Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-06-30
MILLION DOLLAR
PLANT FOR ROCK
ISLAND ASSURED
Moline Plow Company viii Erect Six
Buildings on Property in East
End OF This City.
SPECIAL ELECTION is REQUIRED
peenIe VIII Vote on New Franchise
for Street Car Company TO Make
Possible Street Vacation.

Voters of Rock Island will have an |
onportunitv on July - to give Rock /
Island a six-factory plant in the east /
end Of this city which will employ
1900 men.
The municipal commission today |
considered an ordinance calling a (
special election on proposition which |
will make possible the construction |
on q comprehensive scale Of a large !
addition 10 the Moline Plow com |
pany's plant.
The Moline PIow company's prop
ertv in this city extends from Thirty
ninth to Forty-third streets and from
Fifth avenue north TO the Mississippi |
river. The Tri-City Railway com
pany's tracks to Rock Island arsenal
now extend on Forty-seCond street.
In order TO erect this massive plant
the traction company must remove its
tracks 10 Forty-third street, block
east of where they are now situated.
This requires franchise which
must he voted on by the people. The
ordinance considered today by the
commission calls a special election on
July - The ordinance will be adop-
Ted a week from today, which is July
T Twenty days must elapsC between
the adoption Of the ordinance and the
election.
To Vacate Street and Alleys.
The commission will also vacate
Forty-second street, deciding it to the
Moline Plow company. An alley be-
tween Forty-second and Forty-thlrd
streets and Third avenue between
Thirty-ninth and FOrty-third streets,
both al present unusued, will be va
Gated also by the city This will give
the pillow company complete possess
sion of the tract.
The following buildings VIII be
erected by the pillow company:
Machine shop. 100 by 165 feet
Foundry. $50 by $50 feet
Pattern vault. 6i12 by $50 feet
Gore room. 60 by l22 feet.
Mill room, 30 by 200 feet.
CupoIa room. 80 by 90 feet.
All of the buildings will be one-story
except the pattern vault. It will be
two stories. The foundations Of the
building will be of concrete and the
walls of brick.
Stone & Webster, one Of the larg
est contracting firms in the United
States, the company which construct
ed the keokuk dam for the govern
ment, has been given the contract for
the work.
One thousand men will be employed
in the erection Of the buildings The
contract calls for occupancy on Oct.
!, which shows that the company will
probably establish . scOrd in Rock
Island for speed in the erection of
factory buildings.
The machine shop will be used eX-
clusively for work in connection with
the tractor engine made by the pillow
company. The Moline tractor has
gained fame in all parts of the United
States and foreign countries and it is
largely because of the increasing de-
mand for this engine that the big ad-
dition to the companys property is
necessary. The other buildings will
be used IN the manufacture of the
tractor, but not exclusively. They
will enter into the manufacture OF all
other implements made by the COM
paGy.
Voters Should Assist.
The plant to be erected at the east
end of Rock Island is only perhaps
the beginning of extensive additions
to the plow company plant
Voters of Rock Island are urged to
turn out on election day and boost for
this new plant which will give en-
ployment to 1900 men The pillow
company has confidence in Rock Is
land and it intends to proceed imme-
diately with construction of the plant
No definite announcement of the
cost Of the work could be gained from
Moline Plow company officials today
II Is estimated, however, that equip
PED the plant will represent an eX-
peDdituTe Of nearly a million dollars.