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Category Archives: Local History
Living Memory History: The Blizzard of ’79
Anyone living in the Quad City region is probably happy that the week of January 11 – 17, 2009 is now over.With temperatures in the minus 20’s (Fahrenheit) at night (and during the morning commute) and the highs barely breaking … Continue reading
Posted in Local History
Tagged Blizzard of 1979, Davenport, Iowa, Local History, snow, Weather Records
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A Collage of Colleges (and a High School, too)
If land is affected by what is built on it—in other words, if a church makes ground holy and a mine makes it holey—then the parcel bordered by Main and Harrison Streets and 11th and 12th Avenues is one of … Continue reading
Archive Adventures: The Davenport City Hospital
Genealogists are always hoping for new discoveries in records and the Davenport City Archives has produced for us again! Davenport actively maintained a “City Hospital” for a brief period of time in 1858 and 1859 and the City Physician. Dr. … Continue reading
Dancing in the Yuletide Glow
Beneath the glittering chandeliers women in formal evening gowns danced with their escorts to the music of a live band. Outside the cold December evening passed, but inside hundreds of people warmed by dancing, drinking, and laughter probably did not … Continue reading
Posted in Local History
Tagged Bix Beiderbecke, Blackhawk Hotel, Crystal Ball, Gold Room, Visiting Nurse Association
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A Brief Musical Interlude
Our staff here at the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center celebrate the winter holidays each year by exchanging cards, small gifts, mailing cards to our wonderful volunteers, and, in one unfortunate case, writing new lyrics to an old holiday song. Here … Continue reading
Library Closings!
The Davenport Public Library (and therefore our Special Collections Center) will be closed the 24th and the 25th—that’s this Wednesday and Thursday. We will also be closed for New Year’s Eve and New Years Day next week. That’s next Wednesday … Continue reading
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A Capital Theater!
Children arising early with noisy glee. Presents opened to joyful laughter. Special breakfasts, brunches, and of course the traditional dinner. Christmas 1920. Along with all the happiness of the day was the excitement of the thought of going … Continue reading
Listen Up!
During the holiday season we often have an opportunity to spend time with relatives we don’t see often, and perhaps make special efforts to visit the elders of our clans whether that means going over the river and through the … Continue reading
The Art of (Alice) French Cooking
We are about half way through the season of Holiday Feasting, where Thanksgiving dinners (and the leftovers) have mercifully worn off and many of us begin to look forward to the next traditional fancy dinner with joy or with dread—depending, … Continue reading
Posted in Local History
Tagged Alice French, Christmas dinner, Davenport, Iowa, Teddy Roosevelt
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Connections & Canals – Hansens & the Hennepin
What did you do on Thanksgiving? Attend family feasts? Watch football? Nap? Well, in 1894 on Thanksgiving Day, about 50 business men involved with the Davenport Business Man’s Association boarded a special passenger train at the C.R.I. & P. depot … Continue reading
