Baker's Dairy in Moline, Illinois. This is the Baker's Dairy billboard featuring the Mr. Fresh icon. Mr. Fresh was a convenience store which had several locations. It was a small building with entry/exit doors on each side of the building. One would pull up on either side and the cashier would walk out to your car and ask what you would like today. Mr. Fresh carried the full line of Baker's Dairy products including milk and ice cream as well as other convenient needs such as bread.
My dad, Gene Anderson, was a milkman (they were actually "route salesmen") for Baker's Dairy from the early 1950s, when they had white trucks, until the early 1970s. (See attached pictures.) I saw you had several Baker's Dairy pictures already and thought you might be interested. My dad always said being a milkman was the best job he ever had and he enjoyed working for the Baker family and with the other milkmen and plant people at Baker's.
Thanks for putting this together.
Rick Anderson
Above - barely visible through the Mr. Quick sign, notice the Mr. Fresh sign. Mr. Fresh was located next door to Mr. Quick in East Moline. The top portion of the sign reads Mr. Fresh with the Mr. Fresh icon. Next is the Milk sign and last is the readerboard portion which had weekly specials on it for various Baker's products such as Milk, Ice Cream and Lemon-Lime Drink.
Below - Mr. Quick hamburgers. Click on the picture to go to the Mr. Quick Page.
Mr. Quick's headquarters was located in Moline, Illinois.
Below - a terrific view of Moline's legendary 5th Avenue. Notice Jupiter Store, Woolworths and New York Store. In the distance - The Leclaire Hotel. On the right in the picture is the sign for Carson Pirie Scott.
Below - another view of 5th Avenue featuring W.T. Grant which opened on November 16th, 1954 at 1613 5th Ave. Next door is Bond Walgreens Drugs.
5th Avenue looking East toward the LeClaire Hotel - special thanks to Greg Jackson!
Below - three shots of the interior of Carson Pirie Scott's three story building.
J.C. Penney in downtown Moline, Illinois before it moved to Moline's Southpark Mall.
King Plaza had a formidable line-up of Sears, Kresge, Kinney Shoes, local clothier Mosenfelder's, Goldsmith women’s apparel, Walgreens and A&P Grocery.
Click on the picture to see a bigger view.
Sears had relocated in 1962 from downtown Moline to King Plaza in 1962. This is the great Sears sign that was on their King Plaza anchor building. Sears later moved to Southpark Mall in 1990 and was replaced by John Deere Insurance.
Kinney Shoes interior shot. Click on the picture for a larger view.
A rare shot of Geifman's sign. Geifman took over the former A&P property when A&P left. Geifman then sold out to Hy Vee which occupied the space until moving to their new location at the former Target Store property.
In the 4700 block of 23rd Avenue, next to Kmart, was Der Wienerschnitzel. Der Wienerschnitzel's buiding had a unique design and was painted red. One would pull up to the menu-board and order food by talking into the speaker. The distance between the sign and the drive-in entrance to pick up and pay for your food was approximately three car lengths. Between the menu-board and 23rd Avenue measured around three car lengths as well. This meant that many times during the noon hour, the line spilled over into the right hand lane of 23rd Avenue causing traffic problems. Der Wienerschnitzel had terrific hot dogs which were welcome relief from the standard fare of fast food hamburgers served on the strip.
The front of the building had an entrance where you could enter & walk up to the counter to order food. There was also one or two small tables with chairs to sit and eat at if needed. The walk-up area inside of the building was very small and while ordering you could view the kitchen area. To the right of the drive-thru was a storage area which was not visible to the public.
Moline Building Center. This building later became Sportsland. Eventually it was raised and became Hardees relocated 23rd Avenue location. Hardees was leveled and is now CVS.
23rd Ave. Kmart included KFOOD which was K-Mart's grocery store. It was located in the right hand section of the building.
McDonald's original 23rd Ave. building. Moline was one of the first franchises from Ray Kroc outside of the Chicagoland area.
Below - Sandy's Drive-In on 4th Ave. Click on the image to go to the Sandy's website. Next door to Sandy's was Fun Mart cycles. Fun Mart was formerly Sun Mart.
Harrelson Motors, the oldest automobile dealership in the Quad Cities.
Italian Village - if you have a picture of the Italian Village with the sphere sign please email me.
Midwest National Bank. This building sits empty out the outskirts of the cheap Cinemas. The Cinemas building was original Turn-Styles and then later Venture's.
LeClaire Friendly Service Mobil Station on 5th Ave in downtown Moline.
Yankee Doodle Pizza on 16th Street.
National Car Wash, downtown Moline.
Moline's finest in 1966.
06/24/2010 ... Here's a picture of chief Nial Hogeboom and Bill Fisher, my dad, on the new Harley Davidson trike. 1967
Bottom photo is my dad also on the Harley trike. Leclaire Hotel in background.
Pamela Fisher, owner
TWO RIVERS MASSAGE
del Sole Barefoot Spa
1411 Sixth Avenue, Moline IL 61265
(309) 79-RELAX
http://www.tworiversmassage.com
http://www.delsolebarefootspa.com
2006 Athena Business Womens Award Recipient
2008 QC's Best Massage Therapist
Below - From the Bill Fisher archives - Officers Hanger, Rodell, Fisher and Westphall take firing practice at the new range while Hermes monitors in the background.
From the Bill Fisher archive - a car runs out of control and over a pedestrian amputating his leg at A&P King Plaza November 22nd, 1971. Bill Fisher & partner respond to the scene.
Moline's finest - Officer Bill Fisher
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Moline's finest Officers Ken Hanger and Lon Sehmann
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Below - Officer Bill Fisher presents bicycle safety day 1975 at Willard Elementary School - from the Bill Fisher Archives
More from the Bill Fisher Archives - the brand new Emergency Center
Below - Closeup
Below - 50 years later
Hi, I happened to have some pictures of Moline mailmen, 1956 & 1959. One of them is my father, Russell Olson, front row, 3rd from right in the '56 photo. Susan Olson Wakefield
The Moline Quad Cities Airport. Click on the picture for a bigger view. Notice in the bigger view that the Quad Cities is listed as Rock Island, Moline, East Moline and Davenport.
Below - the single span of the Memorial Bridge - special thanks to Tom Hulsey, MHS Class 1957
| Perhaps no other event has changed the course of modern Quad Cities history than the routing of Interstate 74 across the Memorial Bridge which connects Bettendorf, Iowa with Moline, Illinois. Bill Fisher presents from the Bill Fisher Archive, incredible historical photographs of the construction of the I-74 bridge, completing the Western cooridor of Interstate 74 in 1975. The I-74 bridges started life in the early 1930s with only one span; the upstream (or today's Iowa-bound) span. The bridge's original name was the Iowa-Illinois Memorial Bridge. In 1959, the second, Identical span was added due to increased traffic between the states. Valley Construction was responsible for building the approach ramps for the bridges on both sides of the river. On the Illinois side, cars still entered and exited the spans off of 3rd Avenue (today's River Drive). In the mid-1960s, talk began about having Interstate 74 run into and through Moline. Originally I-74 was to continue straight north from what is known as "the Big X" into Iowa. Interstate 80 was to continue straight west from the Big X into Iowa. Moline planners and businessmen thought it would mean more traffic, thus business, for downtown Moline, if I-74 was routed through Moline before it joined up with I-80 in Iowa. The statement was, "Look what it did for dowtown Peoria." (What those same people failed to realize was that part of the resurgence of downtown Peoria was due to Caterpillar's demand that if it built its new headquarters in the Peoria downtown, the city would have to follow through with a lot of renewal and new building.) One of the chief complaints about running I-74 into Moline was the fact that it would remove quite a bit of taxable property from the city's rolls. Many properties along the route were condemned and either torn down or moved. The route basically paralleled old 19th Street as it came into the city, and it would take out many large, old homes and businesses as it continued to the river. A few of those homes and apartment houses were moved to new locations, but many just disappeared. Many of the businesses wound up relocating to new construction south of the city. The plan for the highway eventually won approval and the various stages of construction began in the early 1970s and was completed in the mid-1970s. - Dave Coopman Author of Davenport's WOC AM-FM-TV
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 Above - traffic is tied up as the big rigs are moved in. From all of the route signage, this appears to be a view on 19th Street looking north to 7th Avenue. All of the establishments at that intersection - Harrelson Motors, a Standard gas station, St. George Greek Church, and Shofer Adjusting/Hillbloom-McGill Homes - have been demolished and the hillside to the east of the 74 right-of-way is being carved. |
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 | This view looks to the northwest from atop the hill overlooking 19th Street and 7th Avenue... and the area where the elevated roadway will span the downtown area to meet up with the twin bridges. The three large buildings on the right-hand side of the photo are (r-l) the LeClaire Hotel, the old Illini Theater, and the old I-H Mixed Car Warehouse. Stephens Square is at the center of the photo. |
 | The reverse angle view of this photo shows how the path of the roadway was cleared to make way for the elevated roadway. |
| Looking south from the LeClaire Hotel, Stephens Square is clearly seen, with 19th Street snaking up the left center of the photo. To the right of the Square is the former IBM Building and in the upper right, the Masonic Temple. Note all the trees in the photo. |  |
 | Looking down on 19th Street, south of 7th Avenue in the vicinity of where I-74 crosses over 19th Street. |
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| Roadway foundation for the "take-off" point for the elevated roadway has been poured, and grading is progressing on the 7th Avenue off and on ramps. On the righthand side of the photo, the subgrade for the additional southbound lanes of 19th Street can clearly be seen. When completed, two-way traffic was moved to the southbound lanes, while the northbound lanes were realigned. Look at the previous photo and you can tell how much of Stephens Square was sliced off to allow for the new southbound paving. The wider 7th Avenue is also seen. |  |
 | Looking southeast from the LeClaire Hotel, the first piers for the elevated roadway have been poured. The large building at left center of the photo is the apartment house owned by the former Moline Gospel Temple. Those apartments still stand just to the east of the 7th Avenue off ramp. |
| Below - the reverse angle of the photo above. The LeClaire Hotel stands in the center of the photo, with the IH Mixed Car Warehouse (later destroyed by fire) to its left and today's Deere Computer Center to its right. |
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 | More piers for the elevated roadway are added between 5th and 6th Avenues, east of 19th Street. The large white builidng in the upper right center is the Trimble Funeral Home. |
| A tighter view of the previous photo. Trimble Funeral Home is now seen a little clearer in the upper center. |  |
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Below - A view of 5th Avenue looking west from the 2100 block. Steelwork for the bridges over 4th thru 7th Avenue is in place. In this photo, on the right is Moline Motors, a used car operation, then the former Hacker Olds-Cadillac. On the left, are a tavern and the former Walter Norris Engineering offices (white stone building). The four buildings mentioned are still there today. |
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| A reverse angle of 5th Avenue now looking east from the LeClaire Hotel. Hacker Olds-Cadillac can be seen in the upper left center (long white building with the 4 windows). |  |
Below - A view from a little further west on 5th Avenue. You'll note the Snower Buick-Pontiac sign on the right. The sign was on the side of the old LeClaire Garage and directed people to the dealership's temporary quarters in a former grocery store just east of the Firestone store. Perry Snower purchased the former Harrelson Motors (located on 7th Avenue and 19th Street) and moved the operation to this location when demolition and construction started at 7th Avenue. At the same time, Snower's new dealership building was under construction on 16th Street, where Key Auto Mall exits today. |
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 | Looking south from the former Montgormery Elevator bulding, The 3rd Avenue on-ramp has had it's concrete surface put down and the steelwork for the Iowa-bound elevated segment of I-74 over 3rd thru 7th Avenues has been completed. |
| The same area from a reverse angle. Note that southbound steelwork has yet to be installed. The road shown in the photo is old 3rd Avenue and a close look at the supports shows the downgrade for the 3rd Avenue off-ramp. |  |
| Looking south at the 3rd Avenue on/off-ramps from the former Montgomery Elevator building. The former Hydraxtor Company factory is in the center of the photo. |  |
| Below - looking west at the 3rd Avenue on-ramp. A rather "artsy" photo, the equipment in the foreground is called a sheepsfoot roller. It breaks up any clods of dirt and compresses the soil tighter than a conventional roller.
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| A view of the completed 3rd Avenue on/off-ramps. The structure in the lower center is part of the former Frank Foundry, and to its right is the roof of the former Northwestern Railroad depot that still stands along River Drive (3rd Avenue). After the railroad abandoned it, Frank Foundry used it as its office until the foundry went out of business.
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 | Looking northeast at the completed 3rd Avenue on/off-ramps. In the background to the right is Moline Consumer's sand/gravel yard and ready-mix plant, In the back center is Dimock & Gould, and to the back left, part of the former Moline Tool Company building. |
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Below - Moline Mayor Wendt and Govenor Walker preside over the opening of the I-74 bridge
12/02/1975 ... Moline Mayor Buck Wendt and Illinois Govenor Dan Walker
Christmas will come early for Moline this year as Santa Claus gives officials a hand in the opening of Interstate 74. Illinois Governor Dan Walker and Victor Preisser, director of the Iowa Department of Transportation, will be the ``official'' interstate openers, but they will be given an assist from Santa Claus. The opening dedication will be held in the southbound lanes of the interstate at the north end of the 7th Avenue interchange, almost directly over 5th Avenue. -qconline
The brand new I-74 bridge - 1975 - at night.
Daytime March 1976 completed bridge
Hello, below is an aerial photo taken during the winter of 1958 of the Quad City Speedway located on the south side of Rock River. U.S. Route 6 is in front of the 1/4 mile track as is the Speedway Inn. Behind the track is the Rock River. The track was demolished when I-280 was built.
The photo was taken by me during a landing at the Quad City Airport in a private plane. Regards, Tom Hulsey, MHS Class 1957
I remember that speedway well. The building that is between the trailer court and the speedway (right along Route 6) is the old Powers' Country Store. Later it became the Fleetwood Tap and Liquor Store and is now the site of Crabby's (Feb 2011). Wish we could find more pics of the speedway.
- Dave Coopman
Below - a scene from the great Mississippi River flood of 1965 - from the Bill Fisher Archives
The destruction of the original Arsenal Island Bridge - November 9th, 1978 - from the Bill Fisher Archives
The Moline Arsenal Bridge. The caption on the bridge pic near the end of Bill Fisher's archives is slightly in error. The first bridge from Moline to Arsenal Island was actually the top of a dam built in 1837. A wooden bridge was built in 1860 and was destroyed by river ice seven years later. This iron bridge was built in 1871 at the foot of 15th Street. It was used until 1932, when a new concrete bridge was built at the foot of 16th Street. (That's the bridge that is being torn down in Fisher's photo.)
I believe the reason it was torn down was due to urban renewal and the desire to tie in a series of overpasses and ramps leading to a new Arsenal Bridge so fire trucks and ambulances could avoid being blocked by trains (when trains frequently traveled through Moline) trying to get to the north side of the tracks. By the time the new bridge and overpass system was completed, the Rock Island Railroad had gone bankrupt and very few trains traveled the trackage. However, with more and more trains traveling through Moline in the last few years, the ramp/overpass system still makes good sense. - Dave Coopman - Author of WQUA, Moline’s Hometown Station
Below - destruction of the Campbell Hotel - May 1976 - from the Bill Fisher Archives
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At the end of your page on the QC's you ask for other photos of
Moline's past. Here are a few from my grandfathers and
fathers Diner at 421 14th Street Moline. The last building was
just moved to make room for more parking. 10/2010
Since my father sold it, there have been several owners.
But most old-timers remember it simply as Vic's Hot Lunch.
This was long before Sandy's and McDonalds made the scene. I grew up in Moline and worked in Vic's most of my youth. Bob Phelps
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 Located on 5th Ave Moline 1903 |
 On lot before Carlson Bros was built |
 Converted Street Car, 1929 at 421 14th St. Moline |
 Inside Street Car diner |
 Local Customers including 5 Point Bakery bread Deliveryman Dick Carston of Uncle Dicks fame and owner of the Moline Maid Rite at one time |
 Lunch crowd |
 Victor and Margaret Phelps, Vic's Founder 1940 Photo |
 Getting ready for new building |
 Article in Daily Dispatch 1948 |
 July 1948, New Valentine Diner |
 Inside new Diner |
 Owner Bob Phelps in New Diner |
 Vic's was featured in the Cartoon, Harold Teen, drawn by Carl Ed of Moline and featured in the Chicago Tribune |
 Chicago Tribune |
07/23/2011 ... Hi, My name is Richard Larson and I hope to send you some additions to your early Moline photos. This is where my father, Arvid Larson, started out in business in about 1939, when I was 10 years old. The tent became a building, the building was enlarged, and eventually a new building was erected as Larson's Sunmart. 5420 4th ave. next to the Hitching Post and later Sandy's. I remember Wilbur Nelson, the manager of Sandy's.
09/01/2011 ... We lived in Moline from 1968 to 1974, too short a time to be sure, but a great time to be there.
Thank you for the great memories! Here is a photo of a Baker's milkbox from the 1960s or 70s. Thanks!
Scott Shevey
If you have any cool pictures of retro Moline, Illinois, please email me!
Click here to go to Captain Ernie's Showboat
