Almost halfway between Chicago , Illinois and Des Moines , Iowa in the Mississippi River is an island known today as Arsenal Island because of the presence of the Rock Island Arsenal on it. The island itself is the largest island in the Mississippi River . Before it became known as Arsenal Island it was called Rock Island

Present day acreage amounts to 945.55 acres.

 

Black Hawk spoke of Rock Island in his autobiography. He said,

... this was the best island on the Mississippi and had long been the resort of our young people during the summer. It was our garden which supplied us with strawberries, blackberries, gooseberries, plums, apples and nuts of various kinds; and its waters supplied us with pure fish, being situated in the rapids of the river

In a letter dated March 30, 1877 to Secretary of War, George W. McCrary, Brigadier General S. V. Benet wrote,

This arsenal will be the grand ordnance manufacturing establishment in the Mississippi Valley , erected at great expense to the United States , and with a larger capacity, when completed, than any other arsenal within our borders

These words rang true then and now as the Rock Island Arsenal is the largest weapons manufacturing complex in the free world. It is a state of the art computerized machining and manufacturing complex.

Mark Twain must have passed the island on an upriver boat trip for he wrote ...

The charming island of Rock Island , three miles long and a half a mile wide, belongs to the United States , and the government has turned it into a wonderful park, enhancing its natural attractions by art, and threading its fine forests with many miles of drives. Near the center of the island one catches glimpses, through the trees, of the vast stone four-story buildings, each of which covers an acre of ground. These are the government workshops; for the Rock Island establishment is a national armory and arsenal

Origins of Fort Armstrong
President Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark up the Missouri River in 1805, Lt. Zebulon Pike was sent up the Mississippi River . Pike was instructed to gather information about the river and note sites that would be favorable strategic locations for forts. In June 1809, Congress reserved Rock Island , or “big island,” as Pike called it, for federal military use

The two westernmost battles of the War of 1812 were fought in May and August of 1814 near Rock Island . One took place at an island north of Rock Island called Campbell ’s Island , named for the commander in charge of the troops who died as a result of wounds incurred there. The other took place at Credit Island which is just below Rock Island . (It was so named because of it being the site of fur trade between the Indians, British and French where the Indians were extended credit for supplies to get them through trapping season until they could pay off their credit with furs in the spring.)

These two battles and the Fur Trading Act of 1816 caused the United States government to build a fort on Rock Island . Soldiers arrived on May 10, 1816 and commenced construction of Fort Armstrong on the west end of Rock Island . It was only the second fort between St. Louis and Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin at the time. The fort was named after the Secretary of War under President James Madison, John Armstrong. When construction began there were 600 soldiers and 150 laborers. After the construction was completed less than 200 soldiers garrisoned the post. Between 1824 and 1836 the garrison consisted of less than 100 troops

Besides providing a U. S. military presence to discourage encroachment by the English and French fur traders, Fort Armstrong also provided protection for settlers, and attempted to police intertribal feuds amongst the Indians of the area.

Colonel Davenport came to the island with the first troops in 1816 and stayed on after 1836. Davenport was contracted by the government as sutler or provisioner for the garrison. The sutler's job would be akin to a Quartermaster's job in the modern day army. Provisions were sent north from St. Louis by keelboat. In 1818, Davenport resigned his post of sutler for Fort Armstrong , ventured into fur trading, and became a prominent man in the west building up a series of trading posts ). Davenport employed the technique that the British and French used when trading with the Indians of extending credit until the following spring when furs, skins, beeswax, feathers and lead would come in. This credit often amounted to between $30,000.00 and $60,000.00
  Fur Trader
Upon arrival at Rock Island in 1816, Davenport met and hired Antoine Gougue, a Frenchman married to a Fox Indian woman. Gougue and his wife were already living on the island about a mile upriver from the site of Davenport 's house. Bill Hannan, a Quad City area artist, professor and member of the Colonel Davenport Historical Foundation, related to me that Davenport employed about 240 French Canadians to man trading posts throughout the Mississippi and Rock River Valleys . Gougue and the other French Canadians were hired for a period of 3 years at $125.00 a year Davenport 's location at Rock Island was a "factory" where trade goods were repacked for transport to St. Louis or the posts. For this purpose Davenport had 16-18 outbuildings that were used for the purpose of sorting, grading, processing and packaging furs, beeswax and lead to be shipped to St. Louis . Also shipments of trade goods from St. Louis , such as blankets, pots, metal tools, dishes, medicines, traps, etc. were packaged at this point for distribution to his outposts.
 

Ferryman
From 1825 until about 1834 Colonel Davenport ran a two part from the Illinois side of the river to the Iowa side of the river. Passengers would board one boat which took them to the island from where they walked to the other side of the island to catch the other boat to the opposite shore. Each boat had two oarsmen and a pilot at the helm. Rates were $1.25 for a man and a horse and $2.00 for a man and two horses. In 1834 Antoine LeClaire started a direct shore-to-shore ferry service using flatboats which became more popular. Postmaster
In May of 1825, Davenport was appointed postmaster of Rock Island , Missouri . Mail was delivered and received from Clarksville, Missouri He founded the town of Stephenson, which later became Rock Island, in 1826. The first steamboat, The Virginia, arrived at Rock Island in 1828. Davenport piloted it over the rapids Davenport built a stately home on the island in 1833. It was the first home constructed of sawn lumber instead of logs. He also founded Davenport , Iowa in 1836. In 1845 men from Rock Island , Moline , and Davenport planned for a railroad from Chicago to Rock Island . Rock Island, being on a direct east-west trade route with the southern tip of Lake Michigan and points east, became a logical place for a cross continent highway. A rail link with points east would be beneficial to Iowa farmers. The first train reached the island on February 22, 1854 , when bridge construction began. This was to be the first bridge across the Mississippi . This bridge was completed on April 21, 1856 . The first train crossed the bridge April 22, 1856 . Colonel Davenport did not see this accomplishment as he was murdered in his home on July 4, 1845 . Davenport's Murder
Three robbers had entered his home on the evening of July 4 with the intent of robbing him of $20,000.00 in gold he was reputed to have on the premises. When all they found was $400.00, the men became angry with Davenport and started to beat him about the head. The beating rendered Davenport unconscious. After reviving him and asking Davenport where his money was, he replied there was no more and passed out. Though he awoke later and was able to attract the attention of some fishermen passing by, the damage was done and Davenport died at 9:00 p.m

Settlers on the Island
People began to move in and occupy land An Act of Congress in 1809 reserved part, if not all of the island for the government. Then in 1825, the Secretary of War requested the whole island be reserved for the government. When a new land office was opened in Galena , Illinois in 1835, they sent a surveyor to survey the island. The commandant of Fort Armstrong , in a letter to the Secretary of War, argued that this would confuse issues and make it look like the island was going to be parceled off rather than held in reserve. In 1838, the Secretary of War was unsure whether the island was reserved or not. The U.S. Senate asked the Secretary of War if his department required the island. His reply was a relinquishment of the island reservation to the Secretary of the Interior on February 11, 1848.During this confusion, Dimock and Pitts built a bed and chair factory on the island in 1846, believing they could buy their land eventually. Then in 1852 Dimock and Gould built a tub and pail factory there.

People came out of the woodwork to lay claim to land on the island. Colonel George Davenport and David B. Sears claimed special rights by reason of long settlement and island development. Two railroad companies and a bridge company claimed rights by legislative granting from the states of Illinois and Iowa . New York and St. Louis speculators tried to buy the land cheap. Three groups of squatters took part in the action at this time. One group helped themselves to land and farmed. A group of Rock Island residents filed preemption papers at the Springfield , Illinois land office. The third group, headed by Thales Lindsley, from Washington , organized a group of “settlers,” built shanties on the island and staked claims. Many quarrels erupted during this time. One unlucky squatter, Mr. Shaub of Davenport , IA , lost his house when it was tore down by another group of squatters claiming they had better right than he. After tearing down his house, they loaded the wood on a raft, set it afire and sent it downriver. The most persistant and persuasive squatters hired lawyers to obtain titles. One of the lawyers hired was Abraham Lincoln.

Though the War Department had given the island to the Department of the Interior, it was still considered a military reservation and as such the War Department had to field various claims from squatters and businesses. The War Department got tired of the disputes and tried to sell the island at least three different times. In May of 1850 an ad ran in the Missouri Republican, a St. Louis newspaper, notifying readers of an auction of the island to the highest bidder. No one in the Tri-Cities area knew of the sale and figured it was probably a scheme by land speculators to get a good deal. When the Tri-City public heard of this scheme they got in touch with the Congressmen and Senators in Washington to try and persuade the Secretary of War to cancel the sale. Though this was accomplished, Brigadier General R. B. Mason of Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis did not receive the news. He arrived in the Tri-City area to carry out his orders a day or two before the sale. After learning of his arrival, some of the prominent citizens of the area took Mason to the island to show posters warning bidders from the area to stay away from the auction as it would prove hazardous to one’s health to attend the sale. Brig. Gen. Mason wired Washington and was leaving the hotel for the island to start the sale when word came in that the sale had been postponed. In 1854 and 1858 other efforts to sell the island took place but were canceled due to protests from the citizenry of the area.

By 1854 the east end of the island contained many non-military structures:

Thales Lindsley was a die hard. He devised many plans to obtain rights to the island. His most interesting plan, presented in 1856, was a proposal to create a “great national university” on the island He went so far as to prepare a pamphlet with educational philosophy, and a board of trustee petition that included some of the town of Rock Island’s most prominent citizens. The plan proposed a curriculum of 100 courses, 100 professors and several hundred associates as well as instructors and tutors. He planned nine schools including colleges of militia, arts, arms, domesticity, politics, ceremony, manufacture, editing and authorship. These colleges were brand new to the United States and Europe . Lindsley returned to Washington to push his plan on the Congress and Senate.

Thales Lindsley was not a quitter. Even after being put down by Stephen A. Douglas, Lindsley, in April of 1856, got J.B. Weller, Military Committee Chairman, to petition Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis, to accept Lindsley’s petition for a university to be built on Rock Island . Davis replied,

Rock Island is considered a very advantageous position for a national foundry or an arsenal for the construciton of wagons, etc, and has been held by this Department with the view of its being ultimately required for such purposes. I therefore recommend that the prayer of petition be not granted

In 1863 the Federal Government decided to begin construction of an arsenal on Rock Island . Embroiled in the Civil War, a prison camp for Confederate soldiers was also established on the island. By the end of the century, the core structures of the Arsenal were completed and the Arsenal passed the test of providing a war effort with ordnance and supplies.

In 1866 funds were appropriated to begin improving navigation on the Upper Mississippi River and the Rock Island District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was established.

The potential of harnessing the river at the rapids for its water power with a dam was recognized by the military as well as the early settlers. David B. Sears and John W. Spencer were granted a charter to construct a dam from the Illinois shore to the head of Rock Island by the Illinois Legislature in 1837. The dam was built in 1841. Sears and associates remained in control of the dam until 1851 when they sold out to Pitts, Gilbert, and Pitts of New York who controlled it until 1859. Pitts, Gilbert and Pitts tried to improve the dam by raising money through bond sales. This plan failed and ownership was transferred to the stockholders.

The dam was then purchased by Horace K. White and his New York associate on April 25, of 1864. Shortly before this acquisition on April 19, 1864 , Congress empowered the Arsenal commander to clear the island of all property claims made by individuals and the local communities. A board of commissioners was established to review the claims and make recommendations for settlement. The Moline Water Power company was chartered by the state of Illinois to Charles Atkinson and associates in February 1865. The power franchise at Rock Island was purchased by Atkinson and associates by December 1865

The history of water power on the Arsenal covered more than a half a century between 1865 until after the turn of the century. During this time the Arsenal completed eight major water power related projects.

From 1867 past 1907 more than a million dollars in funds for water power related construction projects at Rock Island was appropriated by Congress. The majority of these funds went to Tri-City residents and businesses that were hired to perform work on these projects. A thousand workers or more were employed in these projects at various times in this period

Historic Rock Island

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Illinois Ancestors