Scenes

Fifth Avenue was largely residential at the time of this nineteenth century view, which looks east from 12th Street. On the right is the steeple of the 1876 Swedish [now First] Lutheran Church. On the left is a brick Italianate anchor block, which remains today as the oldest building in the historic district. This corner building, along with neighboring nineteenth century Victorian and Italianate buildings, was part of a cluster of businesses near the Church. The businesses included retail stores trading in groceries, feed, meats, drugs, appliances, as well as a cigar manufacturing company.

This 1920s view shows Fifth Avenue looking east from 14th Street. In the right foreground is the 1912 Peoples Service Building, which was replaced by a bank parking lot in the 1960s. Peoples Power and its successor, Iowa-Illinois Gas and Electric Company, had offices in the building over its entire history. Behind it is the 1918 eight-story bank building on the corner of 15th Street. In the left foreground is the 1922 Carbro Building, which housed Carlson Brothers office supply for decades. Seen in the distance is the 1922 fifteen-story LeClaire Hotel, at the corner of 19th Street, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as an individual building. Note the streetcar tracks. The first streetcar connection between Moline and Rock Island ran along 3rd Avenue (now River Drive), but by the time of this photo, the main line came into downtown Moline along Fifth Avenue.

By the 1920s most of the large buildings in the historic district had been constructed. This 1930s view, looking west from 16th Street, shows several of them. The buildings in the right foreground are gone today, having been displaced by the Heritage Block office building. They had housed Hickey Brothers Cigar Store, the New York Store, and other prominent twentieth century downtown businesses. In the left foreground is the 1912 Leedy Block, which originally housed the Moline Commercial Club. Next to it is the three-story Poole building, built in 1911 by Mattie Poole for her china-painting business. Next is the larger 1912 Reliance Building which over the years housed department stores, including Block & Kuhl and Carson Pirie Scott & Company. Beyond it are two bank buildings on the corner of 15th Street, also built in the 1910s. Visible in the distance is the First Lutheran Church, at 13th Street.

Its height and Art Deco style make the 1930 Fifth Avenue Building an impressive statement on the Avenue. It was the last of the large office buildings built in the historic district. Its construction was just getting underway when the Great Depression hit, but local investors pooled their resources and continued construction, bringing jobs to construction workers who would otherwise have been out of work and a major new office and commercial block to the downtown. Over the years it has been a prestigious address for doctors, dentists, lawyers, architects, and other professionals.

This 1950s view shows a busy Fifth Avenue looking east from 16th Street. By this time, buses were in use, the last streetcar having plied Fifth Avenue in 1936. In the left foreground is the 1912 Sohrbeck Building, which housed the Henry Sohrbeck Drug Store until 1981. Like Josephson’ Jewelry a block away, Sohrbeck’s moved away from Third Avenue in the early 1910s and became a long-time retail mainstay on Fifth Avenue. Numerous businesses familiar to long-time Moliners can be seen in this vista, which is anchored by the LeClaire Hotel in the distance. On the right is the top of the Sears & Roebuck Sign. Sears moved into its new building at this location in 1928. Then in 1963 it became the first major retail business its abandon its downtown location, leaving for a “suburban” location on 23rd Avenue and 41st Street.

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