Retro Quad Cities posted five images with the comment: "Sylvan Steel Works - Moline, IL."
James Torgeson shared
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| 1 umvphotoarchive October 18 1896 |
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| 2 John Vize posted Sylvan Island Bridge showing Iron Works, Moline, Illinois. This is now a recreation area in the Quad Cities. Retro Quad Cities shared The Republic Steel Works on Sylvan Island in its heyday. This is the bridge that is being replaced for nearly $1M. Funny, how it could handle heavy vehicular traffic, but not bicyclists and hikers today. Alan Thompson Been on that Island a bunch of time. We lived down by it when I was a teen. The island has tunnels & underground rooms, left over from the foundries that use to be on it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybNqPIExsAc Tom Sharp From newspaper research at Newspapers-dot-com: The bridge in question, built in 1872, was located at 2nd Street and was originally designed for wagon and carriage traffic. By 1902, the government determined that the bridge was suitable to handle only one team of horses at a time or a one-ton limit. The railroad bridge was built in 1892. One of the industries it serviced was the Moline Ice Company, which had 10 ice houses on the island. It was east of the cart bridge. In the late 1960's the three railroads that owned this bridge offered to sell it to the city of Moline for the token sum of $1. Iowa-Illinois Gas and Electric (Now MidAmerican Energy), which granted easement of traffic over its property to and from the island, purchased the railroad bridge in the early 1970's. Here is a photo of the two bridges, taken from the Quad City Times in 2015. The pedestrian bridge is on the left. An URL to the QCT article is also included: Tom Sharp The superstructure of the bridge is being replaced; the concrete pillars will be reused. The island was originally a peninsula, with the natural channel running to the north of what is now the island. In 1869, a tailrace canal was cut through the south part of the peninsula, apparently to facilitate swifter water flow for a dam. In 1898, the slough was widened and dredged to increase water flow. Here is a photo of the south canal, courtesy of the John Weeks site. You can see the limestone outcroppings left over from the blasting of the canal. Also, a link to the John Weeks article about the canal. |
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| 1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP |
The track that served the island crossed over the Milwaukee and connected to the CB&Q.
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| 1953 East Davenport Quadrangle @ 1:24,000 |
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| National Archives and Records Administration, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons |
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