Davenport IA: 1924 Visitor Center//DRI&NW (Milwaukee+CB&Q) Union Stations & Package Express Building

Original:(Satellite)

1924: (Satellite)

The track and depot were owned by the DRI line, which was owned 50/50 by the Milwaukee and CB&Q railroads.

Davenport Iowa History posted
Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Passenger Depot - April 1922
Pictured is the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railway passenger depot at 115 S. Perry Street during the Mississippi river flood of 1922. The building also served as the passenger depot for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad, where Milton H. Teed was employed as passenger agent.
[The description contains information about Milton.]
The flood of 1922 peaked at 17 ft. on Saturday, April 22nd, 2 ft. above flood stage.
Retro Quad Cities shared

Dennis DeBruler commented on the share
I see this Spring's flood is over 3' higher than the 1922 flood.
 https://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?gage=rcki2&wfo=dvn

After the 1922 flood, they built a bigger station further away from the river.

The depot had dual façades. The track side façade:

Street View, Jul 2019

The street side façade.

Street View, Aug 2019

Trent Briggs posted
Davenport Union Station 1940
Jim Kelling shared with the comment: "Davenport Iowa Union Station."

Note the high pile of ballast under the track in the view of the track side façade. That reminded me that CP raised the tracks during the flood of 2019 and made the track crossings impassible. Then I noticed that the capture date was Aug 2019. I was surprised since I followed the street views south along Ripley Street across the tracks to get to that track side view. So I went back to Ripely Street. Sure enough, a Jul 2019 capture shows the crossing was unusable.

Street View, Jul 2019

So I then went back to the map view and then went back to the street view to retrace my path along Ripley Street. That accesses a photo from before the tracks were raised.

Street View, Aug 2017

This is the fifth photo provided by J.R. Manning on LandmarkHunter. Please access the link and scroll down near the bottom for a description of the depot.

Photo via LandmarkHunter

LandmarkHunter and most of the other web sites called the building on the left the "freight house." That building is more properly described as the Package Express building as in KWQC. It handled the express freight that was shipped in the baggage cars of the passenger trains. Milwaukee's freight house was just west of here on the other side of Ripley Street. CB&Q's freight house was a few blocks east of here. Freight houses handled the less-than-carload (LCL) freight that was shipped in boxcars in freight trains.

Retro Quad Cities posted six photos with the comment:

Davenport Union Station

  DRI&NW

    Built 1924

1

2

3

4

5

6

In the street view at the top, notice that the track is above ground level. During the flood of 2019, CP kept hauling in ballast trains and dumping ballast on the track. Then they used a tamper to lift the track above the ballast. They were in a race to keep the track above the river level. Then they refused to remove all of that ballast after the flood. In fact, I see they put larger rock on top of the ballast to help avoid a flood eroding the ballast.

Street View [Google Maps is giving me a bad link, zoom out and pan down to see the building], Aug 2017

Compare this view with photo 5 above. They have rebuilt Harrison Street to go over the higher track and CP put the signaling equipment on top of a platform.

Street View, Jun 2021