Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-04-02
kCENTRAL CHURCH
WALL COLLAPSES
CrumbIing Foundation Gives
Way Under Weight of the
: East Wall.
OCCURS IN EARLY MORNING
shock Shakes Neighbor'hood, Many
Thinking it AN Earthquake
Police Guard Building.

Nearly half of the east wall Of the
ond avenue, between Fourteenth and
Fifteenth streets, caved in this morn
ing between 2 and 8 o'clock, and the
remainder of the building was render
ed so unsafe that a policeman was
placed on guard there with orders to
keep the curious at safe distance.
The old church has been considered
dangerous for some time, but 1T has
been used for various purposes ever
since it was abandoned by the Cen
trail congregation a year ago. Several
weeks ago 1t was used by the Moose
lodge, and just recently it was bal
loting place for children who wished
TO express their views on the local op-
ton question. 1t is very fortunate that
the accident did not occur while these
meetings were in progress, as many
: deaths might have resulted.
Foundation Gives Way.
An examination OF the wall which
caved in shows that it was the foun-
the walls were very willing to give
way The foundation under the build
ing was apparently not properly
bound together when constructed and
it split into two parts under the great
strain which it has held up for years
The foundation is of brick and is four
courses wide. 1t is customary in these
DAYS to bind the courses together ev-
cry few layers by means OF bricks laid
across the courses instead of length
wise. This precaution was not OBJ
served very closely when the old build
ing was constructed and not enough of
these binding courses were laid, with
the result that the wall was really two
thin walls standing together. The
weight upon them finally caused them
to spread apart for a distance of %
feet. The wall above that portion Of
the foundation merely sank to the
ground, carrying a part of the floor
with it.
Felt Like Earthquake.
The crash and the shock of the tons
Of falling brick aroused a number Of
the neighbors, who feared that an
earthquake had taken place Several
dressed and came out Of their homes,
but by that time all was quiet and
they went back to bed without seeing
what had happened They thought
that it had been the humping together
of freight cars in the yards less than
a block away and they expected to see
some badly damaged box cars In the
morning.
The remainder Of the east wall has
the appearance today of being ready to
give way at any moment and a police
man is busy keeping curious specta-
tors at a safe distance. The rear walls
and the walls on the front and west
sides are in danger of falling, and it is
apparent that the building should be
RACED at once.
One OF Landmarks.
The old building has done service as
a church for many years, having been
erected in 1857. 1t was known then
as the United Presbyterian church, but
in more recent times it's name was
changed to the Central Presbyterian
church following a split in the congre-
CATION over the slavery question. The
present one is not the first disaster
which overlook the building, as in 1875
it's high steeple was blown down into
the street. This steeple is reputed to
have been the highest in the vicinity,
so high in fact that the present one
does not come closer than 100 feet to
the former height. After it was blown
down into the street the congregation
decided that it was too high, and the
repairs to the broken tower consisted
mainly in covering the belfry and Ieav-
ing the immense steeple OF.