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Throwback Thursday: A Look at the Ringling Bros. Circus in Davenport

Our first photo is from 1910 in Rock Island. Ever look at the Rock Island Courthouse and think it looks like it’s missing something? It was originally built in ...
courthouse

Our first photo is from 1910 in Rock Island. Ever look at the Rock Island Courthouse and think it looks like it’s missing something? It was originally built in 1896 at a cost of$112,201, but in 1958 the beautiful copper domes were removed.  Only sixty years after being built, the copper roofing on the domes had “worn out”.  Rather than repairing or replacing the roofing, a decision was made to remove all the domes, leaving a clunky version of this originally spectacular building.

circus

 

From 1920, this is the  Davenport Ringling Bros. Circus on Main Street. It was always exciting when the circus came to town. Businesses would shut down as trolley, and automobile traffic had to pull over to allow the parade of the rare and stunning animals and performers. This view is from the hill on Main Street facing the river.

little-bit-of-heaven

This is a snapshot from 1970 of the Little Bit O' Heaven. For many years,  A Little Bit O' Heaven was the most popular tourist attraction in Davenport bringing 2 million visitors during its lifetime in the 800 block of Brady Street Hill.  Here at A Little Bit O' Heaven, the visitor could contemplate the strange and perhaps a bit frightening from around the world while in an informal and stimulating garden setting. Here lived alligators, grimacing idols and taboo icons of fertility cults  among the foliage with classical statuary and inspirational paintings on the walls. One cold night in 1980 the boiler failed, and the plants froze. It was then closed.

 

davenport-flood

Here's a  view of Davenport from the flooded Mississippi River during “the big one”, or the Flood of 1965. On Wednesday, April 14, 1965, the Times-Democrat Newspaper reported the coming of a flood and approximately 2, 000 homes in the Quad City area were evacuated. That same day, 28 train cars loaded with sand from Muscatine arrived in Davenport to help with the flooding at the foot of Harrison Street. The next day the river exceeded 15 feet in Davenport and went above flood stage at noon.

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