Tag Archives: Davenport Democrat

Partying in Pretzel Alley

This week’s blog celebrates National Pretzel Day (Tuesday, April 26th) by spotlighting a turn-of-the-20th-century Davenport institution: Pretzel Alley. The alley was and is just across from the Davenport Public Library’s Main Street location, running from Main to Harrison Street in the block … Continue reading

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The Much Photographed Wedding of Anna Streckfus and Edward Manthey

Anna Streckfus married Edward Thomas Manthey on November 12, 1913. The bride was the daughter of Captain John Streckfus, owner of the extremely successful Streckfus Steamboat line, and the groom was from a wealthy and influential New Orleans family. According … Continue reading

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A Small German Wedding with Schöne Schuhe

On September 26, 1912, at the early hour of 7:30 a.m., Miss Alma De Beaulieu, a bookkeeper for the Fair Store in Davenport and Dr. William C. Vollstedt, a veterinary surgeon, were married at the Holy Cross German Lutheran Church. … Continue reading

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A “Brilliant Home Function”: the Modest Wedding of James Lane and Sophia Shuler

Sophia Caroline Shuler was the daughter of Charles Shuler, the president of the First National Bank of Davenport and the owner of several mines. Miss Shuler was a graduate of St. Katherine’s and the National Park Seminary in Washington, D.C., … Continue reading

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Soldiering On: Local Veterans of “The Great War”

June 28, 2014 marks the hundredth anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria, heir apparent to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, whose death launched a series of political events that culminated in world-wide war.  The date of his murder … Continue reading

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The wedding of Helen Kohn and David Gottlieb

Helen Josephine Kohn of Davenport married David Sticker Gottlieb of Tiffin, Ohio, on April 7, 1913, at the Outing Club in Davenport. According to the next day’s Davenport Democrat, the wedding was lovely. The Outing Club Ballroom was decorated with … Continue reading

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When Irish Eyes are reading the newspapers . . .

It’s difficult to do any research about Davenport’s earliest history without finding at least one Germanic surname along the way. And once the “forty-eighters” came here to find a little peace from the ongoing wars in their part of Europe … Continue reading

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A Simple Ceremony: The Wedding of Elsa Petersen and Phillip Sonntag

The wedding of Elsa Gertrude Petersen and Phillip Arthur Sonntag was a quiet affair. The couple was married in the evening of February 22, 1910,  at the home of the bride’s mother.  Only family were invited; in fact, the officiant, … Continue reading

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Simple Beauty: The Wedding of Miss Blanche Boggess and Frank Edwin Gorman

On January 10, 1912, Blanche Elizabeth Boggess married Frank Edwin Gorman in a ceremony at the Rock Island home of her parents, 926 Seventeenth Street. Miss Boggess was an active member in the social circles of Rock Island, Illinois, while … Continue reading

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A Very P.S.C. Christmas

Recently, as we were searching for an obituary in the Davenport Democrat  for December 17, 1922, we found an advertisement for the P.S.C Cafeteria at the “top of Brady Street Hill.” Naturally, we were curious. With a little further searching, … Continue reading

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