Port Byron Academy
The Port Byron Academy was established in Port Byron mainly through the efforts of Reverend A. A. Harper. His son, E. T. Harper was the first principal. The school was started in 1881 in the second story of the building now occupied by Adrian and Witter’s implement store, in the Dorrance Block. It has a strong Alumni, numbering among its members many prominent men and women. Professor M. J. Yolton, a graduate of the institution, is its present principal. The Port Byron Academy is located at Port Byron, one of the oldest towns in Rock Island County, lies on the sloping hillside of the east bank of the Mississippi. The situation is healthful and the scenery of the river and bluffs is noted for its beauty. The village has some eight hundred inhabitants and has a high moral and social tone. In many respects it is a New England town. It has a quiet, intellectual atmosphere well suited to an earnest pursuit of studies. It stands about thirteen miles north of Moline, and is on the new main line of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railroad to Kansas City. It is also reached by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad, and by ferry to LeClaire, with the Interurban line to Davenport and Clinton. The purpose of the academy is to supply a high grade of scholastic education under the best of Christian influences. It attempts to give the broadest and best culture combined with a practical education for every day life. It plans to use the latest methods and to keep abreast with all the advances in modern learning. The academy is a chartered institution under the direct control of the board of trustees. It has the hearty support of the Rock River and Davenport, Iowa, Association of Congregational Churches and is under their general supervision. Beloit College takes an active part in promoting the interests of the academy, in securing and directing. its teachers, in planning its courses of study.
Early Settlements of Rock County
Source: Historic Rock Island County, pub. Kramer & Company, Rock Island, Illinois, 1908