A once-stately hotel demolished and replaced by a steel-and-glass office building, an Italianate survivor still chugging along nearly 150 years later after a recent rehab, and between them a 1970s pedestrian mall intended to revitalize downtown Rock Island as commerce moved to the suburbs.

This sucks–the last thing Rock Island needs is more parking lots. The Modern Woodmen of America demolished this handsome International style office building in 2020. Designed by Stuhr, Parkhurst & Appier and completed in 1963, it was one of only two examples of the style in Rock Island.

Rock Island’s Masonic Temple is a funny little example of the declining influence of fraternal organizations in the US.

The Rock Island Line may have been a “mighty good road”, but the Chicago, Rock Island, & Pacific passenger station in its namesake city is surprisingly humble. Built in 1902 and designed by Frost & Granger out of Chicago, this was the CRI&P’s third (and final) passenger depot in Rock Island.