You've probably heard of Davenport, Iowa (largest of the Quad Cities) and Moline, Illinois (home of John Deere). But even if you have heard of Rock Island, Illinois, you surely have not heard of Bettendorf, Iowa (the city that really makes this the Tri-Cities).

 

 

 

Davenport, Iowa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moline, Illinois

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rock Island, Illinois

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

interesting. well its clean and that is certainly some solid, well cared for stock.

I always thought Davenport's tallest was always a strange building.

^Reminds me of the Home Savings Building in Youngstown.

Yeah, I can see that.

Has it been decided whether Bettendorf or East Moline is the fourth Quad City?

I LOVE IOWA!

 

Davenport is a cool little city.  You missed the Skybridge though:

 

^I was in the skybridge. It was nothing like that.

^I was in the skybridge. It was nothing like that.

 

You must've been there during the day. At night it turns into a party. It's a crazy experience.

Davenport is really underrated. I was expecting it to be a little ghetto hole, but it has a great downtown and is pretty intact.

The Quad Cities are actually the 2nd largest MSA in Iowa after Des Moines if you include the Illinois side.

 

The 4th city is Bettendorf, but originally it was East Moline, IL.  When Davenport grew quite rapidly I believe sometime in the 60's while East Moline was stagnet, they designated Bettendorf the 4th city from East Moline, IL.  Weird, right?  They were going to go for Quint Cities but Quad Cities was so ingrained they just kept it.  I think Bettendorf for the most part is a commuter hub to Davenport.

 

Out of all the cities in Iowa besides maybe Dubuque further north on the Mississippi, Davenport really has a lot of cool building stock in it's core area.  I believe a lot was demolished over the years due to flooding and urban renewal.

 

Unfortunately the economy isn't so hot in the Quad Cities with John Deere being headquartered in Moline, IL and some big manufacturing plants there for them.  There have been a lot of layoffs with John Deere across Moline, factories in Dubuque, IA and Waterloo, IA.  With grain commodities dropping so much due to high supply, farmers aren't turning the profits they once were and buying tons of equipment.  This can be cyclical of course and could always shoot up again, but if Ethanol subsidies ever run out, a lot of these smaller Midwestern cities could be in a lot of trouble economically.  This includes Peoria and Decatur, IL and lots of small towns that I know of across Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois and Minnesota.

 

Anyways, done with my rambling, here is some cool historic stock in Davenport that I hope one day will be rehabbed:

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.522384,-90.58582,3a,75y,30.64h,88.44t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s0ONTyYdLj6xHNoJxXui9-A!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.523479,-90.587822,3a,75y,152.16h,92.32t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s3tIMnvBLRiRT7eWwXolGmA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.524631,-90.571155,3a,75y,84.26h,99.27t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sqQy3AxKMPv3XLESl-e5P1w!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DqQy3AxKMPv3XLESl-e5P1w%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D100%26h%3D80%26yaw%3D326.70789%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656