City Of Rock Island, Illinois

The City of Rock Island is a well laid-out and substantially built town, containing a population of about 32,000. In our recently issued city directory is given 14,055 names; which by the usual multiple of 2 1/4 would give us a population of 31,624. It is situated on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River, at the foot of the Upper Rapids, and just below the western extremity of Rock Island, from which it derives its name. The situation of the city is one of the most beautiful that can be imagined. The bluffs on the Iowa side approach the shore, so that the City of Davenport lies chiefly on the hillsides; on the Rock Island side the hills recede to a distance of more than a mile, leaving a broad and beautiful plain on which the city is built. This plain is sufficiently elevated to afford a dry and healthy location, and is bounded by the river in front, forming a graceful curve southward at the lower end of the city, and in the rear of the distant hills, which form a charming background to the city plat. Here the space is amply sufficient for a city of a hundred thousand inhabitants. From almost any point of observation in this city the views are fine. They combine a landscape of mingled art and nature; the cities of Davenport, Rock Island and Moline, with their tall spires and smoking factories; the Island of Rock Island in the broad bright channel of the Mississippi, and connected with both shores by its magnificent iron bridges. Looking up the river toward the Island, the bridges, with their piers and spans, are seen stretching across a space of three quarters of a mile, at the point formerly occupied by old Fort Armstrong, while in the distance rises the tall smoke stacks of the Government works, the Arsenal ‘ and Armory-almost hidden in the trees-which in this part of the Island have been preserved, and the grounds converted into a beautiful sylvan park. About the center of the Island, from a tall flag staff erected on top of a high structural iron pier, floats the Stars and Stripes-symbol of national authority. The Island, the Arsenal works and grounds, and the wonderful improvements of the water power, constitute the chief points of attraction to visitors at Rock Island.