Rock Island County Historical Society

05/16/2024

Hey look! It's us! We give tours of the Atkinson-Peek House and we have many cool things we are working on with the AP House that we are excited to share with you all soon! If you would like to schedule a tour, please give us a call at 309-764-8590.

Frequently Asked Questions - Overlook and Atkinson-Peek House

In this (1892-1900) photo left to right is Overlook (now called the Deere Wiman House), it's original Carriage House, and the Atkinson home (now the Rock Island Historical Society) which have entwined history.

The property on the hill was acquired by Charles Deere through a trade between Deere and the Moline Water Company. Charles Atkinson, uncle to Edmund Atkinson and Mary Deere was a founder of Moline and the Water Company.

The Atkinson family eventually sold the house to the Peek family. Then in 1892 William Butterworth received his legal degree, married Katherine Butterworth (younger daughter of Charles and Mary Deere), and came to work for the Deere Company. Within two years he became Treasurer of the Company and at the same time was also a law partner with Mr. Peek. In 1907 after Charles Deere's death, William Butterworth became President of the Deere Company and Mr. Peek became the Treasurer and eventually Vice President.

Charles Deere Wiman after the death of his father and both of his grandparents lived at Overlook with his wife Patricia Southall Wiman. Mrs. Wiman (Patricia) bought the house from the Peek family in 1962 and donated it to the Rock Island County Historical Society.

04/11/2024

Ever heard of the name of Mattie Poole? If not and you are curious stop in and check out our new display featuring the local artist!

03/29/2024

RICHS is closed today, Friday, March 29th and Saturday, March 30th in observance of Easter. We will reopen on Wednesday, April 3rd at 9 AM.

May everyone have a happy and safe weekend and we will see you next week!

03/02/2024

Our archives have a lot of information that pertains to the history of Rock Island County and the cities and townships within it. Occasionally we come across some interesting things about the past. For example, did you know that Moline had a popped corn association? This article dated from 1851 says the organization had between 20 and 30 members and was dedicated to the "research and investigation of corn in its natural state, popping, and the effects of corn, when popped, on the constitution of man". Some also theorized that the Moline Popped Corn Association was a secret society intent on raising the next generation and enlightening them on "popping the question".

While we may not be able to answer the burning question of what the M.P.C.A.'s actual purpose may have been, it certainly has us wanting to do some research and investigating of our own.

02/29/2024

Do you have a memory of Moline's Wharton Field House? WQPT PBS would be interested in knowing it! See their post for more details on how to connect with them to share what you might have.

The upcoming WQPT PBS documentary features Wharton Field House's rich history. YOU CAN HELP with your stories, memorabilia and support of this iconic venue.
Learn more at wqpt.org/wharton

02/28/2024

One of the joys of getting new items in through donations is seeing what the area looked like in the past. We recently acquired some photos of the Velie Mansion and thought we would share a couple that our volunteers enjoyed seeing. One is a side view of the mansion, and the other overlooks the bluff that the mansion sits on facing towards the Rock River. Sadly we do not know the date of when the photos were taken.
What a fascinating sight this must have been!

02/01/2024

Thank you QC PastPort for giving us a shout out! We are thankful for the unique work you do for our community and are glad we can support your mission with our plethora of resources!

The Rock Island County Historical Society is a real gem in our community. They do important work to preserve photos, books, newspaper archives, and so much more for Rock Island. The RICHS Library contains 400 archival collections, 10,000 photographs, 6,000 book, 40,000 vertical files, and 9 different newspapers in print. Photos like this could be lost without their hard work. Learn more here: https://www.richs.cc/

01/26/2024

After a minor issue with our boiler, we are open and have heat in the research library once again! Thank you for your patience while we had the problem fixed and we hope to see you soon!

01/19/2024

We will be closed until further notice due to an unexpected problem with our furnace. We will update you when we are open again. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

In the meantime, feel free to check out our website which has databases for our collection that you can search.
https://richs.cc/

Also, you may check out our digitized newspaper collection at:
https://rockislandcountyil.advantage-preservation.com/

01/17/2024

It is slightly warmer but still a bit cold today. We have been busy preparing the newsletter this morning and they will be arriving in your mailboxes soon!

01/12/2024

With more severe winter weather coming, RICHS will be closed today. Stay safe and warm this weekend and we will see you again next week with hopefully warmer temperatures.

https://www.facebook.com/100063639727926/posts/884566377008012/

With it still snowing out, it might take some time for our streets to look like this. As a rule of thumb regarding RICHS being open during winter weather, "If the schools are closed, RICHS is closed."

We will do our best to keep you updated if we are open tomorrow. Stay safe everyone!

01/10/2024

We will be open today at our normal time! Please be safe while out and we look forward to seeing you!

01/09/2024

With it still snowing out, it might take some time for our streets to look like this. As a rule of thumb regarding RICHS being open during winter weather, "If the schools are closed, RICHS is closed."

We will do our best to keep you updated if we are open tomorrow. Stay safe everyone!

12/23/2023

Happy Holidays to everyone from the volunteers at the Rock Island County Historical Society! May you all have a safe and enjoyable holiday season and we will see everyone after the new year!

12/14/2023

We will be closing for the holiday season December 17th, 2023. Our last day open for the year is this Saturday, December 16th. We will reopen on January 3rd, 2024 at 9 AM.

We appreciate everyone's patronage and support this year and we hope that will continue into next year! May everyone have a safe and happy holiday season!

-Rock Island County Historical Society

12/06/2023

We will be opening at noon on Saturday, December 9th. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause!

Additionally, we will be closing for the year on Saturday, December 16th and will reopen on January 3rd. We thank everyone who has stopped in, called, or contacted us this year! We appreciate your patronage!

12/03/2023

Look for the open sign and stop on in! Our open house starts at 1 and goes until 4! We are located at 822 11th Avenue Moline, IL.

12/02/2023

Our last open house for the week is tomorrow from 1 PM to 4 PM. Come on out and enjoy some refreshments and see the Atkinson-Peek House decorated for the holidays!

12/01/2023

Here are a couple of photos of the Atkinson-Peek House museum lit up at night for the holiday season! The AP House looks stunning at night!

11/28/2023

Today is , a day that gives the community an opportunity to give back to the non-profits that support their community on a daily basis.

RICHS was founded in 1905 with the mission to collect, preserve, and disseminate information regarding the history of the cities and townships that are located within Rock Island County. Our organization runs on the generosity of our community to keep the lights on, the buildings warm on cold days and cool on the hot ones, and for the conservation of our collection.

If you would like to donate to the Rock Island County Historical Society, you can send or drop your donation off at:
822 11th Avenue
Moline, IL. 61265

We greatly appreciate your support and hope to continue to do so for another 118 years!

11/22/2023

We will be closed for this week in recognition of Thanksgiving. While we may be closed, a handful of our volunteers came in this week to prepare the house and library for the holidays. Want to fully see what they look like decorated?

We are hosting two open houses next week. The first is our annual members open house and is on Thursday, November 30th from 5 PM to 7 PM.
Then, Sunday December 3rd is our holiday open house for the public from 1 PM to 4 PM.

11/17/2023

What a fascinating piece! These are believed to be snow chains for tires c.1920's and are from the Bear Manufacturing Company that was located in Rock Island.

11/10/2023

Thank you to everyone who attended our Fall membership dinner last night! It was a good time updating everyone on how the society is doing and listening to the tales of Captain Henry Detweiller as portrayed by Brian "Fox" Ellis.

We also thank our friends at the Friends of Hauberg Civic Center for letting RICHS use the beautiful Tulip Room for our event. Also a big thank you to the staff and volunteers of the Hauberg Civic Center for setting and cleaning up tables and table settings, and for providing refreshments.

10/28/2023

We are set up and ready for the Quad Cities Archives Fair! It runs from 1PM to 4PM so stop on by and see us as well as all of the organizations set up here!

10/25/2023

This Saturday, from 1PM to 4PM join us at the Friends of Hauberg Civic Center for the Quad Cities Archives Fair! Present along with us will be many other local area organizations and institutions to discuss what they do and what resources they hold to offer aid in research projects or those seeking to know more about the areas history.

For more information, visit the QC Stacks website for the fair:
https://sites.google.com/view/qcarchivesfair/home

09/02/2023

3,406. That is the number of hours that our volunteers have put in so far this year. We are beyond grateful for their continued dedication to our mission and the work they do for us. From greeting and helping patrons do research in the library, cleaning the grounds and doing minor maintenance work around the buildings, to guiding tours of the AP House and then some, there is always something to do around RICHS. Stop in or contact us if you would be interested in volunteering at the historical society!

08/26/2023

Remember when we briefly mentioned about expanding into other social media platforms a time ago? We finally have our own Instagram page! If you have and use Instagram, go give us a follow there! You'll see some fascinating photos of our collection, the Atkinson-Peek Museum, and perhaps some behind-the-scenes things too. Be sure to give us a follow over there and share it with your friends, family, coworkers, and whoever you know!

If you stop in at any point and take a picture of something, tag us so we can see as well! We enjoy seeing the community we serve sharing our passion for the preservation of Rock Island County history.

3 Followers, 10 Following, 1 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Rock Island County Historical Society ()

08/23/2023

As summer comes to an end, so does the time our intern has with us. Elena Haffner has helped us in acquiring blueprints to add to our collection as well as begin work on a unique way to preserve the Hauberg interviews and digitizing some of the rest of our collection.

Elena will be completing her degree from Augustana College - Illinois as a history major this coming school year. Join us in wishing her the best on her future!

08/08/2023

Part of our mission at RICHS is to preserve and disseminate information pertinent to the history of Rock Island County. We love seeing this mission at work in the community through examples like the one provided by our friends at Friends of Hauberg Civic Center.

Through preserving this information we are able to provide it to our partners in the community and other individuals who seek out the history of Rock Island County. We are excited and cannot wait to see the project once it is finished!

06/09/2023

We are just shy of a week away from our Open House as part of Quad Cities Museum Week! From 12 PM until 4 PM on Saturday, June 17th we will be giving guided tours of the Atkinson-Peek House and the carriage house will be open for you to browse what's inside! Come join us to learn more about a portion of area history!

Quad Cities Museum Week is a week long celebration of the adventures and discovery that is hidden within area museums. Museums throughout the Quad Cities area are offering visitors with various activities, new exhibits, tours, and special programs. For more information on QC Musuem Week, check out: https://qcmuseumweek.com/