Author Archives: SCblogger

Schmidt – Barr Wedding Memories: August 11, 1914

At noon on August 11, 1914, Belle Schmidt married Fred J. Barr at St. John’s Methodist Church, where they were both members. The Hostetler Studio took several photographs of the bride and groom and the wedding party. According to the … Continue reading

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Riverfront Development: August 5, 1912

The creation of the Davenport Levee commission in 1911 changed the face of the city’s waterfront. By 1912 sewer projects and a new levee wall were being installed. The above photo is dated August 5, 1912 and shows a sewer installation … Continue reading

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Closing the three-year-gap: 1947 – 1949 Abstracted Names

As our regular patron know, one of our Center’s best indexes for early twentieth-century newspaper announcements is the set of Abstracted Names from the Davenport, Iowa, Democrat (SC 977.769 Abs) which covers 1898 to 1946.  This resource was compiled by … Continue reading

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Main Street Branch Opening Late – July 27, 2013!

The Davenport Public Library – Main Street branch including the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections department will be opening at 1:00 p.m. this Saturday, July 27, 2013 due to the Bix 7 race that morning. Eastern and Fairmount branches will be open … Continue reading

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Living History Photos: Aluminum Drive July 24 – 25, 1941

While looking through our collections this week we came across this picture labelled “National Defense Program” Aluminum Drive – July 24 -25, 1941 We thought we would we share the memory. The photo appears to be of Boy Scouts and … Continue reading

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A Panoramic Peek: The Oak Knoll Mansion

Those of you who subscribe to the Quad-City Times may have seen the recent articles by Alma Gaul concerning the historical Oak Knoll mansion and its designer Jens Jensen. The articles (here and here, if you missed them), include several … Continue reading

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An Anniversary and an Assumption

This month marks the 145th anniversary of the time A. L. Mossman swam across the across the Mississippi River from the foot of Perry Street in Davenport to the ferry dock in Rock Island in seventeen minutes. Both the Davenport … Continue reading

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Latest News By Telegraph: Pickett’s Charge

Latest News Headquarters Army of the Potomac, July 3 Semi-Official Report    The decisive battle has been fought to-day, and the enemy repulsed with terrific loss. At daylight Lee’s right wing batteries opened upon our left, and shortly after those … Continue reading

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Library Closed for the Fourth!

The Davenport Public Library will be closed on Thursday, in celebration of the Fourth of July. We will resume our regular hours on Friday, July 5th.

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Latest News By Telegraph: The Impending Battle of Gettysburg

By the mid-nineteenth century, newspapers were beginning to regularly use information passed through the telegraph for news stories. It was not unusual for some breaking stories to contain misinformation, but that must have been a minor inconvenience compared to the benefit of receiving … Continue reading

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