Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-06-06

IOidN.
this afternoon an imposing process
sion occurred under the direction of
Col. William Clendenin, starting on
Market square and terminating at
the lawn in front of the Wheelock
residence, where the exercises were
held. Mayor Bennett presided.
Mr. Jackson's Address.
The speaker of the day was William
jackson, who began by referring to
his entrance to the city of Moline in
1852 to take a place as Il workman in
the Deere shops. The early history
of the city he knew only from the
lips of those who so faithfully labored
to lay a broad foundation for n great
city. NJ Men of sober and industrious
habits of fixed moral. religious and
political convictions. who believed
that the strength of city lay not
only in its material wealth but in its
moral conditions. He referred to
the locality and surroundings as
naturally inviting the sentiments of
persons of good taste and energy.
The first water power was established
in the year 1871. under the act of leg
islature passed in 1889, granting to
David b. Sears and John W. Spencer
| authority to build a dam from the
south shore to the island. This dam
| was built of brush and stone at about
the line of the Moline banks. The
first mill was a 2-story frame struc-
! ture built about the year 1912, the
lower story being a saw mill and the
upper story q grist mill. This was
washed away by flood in the year
| 1886. In 1852 when the speaker
came to Moline there was the Morse
planning mill, in the middle of the
dam saw mill operated by Cham
| berlain 4 Dean and a saw mill at the
north end of the dam owned by Spen-
Ger White, the pillow shops of John
Deere, large grist mill between the
dam and the pillow shops known in
after years as the Sickles a. Boynton
mill: a brick school house where the
city building now stands, and the
store of William and. Alonzo 1Sourse
| on the corner of.Sixteenth street and
| Second avenue were prominent and
| interesting points in 1882. The
| Deere pillow works were operated
from lS47 by Deere & Gould. but in
| 1852 passed into the exclusive pos
| u
very small as compared with NAM
| moth establishment now carried on.
| The business character of Moline
indelibly impressed for good by the
/ stirring business character of the
| prosperous old pillow works. and the
| excellent character of the goods man
ufactured by them. Pitts. Gilbert &
Pitts came about 1850. and soon al
ter came 5. W. Wheelock, who. with
indomitable will and energy turned
some buildings into a paper mill and
sent his wares all over the country
! in wagons. He referred to the ann
| ietv of the people in regard to the
water power. With the influx of peos
| pie came the desire for more iperma-
| nent improvements. In 1888 was
| laid the foundation for an unfortu-
| nate lawsuit relotive to the mill
property of Pitts. Gilbert Pitts.
This firm gave Charles Atkinson an
option on their property, but when
he rendered the price early in 1854,
they refused to sell. The suit of this
continued until 1856, when it was
compromised. The speaker then
referred to the building of the
Dimock & Gould factory and many
other establishments. The religious.
temperance and political tone of
Moline; dwelt upon the granting of
the charter in 1855. and the constant
struggle against the unlawful sale of
liquors. Many other matters of To-
cal interest were referred to and
many persons introduced whose
names are household words in the
early history of Moline. In 1868 the
speaker moved to Rock Island, and
this city has since been his home.
Other Exercises.
Mrs. Julia Mills Dunn read an in
teresting poem, Judge f. j. Searle
delivered an address, and remarks
were also made by Hon. j. T. Brown
ing, Col. ID. 0. Reid, William H. Ed |
wards, Thomas Merryman, Daniel |
Gordon, A. NJ. Hubbard. Il