Quad City Photo Thread (Moline, Rock Island: hotel, lease, jobs)

[QuadCityImages]

I thought I'd post some pictures of a metro area that a lot of people don't get to see very much.

The Quad Cities are a metro area on the Mississippi River consisting of Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa, and Rock Island, Moline, and East Moline in Illinois. The MSA population is 376,000, and we're one of the few bi-state metros with population pretty evenly split between the two states. At around 100,000, Davenport is the largest city in the metro, but there really is no dominant city.

Downtown Davenport:






Downtown Rock Island:





Downtown Moline (During the Taste of the Quad Cities):


Downtown Bettendorf (Dominated by Isle of Capri Casino/Hotel):


The Quad Cities have grown up around the Mississippi, and we are beginning to really refocus on it as the area tries to reinvent itself. The 80's farm crisis hit the area hard (lost 30,000 jobs) but we are definitely in the midst of a rebirth.






The I-74 Bridge:


The Centennial Bridge:

The Arsenal Bridge was built in 1896, near the site of the first railroad bridge across the Mississippi. Its still a working swing span drawbridge.




Downtown Davenport has been working on a number of projects over the last 5-6 years to revitalize downtown, including the $113 million River Renaissance project. Part of RR was the $48.5M Figge Art Museum designed by David Chipperfield:




There has also been a number of new residential projects in both downtown Davenport and Rock Island:





Davenport's newly renovated riverfront baseball stadium:





A couple of nearby attractions include Maquoketa Caves and Wildcat Den State Park:



The rest of these are mostly some of the festivals and events that are hosted throughout the year:

[Havasu]

Looks like a nice place.

[karlsch]

Outstanding post!!

[mstephens05]

Wow.. I live in the QCA and have all my life.. those are really nice pics.. do you mind if I snag a few to send to my husbands grandma.. she has never been here and wants to see what the QCA looks like.. Thanks!!

[jwhittak]

Wow, great pictures. Thanks for sharing.

[QuadCityImages]

Originally Posted by mstephens05

Wow.. I live in the QCA and have all my life.. those are really nice pics.. do you mind if I snag a few to send to my husbands grandma.. she has never been here and wants to see what the QCA looks like.. Thanks!!

No problem. Use them for stuff like that all you want. If anyone wants to post them elsewhere on the internet, just credit them to QuadCityImages please.

[CarolL]

Very nice! I grew up near the QC and worked in Moline for a time. Questions: Where is that dam? And where is the downtown area in the pic just before the pic of the pool hall? I don't recognize those.

Thx for posting those.

[QuadCityImages]

The dam and mill are at Wildcat Den State Park. The "pool hall" is actually the River Center during a pool tournament, and the image before that is the Village of East Davenport.

[Steve-o]

Great post!!! Thanks for sharing those pics, I havent been to the QC area since I was in high school and it was nice to see how the cities are progressing! I need to get back, nice area!

What hockey arena/team is that?

[bmichel5581]

sweet pics. I hope the Quad Cities can get Amtrak service soon.....only a 3' 20" train ride from downtown to downtown...how sweet would that be