Howard and Florence Nielsen House
921 21st St.
Design style: Queen Anne

John and Edna Scheuermann House
1045 23rd Street
Design style: Foursquare architectural style
Build in 1907 by John G. Scheuermann, a building contractor, and his wife, Edna.

Mitchell House
720 20th St.
Design Style: Italianate with unique belvedere.
Built by Charles Harrison Case in 1868.

Reeves House
839 23rd St.

Russ House
1929 9th Ave.
Design Style: Arts and Crafts style Bungalow
Walter A. Russ and wife, Anna built this house in 1918.
Walter was a manager of Greenfield Brokerage Company and later president of Fort Armstrong Real Estate Ageny.
In 1935 he became manager of Rose Lawn Memorial Estate Cemetery in Moline.

Schenebricker House
740 22nd St.
Design Style: Arts and Crafts Bungalow
Charles and Ethel Schenebricker built this house in 1914.
Charles died in 1958.

Sweeney House
816 20th St.
Design Style: Classic front-gabled Italianate
Designed by Isaac N. Holmes
Built in 1874.
In 1857, Edward D. Sweeny, a grade school principle, came to Rock Island. 1860 he past his bar exam and became an Attorney in a firm with William Jackson. Edwards first wife, Harriet had 5 children. One son William became an attorney and lived in the house after his father's death.

Taylor House
908 20th St.

Wagner House
904 23rd St.
Rock Island Land Mark and is on the National Register of Historic Places
Design Style: Neoclassical-style
Robert Wagner, president of the Rock Island Brewing Company and founding member of the Tri- City Symphony, along with his wife, Thekla, hired Frederick Claussen to design and build this home in 1902. Robert died on Christmas morning 1937.
Thekla lived in the house until she died, 1956.

West House
1036 21st St.
Design Style:
Queen Anne with Craftsman detailing. Sometimes referred as a Princess Anne Style
Russell West, a clerk at the Rock Island Arsenal, and wife Marie M. built this house around 1900.

Young House
830 22nd St.
Design Style: Queen Anne and Colonial Revival combination.
Built in 1907  Designed by Leonard Drack


You can access the Broadway website here.

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