Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-01-18

FOR CENTENNIAL
Twenty Thousand Dollars to Be Rails.
ed to Defray Expenses june
Celebration.
DIVIDED BETWEEN THE CITIES
Plan Is to Make Event Eclipse Any
thing OF Sort Ever Attempted
In Community.


William ButterWOrth of Moline,
Hiram S. Cable of Rock Island and |
Colonel G. Watson French of Daven-
port have been placed at the head of |
the finance committee of the Fort |
Armstrong Centennial association. |
They have been charged with the duty !
of raising $4,000 to defray the ex-
penses of the Fort Armstrong Cen |
tennial celebration and old settlers |
home coming, which, If the plans tent
atively decided upon are carried out, |
will undoubtedly be the biggest thing |
of it's kind ever undertaken in this !
community.
The celebration will probably be
held the third week in June, although
the exact dates have not yet been def
initely decided upon, and will cover
a period of four days. There will be
pageants, parades, specially designed
fireworks displays, motorboat races,
hydro-aeroplane flights, receptions to
the old settlers, building and dedica-
ton of the block house which will bey
the replica of old Fort Armstrong,
and dozens of other features of inter-
est crowded into four-day period.
Messrs Butterworth, Cable and
French were chosen to head the fl
nance committee at a meeting of the
board of directors of the Fort Arm
strong Centennial association held at
the Rock Island club yesterday. The
board decided that of the 900 which
must be raised, $4,000 should be col
lected in Davenport, $4,000 in Rock
! Island and $4,000 in Moline. The elab-
orateness Of the tentative plans and
, the desire to make the celebration
/ eclipse anything of the sort ever at
| tempted in this vicinity indicates that
| the considerable sum which it is pro-
posed to collect for this purpose will
not prove any too great. The three
| heads of the finance committee will
select their assistants from the active
workers of their respective cities.
The heads of several other commit
tees also were chosen. A. 7. Foster
Of Moline, S. w. Searle of Rock Is
/ land and F. K Putnam of Davenport,
as chairmen of their respective cities,
will make up the important committee
on program.
The homecoming committee is an
ether important subsidiary of the main
organization. E. E. Morgan heads this
committee for Moline, H. P Simpson
for Rock Island and E. P. Adler for
Davenport. These three gentlemen
will meet in the near future and select
their assistants. The committee that
will have charge of the building Of
the duplicate of the old Fort Arm
strong block house is headed by G. A.
Stephens of Moline, Phil Mitchell of
Rock Island and ". j. Mccullough of
Davenport.
Historical Pageant.
The pageant that will depict h1stor-
ical incidents Of interest in c0nnec-
ton with the early days of the tri-
cities is headed by Harry Ainsworth
Of Moline. Orrin S. Holt for Rock Is
land and Harry E. Downer for DAY.
export.
A F. Dawson Of Davenport heads
the publicity committee for that city,
P. S. McGlynn represents Moline and
H. H. Cleaveland looks out for the in
terests of Rock Island.
All of these committees will be
greatly enlarged when their trl-clty
heads are able TO get together and go
; over their lists of willing workers.
The tentative plans for the celebra-
ton are gradually taking shape. For
instance, it has been decided that the
; Sunday preceding the celebration
shall be devoted to reunions at the
various churches throughout the tri-
/, cities and that the pastors on that
day shall make special reference to
the old settlers homecoming and to
some of the leading historical incl
dents the celebration is intended tC
commemorate.
On the first day Of the active cele'
bration the morning will be devoted
| to the registration of old settlers a.
the special registration headquarters
on the government island, where the
exercises will take place. In the at
ternoon there will be Indian games
exercises of the United States troops
and the militia of Iowa and Illinois