The Weekly Outlook: Charles Eugene Banks

Posted on August 30, 2010 by SCblogger

The second issue of The Weekly Outlook newspaper, dated Saturday July 18, 1896, highlighted a large bird’s-eye view of Davenport’s Tri-city Packing and Provision Company’s plant and grounds along with information on the company’s growth since its inception in 1893.

POINTS OF VIEW states that a seawall along Front Street from the foot of Iowa to Brown Street would improve the appearance of the city of Davenport one hundred percent.

WHEEL LIFE asks why not organize a local Bicycle Club? Tips regarding proper attire for men and women included wearing cashmere woolen stockings to save feet from blistering and assurance that since skirts reach nearly to the ankle, if properly shaped, lined and finished at the bottom there is no danger of catching said skirt in the bicycle. Folks are encouraged to buy quality – avoid a shoddy wheel!

MUSIC AND THE DRAMA reports the subscription concert series at Schuetzen Park by Strasser’s Second Regiment Band was gaining steadily in popularity and note the music pavilion erected last year “throws music into the park” and the colored lights which illuminate it “quite completes the charm”.

OUTING LIFE highlighted some favorite camp sites including Horse Island and the Rocks. There was also an advertisement for Manhattan Beach – boats leaving the foot of Brady Street at a cost of ten cents round trip.

Unusual in the newspaper were obituaries, but four appear in this issue on page eight:   Helen Clapp Jennings, wife of Samuel; Lillian Zimmerman, wife of William; Louise J. Lawson and Isador Lahman each receive a brief memorial paragraph.

Who were the confident, outspoken literary devotees that began this weekly publication of the late 1890’s?  The Outlook Publishing Company was under the management of Charles Eugene Banks, a native of Clinton County, Iowa. Born in 1852 and raised on a farm, Banks claimed New England pioneer ancestry. He began newspaper work in Wheatland, IA with a small weekly paper, and then was editor and proprietor of the American Commercial Traveler in Chicago 1885-1887. He spent several years as a reporter for the “Herald” in Chicago and was a founding member of the Chicago Press Club. Banks was married in 1892 to Carrie Wyatt Lounsbury and published his first volumes of poetry in 1893 and 1895.

The next two years found him overseeing production of the Weekly Outlook in Davenport and acting as city editor of the Davenport Daily Republican.  His first novel, “In Hampton Roads”, was published in 1898 after debuting as a play at the Burtis Opera House in December of 1897. Advertised in the final issue of the Weekly Outlook  as a new drama by Charles Eugene Banks and George Cram Cook, this “thrilling story of war, love and intrigue” was to have music provided by Professor Ernst Otto. The cast included both Banks and his actress wife, Carrie Wyatt Banks.

Further career opportunities took Banks to Seattle, Washington and ultimately Hawaii where he met his fate at the age of 80. He was struck and killed by an automobile in Honolulu on April 29, 1932; a tragic ending to a long and colorful life.

[submitted by Karen]

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The Weekly Outlook: Davenport’s Gilded Newspaper

Posted on August 23, 2010 by SCblogger

Once upon a gilded age in Davenport there were so many clubs and such an abundance of cultural activities and interests that a team of optimistic young writers chose to start their own publishing company, creating a twelve page weekly paper “devoted to home and outing life, literature, art, music, and the drama”. For nearly two years beginning in July of 1896, The Weekly Outlook may have been the guilty pleasure of many Davenporters.

The news team was made up of editor and general manager Charles Eugene Banks; his wife Carrie Wyatt Banks acting as associate editor; Miss Susie Glaspell reporting as society editor; and assistant manager William E. Warren. An item in the Davenport Daily Leader prior to the first publication boasted “The Weekly Outlook will chronicle the better side of life in the three cities.”

After their first issue had been released, the Davenport Weekly Leader reported that “an additional ray of sunshine” had entered many a local home, describing the new paper as having “literary merit and pages filled with truths, put in simple, sparkling words that cause the reader to like himself and all the world better.”

Volume 1, Number 1 came out Saturday July 11, 1896 and the front page included a “half-tone cut of Central Park in Davenport” described as giving the issue the “appearance of the great metropolitan weeklies”. The POINTS OF VIEW section offered editorial opinions on the local parks and invited aspiring young bards an opportunity to share their works in the Outlook.

The new subdivision of Henry Wiese is noted as having been recently platted, The Woman’s Shakespeare Society had their last meeting of the season, Scott County teachers were attending an Institute on Civics and Economics at Davenport High School and the oppressive heat was discouraging social activity with the exception of a supper party followed by dancing at Schuetzen Park where the “girls all looked captivatingly dainty and pretty flitting to and fro in their airy garden costumes.”

Rev. Hamilton Schuyler’s installation ceremony as the new Dean of Davenport Cathedral was covered as was Miss Alice French’s return from Clover Bend, Arkansas. Davenport’s young Harriet Grace Mitchell was touted as a “poet of rare taste and excellent judgment”. One of her pieces called “Slumber Song” was printed on page five.

A section called WHEEL LIFE noted some of the preferred bicycle routes and rides available in the area along with some warnings about a “black dog with yellow spots and an ungovernable temper”.

This issue’s MUSIC & DRAMA section listed ten Singing Societies along with their directors and rehearsal sites. The newsy IN AND OUT OF TOWN column reports that the Hills are at Nantasket Beach, Mrs. Cable and children are at Hot Springs, Virginia, the Williams are spending the summer in Tamaqua, PA and Major and Mrs. Marks are enjoying an outing at Lake Okoboji. The Lend-a-Hand Club was charmingly entertained at Hadlai Heights Wednesday afternoon and evening while “Mr. and Mrs. Waldo Becker are spending the summer in a truly ideal manner, flitting from place to place as fancy suggests. They do not expect to return until September or October.”

Advertisers included doctors and dentists, banks, pharmacies and Mrs. Lee B. Grabbe’s Hair Bazaar and Ladies’ Hair Dressing Parlor on West Second Street offering “a complete assortment of wigs, waves, switches, grease paints, tonics, powders, etc.” Meanwhile, Mr. Grabbe was advertising his Parlor Orchestra (with or without piano) furnishing music for receptions, dancing parties, lawn fetes and weddings. His Venetian Mandolin Orchestra was also available as were instrumental lessons on the side.

This newspaper is truly unique and is available for viewing on microfilm in the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center. Follow the Weekly Outlook in this blog as Davenport’s “gilded age” is revealed along with its dramatic players.

[posted by Karen]

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When Opportunity Knocks . . .

Posted on August 16, 2010 by SCblogger

It is August in the Midwest and we all know without a doubt that the weather around here can be brutal (Heat Wave: 1936).  There’s no need to dwell on the heat or the humidity.

So today’s post will avoid the topic of heat and focus instead on a little anecdote from Davenport’s past. 

In the fall of 1840, the town of Davenport was growing.  Important ordinances and resolutions were being created by a Mayor and several Trustees; it would be three more years before the term Alderman was used in council proceedings.  Men with names like Eldridge and LeClaire who are still remembered today fill the handwritten council books.  These men of longevity and health would greatly influence the development of Davenport and Scott County.  Other names are less known like Nichols, Whiting and Burnell.  These men (and their families) also  helped develop this area, but their time in Davenport was shortened by western movement or, sadly, death.

But empty Trustee seat could not be allowed to stall progress.  When the city lost a trustee, or even a  mayor, outside of election time, it appears the matter was resolved quickly and without much fuss.  One example is the passing of Trustee Captain William Nichols in September 1840. 

The September 26, 1840 entry from Council Proceedings April 14, 1839 – February 7, 1850 opens with the acknowledgement of Trustee Nichols’s death.  The council resolved to wear for 30 days a badge of mourning and to attend the funeral and burial that afternoon as a group.  Sympathy was to be extended to the widow and an announcement placed in a newspaper called the Iowa Sun stating the council sympathized with the family’s loss. 

By the next council meeting held on October 31, 1840 it was time to focus on town business once again.  Finding a replacement to fill Captain Nichols spot was at the top of the agenda.  An election was held immediately by those council members present – all four of them.  Trustee John Forrest nominated a gentleman named Strong Burnell.  Burnell was unanimously elected by Mayor Thorington, Recorder Frazer Wilson, and Trustees Seth Whiting and John Forrest – a landslide victory.

The next step was to send someone to fetch Mr. Burnell.  As recorded in the council proceeding recorded in now faded ink, “Mr. Burnell being sent for, appraised, and took the oath prescribed by law as Trustee of the town of Davenport and took his seat as such.”  (Pg. 28) Then the men passed an ordinance to prohibit shooting or discharging fire arms in the town of Davenport.  Near the end of the meeting a resolution was issued permitting Antoine LeClaire to rename the streets running East and West in town from the Native American names originally bestowed upon them (by Mr. LeClaire) to the numbered street system that still exists today.  Town business had resumed without missing a step.   

There is the old saying, “Opportunity Knocks.”  In Mr. Burnell’s case this might have been literal. 

One can imagine the different scenarios that could have played out that day.  We will leave it up to the reader to decide what Strong Burnell knew or didn’t know about the  “private election.”  What would the council have done if Mr. Burnell was out of town?  What was he doing when he was notified?

Feel free to sit awhile (in, we hope,  a cool setting) and ponder these questions.*   History can be a pleasant distraction.

(posted by Amy D.)

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*You might also ponder how large the firearms problem  might have been in Davenport at that time.  And why Antoine LeClaire wanted to rename the streets he had named only a few years before.     We hope to tackle the answers in later posts—we have very good air conditioning!

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Introducing Footnote!

Posted on August 9, 2010 by SCblogger

Have you tried our newest reference and genealogy database? 

Footnote is a rich resource of digitized historical documents gleaned from the collections of the Library of Congress, the National Archives, and other institutions.

Are you writing a paper on the Great Chicago Fire of October 8, 1871?  You’re in luck!  Footnote includes the Chicago Tribune from 1849 to 1923.  Other newspapers include the Atlantic Constitution and the Washington Post, as well as papers from San Francisco and London, England.

History Day students can get digital access to primary “Milestone Documents,” such as the Gettysburg Address, the 1868 treasury check that paid for the Alaska Purchase, and the 1963 March on Washington. 

Genealogists can locate naturalizations, census records, and hard to find information, like the records of the Bayland Orphan Home in Texas.

Interested in historical photographs?  You can browse Army and Marine photographs from the Vietnam War; Civil War photographs taken by the famous Matthew Brady; and even photographs taken of Calvin Coolidge, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and Dwight D. Eisenhower.

War buffs can find World War I State Department Records and resources concerning the Supreme War Council.  Available Civil War information includes the Lincoln Assassination Papers, the Confederate Amnesty Papers, and Confederate Citizen Files.

Looking for city directories?  Footnote has them for about thirty large cities.

And for those who are interested in the unexplained, there’s a wealth of documents filed under “Project Blue Book–UFO Investigations.”

With over 67 million documents scanned to date, Footnote seems to have something for everyone.  So if you’re in town, we invite you to visit one of our three library locations and let us know what you think!

(posted by Pat)

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Mississippi Valley Fairground Fashions: Then and . . . then

Posted on August 2, 2010 by SCblogger

The Great Mississippi Valley Fair starts this week, running from Tuesday, August 3rd through Sunday, August 8th.

While looking through our photo collection, we found two shots taken at the Fairgrounds, about 50 years apart:

Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds [1920s]

This first photo was taken in the mid 1920s, soon after the Fairground opened.  As you can see, everyone is covered up from head to toe. The men are wearing dark suits and hats, the women have on long white dresses and children were wearing dark colored suits with while stockings and shoes.

Admission at the gate was 50 cents for adults, 25 cents for kids and 50 cents for vehicles. Bleachers were 50 cents and the grandstand was 75 cents and $1, with box seats going to $1.50. In this photo, the grandstand seems to be full, with more crowd standing around the track and some are sitting on the fences. There is a cafeteria towards the entrance, although there was probably no alcohol served if this was taken during prohibition.

Crowd at Styx concert during Great Mississippi Valley Fair [14 AUG 1978

This second photo was taken in 1978, and shows some of the 6,000 people that attended the Styx concert on Sunday, August 13th at 7:30 pm. Here, the men and women are wearing T-shirts and bellbottomed jeans or shorts and long hair (shirts were apparently optional).  

Admission was $8 for the Sunday night concert and appears to be festival seating, with a few people sitting on the grandstand. It’s not clear what they were drinking in those cups or what they were smoking.

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Sources:

75th Anniversary Mississippi Valley Fair. (1994). Davenport, Iowa.

Concert Buoys Fair. (1978, August 14). Quad-City Times , p. 3.

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Better Never than Late . . .

Posted on July 26, 2010 by SCblogger

Historically speaking, we’re two weeks past due for a flood around here.

Most of our major Mississippi floods have crested in April,* but the 1993 Flood—the one that knocked the 1965 “Flood of the Century” off its pedestal**—was a late bloomer, waiting until July 9 to crest.  Those who know about these things blamed the wettest June in 120 years. 

Let’s take a look at that.

Among our resources are climatological data reports from the Environmental Data Service and the National Climatic Data Center.  According to these reports, the state of Iowa had 13.21 inches of rain in June of 1993. 

If you aren’t able to put your hand out of a Davenport window to check for yourself, it’s been a pretty damp summer this, year, too.

According to the Climatology Bureau of the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, June gave northeast Iowa about 8.66 inches of rain—that’s almost 4 inches more that the average.  And in July, the Quad-Cities saw 3.56 inches in the first ten days.  That’s only half an inch less than the average for the month. 

The Bureau reassured us that there was 20% more evaporation than usual last month because of the heat we’ve all been enjoying so much.  But that lucky break seems to have ended its usefulness.

The Mississippi was at 11.6 feet Saturday at Lock and Dan 15—flood stage is at 15 feet.  It’s possible that we might have to revise our ideas about when our flood season ends.

But rest assured, our city isn’t ignoring the signs.

Because those who do not learn from history are doomed to get their feet wet.  Again.

 

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*Though heavy rains on June 16, 1990 caused  Duck Creek to flash flood, you couldn’t call that a ‘crest’.  It was a devastating blitzkrieg—following by another, two weeks later.

**By 1.8”, which shows you how seriously we take our river measurements around here.

(posted by Sarah)

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Bix Lives Here

Posted on July 21, 2010 by SCblogger

In the summer of 1971, a group of musicians made a pilgrimage to Oakdale Cemetery in Davenport, Iowa.  They planned to play a simple concert in homage to one of the pioneers of jazz, on the fortieth anniversary of his death.

Almost two thousand people showed up at the gravesite to listen.

The Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival has only grown from there.

This will come as no surprise to those of us who know Bix and have heard recordings of  his compositions.   The man had a phenomenal musical memory and he used it to weave the unconventional patterns of modern classical composers—Debussy, Ravel, Holst, and Stravinsky—with his own free syncopational style.  

And how was he as a coronet player?  At a time when music was just starting to favor the soloist, Bix shone:*

The celebration kicks off tomorrow, with the 23rd annual Bix Porch Party at the Davenport Public Library on Main Street.  We’ll have hot dogs and hot music.  Bring your lawn chairs and your dancing shoes.

While you’re here, come on down to our Special Collections Center and say hello.  We’ll show you our collection of Bix Beiderbecke photographs—including one of Bix on a pony—and Memorial Jazz Festival posters.

Bix Lives!

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*The singer isn’t half bad, either.

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Barnstormers: The Negro League All-Stars in Davenport

Posted on July 19, 2010 by SCblogger

When I look around, I see the world as it has been my whole life and sometimes neglect to think about Davenport’s past. Since I was young, going to a baseball game and viewing people of all ages and nationalities playing baseball has been a normal experience. However, it is interesting to look back, and research a time when there was only one color on the baseball field.

In the early 1900s baseball was still a young sport made up of predominantly white males. In 1878, Bud Fowler was the first paid African American baseball player, though he played only for the minor leagues. Nine years later, all baseball teams banned the signing of African American baseball players.   It took 33 years for an official “Negro” League to start up and in 1933 the first Negro season took off.

After they formed their own leagues, Negro teams would compete in games against major and minor league baseball players in what were known as Barnstorming exhibition games. Muscatine promoter Ray L. Doan brought a Barnstorming trip to Davenport on Tuesday, October 5th, 1937 at the Davenport Municipal Stadium.   The bill was set with the Major League All-Stars vs. the Negro League All-Stars and was said to be a very exciting face off.

Four thousand fans were in attendance, excited to see Major League talent playing in Davenport, and curious to see if the Negro League stars would prove to be enough competition for them. This game brought in major league players such as Gus Suhr, Johnny Mize, Vince DiMaggio, Lou Fette, Lon Warneke, and Tony Gutteridge. The Negro team included Cool Papa Bell, Willard Brown, Frank Duncan, Newt Allen, and Bill Sims.

Lonnie Warnecke of the St. Louis Cardinals was the winning pitcher for the Major League All-Stars, shutting out the Negro League Stars in the first 2 innings of the game. Warnecke, Lou Fette, Jim Weaver, and Mike Ryba decided to each play 2 innings per game, instead of each playing an entire game on the trip. The Major Leaguers connected for 9 hits and allowed 1 error in the first inning.

Tony Gutteridge, a 3rd baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals, was the standout for the Major League team, hitting one of the two home runs of the game, which went 370 feet to left field. Gutteridge had a great day at the bat, hitting a triple, a single and reached first base on a walk. He also made some impressive plays on the field, thrilling the crowd with his speed and agility.

Willard Brown, a left fielder for the Negro League Stars, came out with a 2 run home run that flew 400 feet in center field off pitcher Mace Brown of the Pirates. This spectacular gentleman also caught an amazing hit into left field from Johnny Mize. 

The game ended with a collision between Mueller of the St. Louis Cardinals and Sims, which resulted in cuts to their forehead and required several stitches.

The final score of this amazing game was 5-3, in favor of the Major League All-Stars.

O’Donnell, John. “Major Leaguers Put n Real Show to Beat Colored Stars Before 4,000 Fans”. The Davenport Democrat and Leader 82, no. 308 (October 6, 1937): 20.

Barnstorming exhibition games continued, with stars like Dizzy Dean, Bob Feller and Satchel Paige facing off all over the country. In the 1960s, the National Negro League and the National Baseball League joined together.

Sometimes everyday things, like watching a baseball game full of diverse people, are taken for granted.  I know in my everyday life I don’t think about whether sports teams were segregated, but that is a part of our history and something that we can still learn from today.  I am proud to live in a city where races could play baseball in the same stadium.

(posted by Cristina and Katie G.)

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Sources:

Barthel, T. (2007). Baseball barnstorming and exhibition games, 1901-1962. McFarland & Company.

“Major League Stars Invade Municipal Stadium Tonight to Meet Colored Players”. (1937, October 5). Davenport Democrat and Leader , p. 11.

“Major Leaguers Pun on Real Show to Beat Colored Stars Before 4,000 Fans”. (1937, October 6). Davenport Democrat and Leader , p. 20.

McNeil, W. F. (2000). Baseball’s other all-stars. McFarland & Company.

Peterson, R. (1970). Only the ball was white. Prentice-Hall.

“Sports from the Wings.” (1937, October 6). Muscatine Journal , p. 12.

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Credit Island: The Unknown Battlefield

Posted on July 13, 2010 by SCblogger

In May of this year, the city of Davenport received a grant from the State Historical Society of Iowa to conduct an archaeological study of one of the Mississippi River islands near the Iowa shoreline.  The eventual goal is to get Credit Island listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

And what makes this particular patch of river real estate historically significant?

A couple of things.

Name aside, the War of 1812 actually ended in 1815 and spread out farther west than one might think.  In August of 1814, future president Zachary Taylor battled British troops on or around the island.  The archaeological study will try to determine whether any part of the battle was fought on land.  Regardless, Taylor and his men were outnumbered and lost badly.*

It may be that the Sac chief Black Hawk took part in that battle—it took place in his people’s territory, and although Black Hawk had promised the United States to remain neutral in exchange for winter supplies on credit, no supplies were forthcoming.  The British stepped in with supplies and promises to get the Americans out of the area, and Black Hawk agreed to fight with them.   The partnership didn’t last for long—according to Black Hawk’s autobiography, the Sac warriors didn’t think much of British battle tactics.

Once the war ended, a trading post was established on the island.  It offered credit to the local tribes to be repaid during hunting seasons and when the crops were harvested.

Much later, the island was purchased by private owners, renamed Suburban Island, and was used as a recreational spot for swimming and sports prior to World War I.  The city of Davenport bought the island in 1918, and held a naming contest:  Credit Island was the clear winner.   A golf course eventually replaced the picnic grounds and swimming facilities.**

It seems obvious to us that Credit Island should be included in the National Register and perhaps eventually placed in the American Battlefield Protection Program.   We hope that this will be obvious to the National Park Service as well.

The grant was the brainchild of the late Ken Oestreich, a city-employee and friend of the Special Collections Staff.  He will be missed.

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*For those who are keeping track, the Americans lost just as badly to Black Hawk’s men at the nearby Battle of Campbell’s Island about a month earlier. 

**Originally, this was an 18-hole course, until flooding drowned the back nine in 1965.

Sources:

Black Hawk. Autobiography of Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak or Black Hawk. (Rock Island, Illinois: J. B. Patterson), 1833.

Gaul, Alma. “Credit Island: A Battlefield Trading Post.” Quad-City Times, July 13, 2010, C1.

Svendsen, Marlys A.  Davenport, a pictorial history 1836-1986.  ([S.L.]: G. Bradley Publishing Inc.), 1985.

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Revolutionary Resources

Posted on July 5, 2010 by SCblogger

What with the thirteen American Colonies and their territories being mostly east of the Appalachian mountains in the late 1700s,  it should come as little surprise that no Iowa soldiers fought in the Revolutionary War. 

But that doesn’t mean that our ancestors didn’t fight—or that our Special Collections Center doesn’t have resources that can help those Davenporters, or anyone else, find information on those ancestors.

Some of these resources are books and microfiche, including the DAR Patriot Index, compiled by the Daughters of the American Revolution and Known Military Dead during the American Revolutionary War, 1775-1783 by Clarence Stewart Peterson.  We also have some published lists of soldiers from Massachusetts, Ohio, and other areas.

Our two genealogical databases have much to offer the Revolutionary researcher:

AncestryLibrary has several military record databases pertaining to the Revolution, nationally, or by state.  There are plenty of local histories and other records available, too.

HeritageQuest has a search engine dedicated to selected Records from Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application Files, not to mention a substantial searchable book collection, the Periodical Search Index (PERSI) and the U.S. Serial Set.   Plus, residents of Davenport with home Internet access don’t have to wait to access this database—just plug in your library card number!

So after the fireworks of Fourth of July are over, why not come in and learn something about the ordinary people who fought for our independence? 

We’ll be open July 6th to help you!

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