ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, Illinois-- No need to put your phone away, visitors to the Rock Island Arsenal can use their devices on a new virtual tour of the island.
The tour includes 31 historic locations and features multiple weapons at the arsenal and Memorial Field. Using a map, visitors will scan a QR code to get more information on the significance of the site. Each brochure includes instructions on how to activate the QR codes.
“Rock Island Arsenal has a long and rich history and these brochures use modern technology to help us share that history with the public,” Mark Struve of the Army Sustainment Command (ASC) History Office said in a statement. "It’s an idea that we thought would work well here because of the wide variety of historical sites and items found on the arsenal."
Guided tours of the arsenal are limited to prominent guests and those arriving to work or live on the island, according to a press release. The virtual tour is similar to those tours, Struve said.
Some of the historic sites included in the tour are the Colonel Davenport House, the Golf Club House and World War I era storage facilities. A few of the weapons and equipment included in the tour are howitzers, rocket launchers and tanks.
The brochures are found at various locations around the island including the Visitor Control Center at the arsenal’s Moline Gate and the Mississippi River Visitor Center. A box with the maps is also at Memorial Field.
For more information call the ASC History Office at (309) 782-2178.