Gordon Van Who?

Gordon-Van TineIf you’re new to the Quad-Cities, you might hear someone point to a specific house, maybe a nice Craftsman-like bungalow down East Locust Street or a lovely Tudor in McClellan Heights, and say, “That’s a Gordon Van-Tine home.”

And you might wonder if Mr. Van Tine was an architect or a builder—or someone who moved around a lot, because there seem to be several of his homes in the area and well-beyond.

But Gordon-Van Tine isn’t a who—it’s a what.  And what it was, was one of the first manufacturers of “kit houses” (called pre-fab these days)  in the United States, beating Sears Roebuck to the punch by six  years.*

We aren’t talking fiberboard-and-woodglue shacks, here, either—each timber was solid and every joint milled with precision.  Gordon-Van Tine buildings were meant to last.

It’s too bad the company didn’t.

In 1906, the U.N. Roberts Company, which had been in the wholesale building materials business for over forty years at that point, formed a subsidiary company to handle its retail business, and named it Gordon-Van Tine—Gordon was the middle name of Horace Roberts, the company president, and Van Tine was supposedly the middle name of another employee, though no one knows for sure.

What we do know for sure is that once the new company started selling entire houses (some assembly required) in 1910, business boomed.

People all over the Midwest loved shopping for homes in the Van-Tine catalogs, choosing porches and cabinetry and trimmings.  At first, the customers had to put them together themselves, like a 3D jigsaw, or hire their own carpenter to do it, but soon Gordon-Van Tine would offer an assembly service as well, at least within reasonable driving distance of its home office, on Federal Street.

By the 1940s, the company boasted several plants and 350 employees, and seemed primed to take advantage of the post-War housing boom.

And then, just like that, Gordon-Van Tine went out of business.

The owners of U.N. Roberts wanted to retire, but their children didn’t want the business.  So they sold it for $1.75 million  in December of 1946 to a Cincinnati outfit, who assured them that they would keep everything—including Gordon-Van Tine—going strong.

But by April of the next year, they started laying off the Van Tine workers .  In July of 1957, the company was effectively shut down and the Cincinnati outfit began breaking down the assets and selling the pieces—an ironic end for a business that prided itself on doing the exact opposite.

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Luckily for historians, Gordon-Van Tine catalogs still exist—in fact, our Special Collections Center has several, from 1918 to the 1940s.  So if you’re curious about the company or the houses—or suspect that your home might be a Gordon-Van Tine—come on in and have a look!

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*Sears may have offered blueprints and building materials first, but not pre-cut lumber.  All you needed for a Van Tine house were nails and labor—and it wasn’t long before they provided both.

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Sources:

Gaul, Alma.  “Gordon- Van Tine: Q-C ready-cut homes were built with style, durability.”  Quad-City Times, 12Jan1997, p.H1 and H3.

Gaul, Alma.  “Gordon-Van Tine follow up: ex-employees, their families fill in the blanks.”  Quad-City Times, 16Jul1997, p.H1 and H3.

Svendsen, Marlys.  Davenport: A pictorial history

Wolicki, Dale Patrick. Gordon-Van Tine Company . [Bay City, Mich. : D. Wolicki], 2002.

 

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Second Sunday is Coming Up!

Our Special Collections Center will be open this Sunday (February 10th) from 1-4 pm for genealogy and local history research only—the rest of the Main library will not be open.

Walk in through the Fourth Street door (behind the big metal book drop) between 1 and 1:30, or call our Center at 563-326-7902 and a staff member will run up to let you in.

As every genealogist and historian knows, three hours of extra research time is not to be missed, so we hope to see you there!

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One-Way Question, Multi-Directional Answer

Weren’t Third  and Fourth streets in Davenport always one-way streets? And if not, when did they change from two-way to one-way traffic?

These were the questions being asked for the last couple of weeks, ever since the Davenport City Council announced plans to turn 3rd and 4th back to two-way traffic with roundabouts instead of traffic lights.

The answer to the first question was no—many people remembered the days of two-way traffic on those streets.  But no one really remembered when that changed—and everyone was asking the library.

But the answer was not as easy to find as one would expect.

We were able to locate in the City Council minutes an ordinance that was passed on June 19, 1935, declaring that Third and Fourth were to be made one-ways,  but it was not enacted right away. We found many references to Brady and Harrison being turned into one ways by May of 1984 , but none of our indexes or clipping files said anything about 3rd and 4th streets.

One of our regular patrons remembers two-way traffic in 1952, before he and his wife moved out of the city.

Several of our long-time residents remembered going on the one-ways during the 1960’s.

FleckAnd one of our volunteers found an image in Marlys Svendsen’s book Davenport: A Pictorial History, that showed golfer Jack Fleck being paraded through downtown Davenport after his U.S. Open win in 1955. The photo shows the intersection of 3rd and Brady with a “One Way” sign on the traffic light post.

So we had narrowed the date to between 1952 and 1955.

Another volunteer looked through the City Council minutes for 1954 and found that an ordinance to have the streets changed was amended on February 17, 1954. She checked the newspapers for that week, to see if there were any articles that would give more details as to the plans that were presented. It said that one-way traffic was expected to start in April of that year.

Reading ahead, she hit the jackpot: an article urging caution once the one-ways opened on  the 20th of April, 1954. Traffic would move westbound on 4th Street and eastbound on 3rd Street from River Street to Warren Street. Fire and emergency vehicles were allowed to go either way down the one way streets.

In order to help motorists familiarize themselves with the new system, Davenport Legionnaires were stationed at various spots along the one-way routes. Fortunately, no Legionnaires were harmed during that first day!

They even had the chance to test out the decision that fire and emergency vehicles could go the WRONG way. Wouldn’t you know, Mr. Henry Weber decided to use a blowtorch to mend a pipe in his bathroom on the 20th, starting a fire. The paper reports that motorists pulled over upon hearing the sirens and seeing the flasher lights, so there was little delay.

We certainly hope the transition back is as safe and smooth!

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Sources:

“Delay Action On One-Way Streets Here”. Morning Democrat, 04 February 1954.

“Caution Urged by Police Chief When One-Way Streets Open” Morning Democrat, 14 April 1954,  p. 15

“One-Way Traffic on 2 Streets Today”. Morning Democrat. 20 April 1954 p. 15

“New One-Way Traffic Flows Smoothly”. Morning Democrat. 21 April 1954 p. 1

Svendsen, Marlys. Davenport: A Pictorial History. 1985. p. 16

Ordinance No. 3601, June 19, 1935 Davenport City Council Minutes 1935 p. 1784

Ordinance No. 45 of the 1943 Municipal Code of the City of Davenport, Iowa amended at Davenport City Council meeting February 17, 1954 (1954 City Council book).

(Posted by Cristina)

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The Way to the Hitching Post: A winter etiquette lesson

For those of us who feel that modern society has forgotten common courtesy, it appears that people felt the same way over a hundred years ago:

From the Davenport Democrat, February 10, 1885:

The Way to the Hitching Post

“People who are kind and generous enough to move the snow from their sidewalks, would greatly oblige their friends, their grocer, and their physician, if they would do a little more; by removing the snow from around their hitching posts, so that a horse can be driven up to a post and tied, without having to wade waist-deep in the snow. Not one in a hundred who pretends to clean his sidewalk does this, but piles the snow along the edge of the walk, and there leaves it in a continuous pile from three to five feet deep, and expects whoever calls, from necessity or otherwise, to break their own road through this formidable barrior. Common sense should teach any one the necessity of little more care in this direction. One half of the hitching posts, as well as sidewalks, are entirely inaccessible from the street on account of the banks of snow thus made.”

It almost makes us wish we had hitching posts simply so we could maintain them properly!  We’ll just have to make do with our bike racks . . .

But if you still have a hitching post in use, please remove the snow from around it. It truly is a kindness (and please send us a photo too)!

(posted by Amy D.)

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Found it in the Archives!

Imagine….. A donor brings historic documents, written in French, to the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center at the Davenport Public Library that were passed down through the family. Having no sentimental ties to the brittle, fragile papers, they bring them to Special Collections.

The surname on the papers, dated 1861 – 1866, is recognized by Special Collections staff members as one that has been investigated by a fellow Davenport Library employee! With great anticipation, the colleague is called to the Archives to view the documents. Amazing! These are original French passports for the staffer’s great-great grandparents!

The documents provide the previously unknown maiden name of great-great grandmother as well as details about her chestnut eyebrows, green eyes, and the dimple on her chin. The colleague is delighted and so are we!

Special Collections is grateful to those who take the time to bring primary source items such as these to us. Every attempt is made to properly preserve documents pertinent to the local area, making these items accessible to researchers and scholars.
The odds are pretty good that you will find something to help you in your search for family or local history here at the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center. Primary source documentation like these precious papers are accessible to everyone, and we welcome your inquiries. Many finding aids are posted on our website and many more are in progress.

Just imagine yourself saying, “I found it in the archives” at RSSC!

SC-logo.jpg

(posted by Karen)

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The Early Bird Gets the Moonshine

Oh, there was always something going on in Scott County, Iowa, in the roaring twenties, from dance marathons to gangsters.  At times, the place seemed more like Chicago than a collection of small towns surrounded by farms.

Looking back to January 17, 1923, we find a headline from the Davenport Daily Times proclaiming what had probably become an old local tradition by that time: more raids by police officers searching for stashes of illegal alcoholic beverages.

Prohibition, at least on the state level, had existed in different forms in Iowa for nearly 40 years before the Eighteenth Amendment was passed. And for the same amount of time, Scott County residents had been ignoring those laws.

But now that selling alcohol was a federal offense, searches usually included federal officers as well as the traditionally more lenient local police officers. In Davenport, as well as other Midwestern cities, these special groups had been nicknamed the “Sponge Squads.”

On the morning of January 17th, the Davenport squad descended on four Davenport soft drink establishments  at 5:30 a.m.—a variation from their usual afternoon or late night raids.  The establishments of four local Davenporters: Mr. Hilson, Mr. Bein, Mr. Thomson, and Mr. Alger, were searched just as they opened for daily business.

The raids struck moonshine at three of the four—at one establishment, the police even found a dumb waiter carrying alcohol between the different floors. It also proved useful to the police, allowing them to eavesdrop on a patron ordering alcohol as the voices carried through the shaft!

Mr. Hilson, at 1948 West First Street, was discovered to be storing what was described in the newspaper as a “generous quantity of home brew” behind the bar. Mr. Bein, at Rockingham and Howell Streets, was actually caught in the act of trying to pour liquor out.  And Mr. Alger was found with 1 ½ pints of moonshine whiskey.

Only Mr. Thomson’s business, at Sixth and Division Streets, was found to be clean.

Peter Bein was fined $100 and costs in the Police Magistrate court later that day. By the evening edition of the Daily Times, Mr. Alger had been arraigned on liquor charges and was awaiting federal charges of possessing liquor, and Mr. Hilson was still waiting to be arraigned.

Why did the “Sponge Squad” decide to mix up their raid times? The paper quoted one unnamed squad member as saying, “…at 5:30 o’clock in the morning, law violators are not too wide awake.”

A very good point indeed.

(posted by Amy D.)

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Davenporter of Note: Bailey Davenport

January 9th was the 123rd anniversary of the death of Bailey Davenport, the second son of Col. George Davenport.  And although he didn’t live in Davenport for a good portion of his life, we think the title of this blog post works—if not geographically, at least in regards to his role in the traditional Davenport family pastime of developing and supporting what would become the Quad-Cities.

Bailey Davenport was born on September 16, 1825, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and spent his childhood on a large Mississippi River island between Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island, Illinois.

And if a large portion of the area on either side of the river could be seen as Col. Davenport’s kingdom, divided between his two sons, Bailey was heir to the Illinois side, spending many of his adult years in, and quite a bit of his genetic ingenuity to the benefit of, Rock Island County, Illinois.

By his father’s death in 1845, Bailey owned a good portion of Rock Island County, and considerable acreage in other Illinois counties.  He had a coal mine in Rock Island that produced two thousand tons a year and a park that would later be developed into the Blackhawk’s Watch Tower amusement resort. He was also one of the founders of the Merchants State Bank of Davenport, which did business on both sides of the river.

His was beloved and respected by his fellow citizens, who repeatedly elected him mayor of Rock Island between 1861 to 1865, guiding the city through the trials of the Civil War, and also in 1873 and 1875.

Bailey Davenport is also listed among the prominent businessmen who petitioned Congress to build the proposed Western national arsenal on the site of Fort Armstrong which stood on the river island of his childhood home.  The site was eventually accepted—and the Rock Island Arsenal is still going strong on what is now called Arsenal Island.

Bailey Davenport moved to Davenport in his later years, but although he passed away at his Davenport home on January 9, 1890, he is buried in Chippianock Cemetery in Rock Island, Illinois.

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Sources Used:

Downer, Harry E. History of Davenport and Scott County, Iowa [Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing Company], 1910.

Historic Rock Island County [Rock Island, Ill.: Kramer & Company], 1908.

The Past and Present of Rock Ilsand, Illinois [Chicago: H. F. Kent & Co], 1877.

 

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Our “Special” visitors for 2012

Update: We had a visitor on the last week of the year from Christchurch, New Zealand! That is quite a long way away!

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In 2012, genealogists and history researchers came from all over the country (and the world!) to the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center, to use our wonderful resources.

They came from far away to fill in the blank branches of their Family Trees. They found copies of birth, marriage and death records of their Scott County, Iowa ancestors. They came to do research on the Iowa Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home, Colonel George Davenport and Bix Beiderbecke. They looked at newspaper articles on microfilm, online databases we subscribe to and our photograph collection. Their searches were made easier by the many indices that have been prepared by our volunteers from the Scott County Iowa Genealogical Society.

Last year we had visitors from Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, Colorado, Arizona, Washington, California and England.

Our superlatives were: Weslaco, Texas in the south; San Francisco, California in the west; Graham, WA in the northwest; and our furthest traveler, from the northeast, came all the from Hazel Grove, UK!

Check out this map with all of our visitors for the year 2012, as recorded in our Guest Book. Pretty cool, huh?

We thank our guest for visiting us this past year. We hope to see you again soon! And if you came in to visit but did not sign our guest book, let us know in the comments, so we can add you to our map!

Are you planning to visit us this year? We look forward to helping you!

(posted by Cristina)

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A Brief, More-or-less Musical Interlude

Our staff here at the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center celebrate the winter holidays each year by exchanging cards, going out to dinner, mailing cards to our wonderful volunteers, and, in one unfortunate case, writing new lyrics to an old holiday song.

Here is this season’s effort.  Happy Holidays!

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No Place Like SC
(with apologies to The Carpenters)

Oh there’s no place like SC for Genealogy,
For no matter how far your ancestors may dwell
When you long to fill that branch upon your family tree
You can’t beat Special Collections at DPL.

We found a man who died in Tennessee, while he was headin’ for
Pennsylvania and his wife and three kids there.
From Pennsylvania, his survivors traveled to our ‘sippi River shore
From Atlantic to Pacific
Gee, our research is terrific!

Oh there’s no place like SC for Genealogy,
For no matter how far your ancestors may dwell
When you long to fill that branch upon your family tree
You can’t beat Special Collections at DPL.

We found a lady once from Illinois and she was widowed twice
Divorced once and engaged a time or two
We found all her papers from each time they threw the rice
From birth to death to marriage
Our records you can’t disparage.

Oh there’s no place like SC for Genealogy,
For no matter how far away your ancestors may be
If you want to fill your ahentafels* with a million names
For Genealogy, you can’t beat the staff in SC!
For Genealogy, you can’t beat the staff in SC!

 

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*Ancestor tables—we have those, too!

(posted—and written—by Sarah, who is very sorry and promises not to do it again until next year)

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Library Closings Ahead!

The Davenport Library System will be closed the following days:

 

December 23, 24, and 25

and

December 30-31 and January 1

 

Otherwise, barring inclement weather, we will be open our regular hours.

Happy Holidays!!

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