Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1909-12-31

A gfea deal of building has
been done ia the city of Rock
Island dgsi1g The last year. represent
ang sts2Eesate expenditure which
! rs : probably to none of the
- Sss sssslv When the costs of all
Filssd5 1l{dA1ss either begun or finished
curing fhs wear are summed up, the
t1tat req cE2s almost two millions, TO
sspe esSact 81 .900o90. Chief among the
laree bui ding Improvements Of the
e e Va & .stsss BEST block, which was
go sitFd at a cost of over $3.50 OG0.
Winding. which is occupied BY
the Yonng & McCombs department
:, sore was started in 1905, but it was
rec dlnfshed until this year. The
Robinson estate made such a thorough
remodeling of the First National bank
block on Second avenue and Eigh-
teenth street that to all intents and
purposes it was changed into new
building. The remodeling cost in the
neighborhood of S70,C00 New and at
tractive fronts were built for the stores
which occupy the Second avenue side of
built, as were the upper stories. and
the inside remode1ed.
Fine New Hotel.
Rock Island retained its own in the
possession OF a leading hotel for the
tri-cities when during the past year
the New Harper house was opened 10
the public under the management of
Carl Mueller The Harper house had
been eclipsed to some extent by the
building OF new hostelries in both No
line and Davenport and It's prestige
as the leading hotel of the three cities
has suffered The ownership of the
property changed hands June II, DR..
Joseph DeSilya becoming owner. and
soon afterwards it wGs leased to
company headed by William Betten-
dorf, Carl Mueller, a. f. Anderson and
H A. J. Mcdonald, and extensive plans
for remodeling and refurnishing were
adopted.
For several months the hotel was
closed to the public during which
time an army of workme1 was kept
busy, and when the house was We
opened again Aug. g /, Iool, its place
as one Of the finest hotels west of
Chicago The Iessees had expended
IN the neighborhood Of $4,000 in :e-
fitting and refurnishing the house and
everything was made up TO date in
every particular A new cafe on the
first floor had been added and the old
dining hall on the second floor changed
into a banquet hall. The cafe was
dedicated Nov. 81, al which time It
was first revealed to public Inspection.
DenLma1ns Donate Library.
Announcement was made Jan. %
that the heirs of the late r c. A.
Denkmann had decided to give to An
g1stana college the sum of 100000
to be turned into a library dedicated
to the memory of 1Gr Denkmann and
to be known as the Denkmann Memo
rial library of Augustana college.
Work on the new building commenced
in the fall and the foundation has been
built and the cornerstone wiz be laid
with all due ceremony sometime next
month, according to present plans.
Another fine Improvement in the
building line is one authorized by III !
board of education when it decided to !
erect a new fireproof school building
to replace the present Grant school, /
which is a frame structure. The new
school will be ready for occupancy /
when the fall term opens next year. /
1t is to cost about $4,000.
Much Other Building.
The buildings mentioned above are I
not all the Improvements made in this
line during the year. There has been
erected or completely remodeled dur
ing the year no less than 100 build
ings This number includes dwelling
houses. store buildings and whole bust
ness blocks. Besides these there We're
new shop buildings and store rooms
such as those serected by the Rock
ISLAND Sash & Door works and the
Rock Island Lumber company to re-
place the much less valuable structures
destroyed in the first Last year.
One of the biggest works started
during the year is The immense factory +,
buildings on the old Gordon tract in
3 the east end of the city. These build
.,sngss are to be used bv the MoLitor
tpffIl company, branch of the Mo-
Elfne PleE company. and when they I
ere seemrIeted they viii furnish place
s9f employment for nearly ? thousand (
Ien The total cost of the new hufld- i