Untitled Document

THE MOLINE BUSINESS MEN'S ASSOCIATION

As the result of tbe efforts of Messrs. C. F. Dewend and C. Iver Josephson, a meeting was held at the city hall in Moline, September 13, 1898. at which over 100 representatives of the city's professional, business and manufacturing interests gathered and organized the Moline Business Hen's Association, whose prime object is to further develop Moline into a Greater Moline, which includes East Moline and vicin ity. The association is a member of the Upper Mississippi Improvement Association and of the National Board of Trade. It has been represented by large delegations at the annual meetings of these organizations. It held a street fair in 1899 which brought to the city a large number of visitors. In the same year they were the leaders in a celebration of the Fourth of July in a manner which up to that time was unprecedented in this locality.

The association also had artesian water mains laid to the public fountains. It installed electric and other decorations at the time of holding convention and on other occasions, was foremost in inducing such conventions to meet at Moline, and was ready in defraying their expenses while here. It has located a number of new factories in the city through united effort, and through its persistent work a government appropriation of nearly $400,000 was made to furnish an adequate steamboat lock and harbor. This completed work was accepted by the government engineers in January, 1907. This latter improvement places Moline on an equality with the other river cities in the matter of water transpoitation for passengers and freight.

The association has also improved Riverside Park, which gives a beautiful recreation ground in the center of the city on the river front, as well as a steamboat landing. In 1907 the association carried to a successful completion the building of a modern theater at a cost of $75,000, the organization itself raising $10,000 of this sum by means of a seat sale and donations. Through tbe united efforts of directors and members together with the generous financial aid extended to its projects by the business interests of the city, this association is enabled to constantly move forward to the building up of a better and greater community.

In 1909 the Moline Business Men's Association merged with the Moline Club, which was organized about 1895. This action was taken with the understanding that a civic improvement commission composed of fifteen members of the club be maintained to carry forward the work undertaken by the Business Men's Association. This commission continued the work of the association until May 20, 1913, when a reorganization of the Moline Club took place, at which the constitution and by-laws were amended, and the name changed to the Moline Commercial Club. This did away with the civic improvement commission, and substituted six members of the club with the addition of six members of the Moline Retail Merchants' Association, and six members of the Manufacturers' Association, together with twelve other citizens. These were then organized into the Greater Moline Committee, the object of which is to increase the manufacturing and commer cial interests of the city, thus bringing into realization a constantly greater and greater Moline.

The social functions of the Moline Commer cial Club will be maintained as in the past. They are housed in handsome new quarters in the two upper floors of the Leedy building, corner of Fifth avenue and Sixteenth street where they have commodious social and reading rooms, one of the finest halls in the city, a beautiful dining room and large kitchen, all of which were specially designed for their use when the plans of the building were prepared.

The officers of the dub are: President, W. H. Van Dervoort; Secretary, F. A. Lind; Treasurer, Carl Lundberg.

TRI-CITY MANUFACTURER'S ASSOCIATION

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