Experience The Quad Cities Like Never Before

Locks & Dam 15 was the first lock completed on the Upper Mississippi River as part of the 9-foot navigation system. Construction at Locks & Dam 15 finished in 1934.

In 1946, Henry C. Duke and his son, Gene, in East Moline invented the first pressurized soft-serve ice cream freezer. 

In 1837, Lt. Robert E. Lee surveyed the Rock Island Rapids at this section of the Mississippi River for the U.S. Corps of Engineers so that a channel could be cut through the rocks in those rapids.  He later became General Robert E. Lee for the Confederacy.

Tug Fest is the only tug of war across the Mississippi River.  It happens each August between LeClaire, Iowa, and Port Byron, Illinois.

Located on the largest island in the upper Mississippi River, the Rock Island Arsenal has played a major role in the supplying of U.S. troops from the Civil War through today.  During the Civil War, more than 12,000 captured Confederate prisoners were held on Arsenal Island.  Those that died there are buried in the Confederate Cemetery on the island in individual graves.

Cigar manufacturing was the major industry to employ women workers at the turn-of-the-century in Davenport. Davenport was the cigar capitol of the Midwest at that time.

For two days, First National Bank of Davenport was the nation's only national bank. One day after President Lincoln approved the National Banking Act in 1863, an application for a charter for the First National Bank of Davenport was on file in the treasury department. The bank was the first in the nation to open on June 29, 1863. On July 1st a number of other national banks went into action.

The movie Road to Perdition is based on the Quad Cities 1920s racketeer John Looney, whose house still stands in Rock Island.

The Quad Cities is a misnomer. The Quad Cities regional destination is made up of a family of communities each with its own distinct characteristics and vibe. In fact, communities such as Davenport, Moline, Rock Island, Bettendorf, LeClaire, East Moline, Eldridge, Silvis, Milan, Port Byron, and Coal Valley along with many other towns, villages, and unique communities are who we are.

Did you know that the rope used in the annual Great River Tug Fest across the Mississippi is 2,400-feet long and weighs 680-pounds?  The rope stretches between Illinois and Iowa.

Will Ferrell has shot multiple Old Milwaukee Commercials here. Check them out on YouTube.

 

Major General John Buford, of Rock Island, directed the opening artillery fire at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.
 

The Quad City Symphony, founded in 1916, is among the oldest symphonies in the United States.

 

The Quad Cities was the site of the western-most battle of the Revolutionary War, fought in 1780.

 

The worldwide headquarters of Deere & Co. was completed in 1964 and designed by world-renowned architect Eero Saarinen, the designer of the St. Louis Arch.

 

The annual Festival of Trees Parade is the largest helium balloon parade in the Midwest.

Workers completed construction on a re-imagined I-74 Bridge in 2021. This bridge is one of the only interstate bridges in the country to provide trail access.

Buffalo Bill Cody was born in LeClaire, Iowa, just up river. He lived there during his boyhood years. The original Buffalo Bill Cody homestead still stands today.

Home to John Deere - The inventor of the self-scouring plow and the man who built the largest agricultural manufacturing company in the world - Deere & Company of which the world headquarters is located in the Quad Cities.

Did you know there are more than 15 Craft Breweries in the Quad Cities? You'll want to take a taste of the Quad Cities home with you. Every brewery sells growlers or crowlers. Learn more about the craft breweries that are currently on the QC Ale Trail. 

The Mississippi River flows east to west in the Quad Cities for roughly ten miles between River Miles 490 to 480.

Lock & Dam 15 between Davenport and Rock Island is the largest Roller Dam in the world.

The first railroad bridge built across the Mississippi River connected Davenport and Rock Island in 1856. It burned down 15 days later. Then-attorney Abraham Lincoln defended the railroad against the steamboat interests at the U. S. Circuit Court in Chicago so the bridge could remain.

The current Government Bridge, which connects Rock Island Arsenal to Davenport, Iowa, was built in 1896. Its swing span can rotate 360 degrees for river traffic—a rare engineering accomplishment.

The first four-lane bridge across the Mississippi River, the Centennial Bridge, opened in 1940 and connects Rock Island to Davenport.

The first NFL football game was played at Douglas Park in Rock Island in 1920. The Rock Island Independents beat the St. Paul Ideals 48-0. 

Robert “Rube” Marshall, an end for the Rock Island Independents, was one of the first two African Americans to play for the NFL. 

PGA TOUR Caddies were allowed to wear shorts for the first time at the 1999 John Deere Classic in the Quad Cities. A first-time policy change in the PGA Tour's 83-year history. 

In 1885, Dr. William West Grant of Davenport, Iowa, performed the first successful appendectomy in the U.S. 

D.D. Palmer performed the first chiropractic adjustments in 1895 in Davenport. In 1897, he opened a school that became the Palmer College of Chiropractic. 

Alexander Victor from Davenport, Iowa, invented an electric washing machine for the White Lily Company. He then went on to invent a 16mm Motion Picture Camera and Projector. 

Iowa State University professor John Vincent Atanasoff reportedly sketched a diagram of the world's first electronic computer on a cocktail napkin at Hunter's Club in Rock Island in the winter of 1937-1938. 

Otto Frederick Rohwedder of Davenport, Iowa, invented a machine to slice bread in 1912. John Hansen, the plant supervisor, had an idea for a better blade so he started his own company in 1933, the Hansaloy Corporation in Bettendorf, Iowa. Hansaloy is still the world's largest producer of bread slicing blades. 

C.C. Knell moved to Rock Island in 1876 and opened a furniture store. He invented Knell's Reclining Chair, a well-padded, adjustable-backed chair with a footrest. Knell sold the world's first “Easy Chair”, for $10. Knell died in 1887 without securing the patent rights. 

In 1946, Henry C. Duke and his son, Gene, in East Moline invented the first pressurized soft-serve ice cream freezer. 

Professor James J. Ryan II, a graduate of LeClaire High School, is most famous as the inventor of the Ryan Flight Recorder in 1972, or the first “Black Box”. 

In 1926, when Fred Angell, a respected butcher in the Quad Cities area, combined a special cut and grind of meat with a selected set of spices, he created the Maid-Rite sandwich. 

The inventors of Dairy Queen's soft-serve ice cream recipe, J.F. “Grandpa” McCullough and his son, Alex, have been selling ice cream since they opened their store in Davenport, Iowa, in 1927. 

Happy Joe's founder Joe Whitty invented the taco pizza over 40 years ago. Another signature topping order is the Canadian bacon & sauerkraut combo. 

The Quad Cities can boast about its own style of pizza. There are several hallmarks of “Quad Cities Style”, including the hand-tossed malt crust, crumbly sausage with fennel, toppings hiding under the delicious, gooey layer of mozzarella cheese, and scissor-into strips. 

Ronald Reagan began his career at WOC, the first radio station west of the Mississippi River. 

Walt Disney applied for his first job at the Victor Animatograph Co. in Davenport. They didn't hire him. 

Zebulon Pike camped at the mouth of the Rock River in 1805 before heading west to discover Pike's Peak. 

Phebe Sudlow in Davenport, Iowa was chosen as the first woman city superintendent of schools in the nation. 

July 25th is National Carousel Day, celebrating the day in 1871 when Wilhelm Schneider of Davenport, Iowa, patented this classic amusement ride. 

In 1848, John Deere moved his steel plow business to Moline. His business was incorporated as Deere & Company in 1868. Their world headquarters are still here. 

Mike Wolfe, star of the History Channel's American Pickers, opened his original store in LeClaire, Iowa, called Antique Archaeology. 

Founded in 1867, the Putnam was one of the first museums west of the Mississippi River. 

The Arsenal Museum is the second oldest U.S. Army Museum in the country. 

Modern Woodmen Park, home to the Quad Cities River Bandits, was voted the best minor ballpark in the country. It is also one of the oldest stadiums in the country, opening in 1931. 

Ballet Quad Cities is the longest-running resident professional ballet company in the entire state of Iowa and western Illinois, one of only 100 in the nation. 

Davenport Junior Theater, the second-oldest children's theater in America, was founded in 1951. 

The annual St. Patrick's Day Parade is the only bi-state parade in the country crossing from Illinois into Iowa. 

The Black Hawk Forest, a dedicated Nature Preserve, has been identified as one of the least-disturbed forests in Illinois. 

Hero Street in Silvis is a street that honors veterans of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. It has been documented that as of the present day, there have been over 100 young men and women from Second Street who have given service to the U.S. Military Forces.