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Category Archives: Local History
Davenporters of Note: Cecile Cooper
Cecile Cooper was born April 15, 1900, in Trenton, Missouri. After high school, Ms. Cooper attended the Madam C.J. Walker School of Beauty Culture in Chicago,* and took courses at Bethune-Cookman College, the University of Iowa, and traveled to Paris, … Continue reading
Not Gone Before His Time: The Adventures of Civil War Captain Harry B. Doolittle
On August 13, 1896 the Daily Democrat and Davenport Daily Times ran the obituary for Captain Harry B. Doolittle. The Civil War veteran had died after a fall at his residence at the Old Soldiers’ Home in Marshalltown, Iowa. Interestingly, … Continue reading
“Quietly Utilizing Our Total Ability”: The Davenport Quota Club
Quota Club International Incorporated was chartered on February 6, 1919 in Buffalo, New York. It was the first international women’s club and was made up of professional women. Quota is a Latin word that means “A share of one part … Continue reading
Posted in Local History
Tagged Civic Clubs, Conventions, Davenport (Iowa), Hotel Blackhawk, Mabel Palmer, Publications, Quota Club, Women, Women's Organizations
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Leap Year: When Ladies Ruled the Dance Floor
Happy Leap Year! As February 29, 2012 arrives, most of us will only give it a passing thought. Others, like Leap Year babies, will be able to blow out birthday candles on their actual birthday. Maybe even a few adventurous … Continue reading
When Davenport Marched
Davenport Civil Rights History The Davenport Civil Rights Commission recently put together a Walking Tour of Davenport, highlighting sites important to the development of Civil Rights in the city. Landmarks on the tour include businesses, churches . . . and … Continue reading
Say (and spell) What?: Tricky research words
Genealogy words can be tricky—ahnentafels, anyone?—and words that look or sound alike don’t help much. In order to facilitate communications and understanding—and humor, of course—we’ve collected a few of the most frequent mix-ups we’ve encountered, with definitions and examples: ____________ … Continue reading
Cool Donations: The Priester Collection
The Priester Construction Company has been a part of Davenport, Iowa since Walter and Oscar Priester, both native Davenporters, founded it in 1919—in fact, the company seems to have helped build most of it, from schools to companies to the … Continue reading
Posted in Library, Local History
Tagged Architechture, library, new resources, Priester Construction
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Bird’s Eye View: The aerial photography of Phil Hutchison
Phil Hutchison was the chief photographer for the Davenport Daily Times, Times-Democrat and Quad-City Times for 30 years. He succeeded Joe Boll, who left the Times to become advertisement manager of the Bureau Farmer, in March of 1946. He took … Continue reading
Auld Lang Syne . . .
2011 has been a good year around here. We’ve received many new resources from family histories to land records, Shakers to Palatines. We’ve even added a few new databases to our arsenal. We’ve had great programs, like our Specifically for … Continue reading
Posted in Genealogy, Library, Local History
Tagged Genealogy, Just Shelved, library, Local History
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Just Skating By . . .
The river frequently froze over smooth, and made wonderful skating, particularly distance skating. A favorite stunt was to skate from Davenport downstream as far as Rock River—a matter of five or six miles. Sometimes, if there happened to be a … Continue reading
Posted in Local History
Tagged Edward Kunkel, Ice Skating, Mississippi River, Vander Veer Botanical Park, Winter
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