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Rock Island County, Illinois

Historic newspapers, landmarks, and county history layers for genealogists and local historians.

48newspaper titles
6digitized titles
29historic places
1800earliest paper
1831formed
144,672pop. 2020
73cemeteries
—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The Library of Congress U.S. Newspaper Directory lists 48 newspaper titles published in Rock Island County, Illinois, with the earliest starting in 1800. 6 of these titles have digitized pages on Chronicling America. The National Register of Historic Places includes 29 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1969; 1 is also National Historic Landmark. Most listings are in or near Rock Island, Moline, Hampton.

Summary generated automatically from the source data on this page.

Newspapers published in Rock Island

Library of Congress
48 newspaper titles
TitlePlaceYears
HemvännenRock Island1800–1999
Milan Weekly NewsMilan1800–1999
Iowa Sun, and Davenport & Rock-Island NewsDavenport, Rock Island1838–1840
Illinois CultivatorStephenson, Rock Island1840–1841
Crist's Dollar MonitorRock Island1847–1899
Crist's Dollar MonitorRock Island1847–1899
Crist's Weekly MonitorRock Island1847–1849
The Daily Rock Island RepublicanRock Island1854–1855
Daily Islander and ArgusRock Island1857–1859
Islander and ArgusRock Island1859–1859
The Daily Evening ArgusRock Island1861–1861
The Evening Argus DigitizedRock Island1861–1871
The Evening Argus DigitizedRock Island1861–?
Daily UnionRock Island, Moline1867–1898
The Daily Argus DigitizedRock Island1873–1877
The Daily Argus DigitizedRock Island1873–?
The Daily RepublicanMoline1880–1999
The CitizenMoline1881–1999
The Iowa MessengerDavenport, Rock Island, Moline1883–1889
The Davenport Daily HeraldDavenport, Rock Island, Moline1884–1884
The Argus DigitizedRock Island1885–1886
The Argus DigitizedRock Island1885–?
Iowa Catholic MessengerDavenport, Rock Island, Moline1889–1902
The Evening MailMoline1895–1909
Hillsdale ReviewHillsdale1900–1999
The Daily JournalMoline1900–1909
Milan IndependentMilan1902–1971
Milan Weekly IndependentMilan1902–1902
The Iowa Catholic Messenger and Northwestern CatholicDavenport, Rock Island, Moline1902–1905
East Moline EnterpriseEast Moline1903–1907
The Daily TimesDavenport, Rock Island, Moline1903–1964
Davenport Morning StarDavenport, Rock Island, Moline1905–1905
The Catholic MessengerDavenport, Rock Island, Moline1905–1923
The East Moline HeraldEast Moline1907–1952
The Evening MailMoline1913–1999
De Nieuwe WereldMoline1915–1999
The Arsenal RecordRock Island Arsenal, Rock Island1918–1999
The Catholic Messenger and the Western WorldDavenport, Rock Island, Moline1923–1936
The Catholic MessengerDavenport, Rock Island, Moline1936–?
The HeraldEast Moline1952–1970
Arsenal TargetRock Island Arsenal1964–1968
The Daily DispatchMoline1969–1992
The ArgusMoline, Rock Island1971–1986
The GlobePort Byron1973–1992
The Milan MirrorMilan1978–1989
The DispatchMoline1992–?
The Hampton Towne CrierHampton1993–?
The Milan MessengerMilan1993–1994

Source: Library of Congress U.S. Newspaper Directory. “Digitized” links lead to page images on Chronicling America.

Coverage timeline

Newspapers

Each bar is one title’s publication span. brown = digitized on Chronicling America Open-ended runs extend to today.

18001856191319692026

Sample front pages

Chronicling America

No digitized front pages for Rock Island are currently available in Chronicling America. Title listings above still come from the U.S. Newspaper Directory. Browse Chronicling America.

Courtesy Library of Congress, Chronicling America.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

16 of 29 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

29 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
Arsenal Courts Historic DistrictRock IslandDistrict2020
Best BuildingRock IslandBuilding2018
Black Hawk Museum and LodgeRock IslandBuilding1985
Black's StoreHamptonBuilding1976
Broadway Historic DistrictRock IslandDistrict1998
Broadway Historic District (Additional Documentation)Rock IslandDistrict1998
Chippiannock CemeteryRock IslandDistrict1994
Connor HouseRock IslandBuilding1988
Deere, John, HouseMolineBuilding2003
Denkmann-Hauberg HouseRock IslandBuilding1972
Downtown Rock Island Historic DistrictRock IslandDistrict2020
Fort Armstrong HotelRock IslandBuilding1984
Fort Armstrong TheatreRock IslandBuilding1980
Garfield Elementary SchoolMolineBuilding2017
LeClaire HotelMolineBuilding1994
Lock and Dam No. 15 Historic DistrictRock IslandDistrict2004
Moline Downtown Commercial Historic DistrictMolineDistrict2007
Old Main, Augustana CollegeRock IslandBuilding1975
Peoples National Bank Building-Fries BuildingRock IslandBuilding1999
Potter HouseRock IslandBuilding1989
Rock Island Arsenal NHLRock IslandDistrict1969
Rock Island Lines Passenger StationRock IslandBuilding1982
Rock Island National CemeteryMolineSite1997
Sala Apartment BuildingRock IslandBuilding2003
Skelly Service StationMolineBuilding2024
Stauduhar HouseRock IslandBuilding1982
United States Housing Corporation (U.S.H.C.) Historic DistrictRock IslandDistrict2024
Wagner, Robert, HouseRock IslandBuilding1990
Weyerhaeuser HouseRock IslandBuilding1975

Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Property links open NRHP nomination files at the National Archives.

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Rock Island was formed in 1831 (1831-02-09) from Jo Daviess.

ROCK ISLAND created from JO DAVIESS.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Rock Island County population from 1840 to 2020 (Census historical series).

167k85k2,6101840188019201930196020002020
18401860188019001920194019501960198020002020
2,61021,00538,30255,24992,297113,323133,558150,991165,968149,374144,672

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau historical county population (Forstall 1790–1990) and public-domain / CC0 county population series through 2020.

Cemeteries & historical places

USGS GNIS

73 cemeteries and 1 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 73 of 73 listed
NameLatLon
Andalusia Cemetery41.43634-90.71748
Baker Cemetery41.66266-90.3055
Bethesda Cemetery41.60478-90.19898
Beulah Cemetery41.36991-90.46928
Bowlesburg Cemetery41.47466-90.41365
Buffalo Prairie Cemetery41.34725-90.86958
Byron CemeteryNoneNone
Calvary Cemetery41.47864-90.57486
Carbon Cliff CemeteryNoneNone
Chapel Grove Cemetery41.393-90.62397
Chippiannock Cemetery41.48226-90.57875
Coal Valley Cemetery41.43839-90.46576
Cordova Township CemeteryNoneNone
Dana Edwards Cemetery41.52741-90.33701
Devinney CemeteryNoneNone
Dickson Cemetery41.46854-90.579
Dunlap CemeteryNoneNone
Edgington Cemetery41.37214-90.77072
Essex CemeteryNoneNone
Ethel Fulliam Farm CemeteryNoneNone
Fairfield Cemetery41.63436-90.2972
Freeland's CemeteryNoneNone
Freeland's CemeteryNoneNone
Frels CemeteryNoneNone
Frieden's Cemetery41.54272-90.3324
Greenview Memorial Gardens Cemetery41.48583-90.40835
Hampton Cemetery41.55252-90.40624
Hampton Family CemeteryNoneNone
Hampton Township Cemetery41.55083-90.40735
Hauberg FamilyNoneNone
Hazlitt CemeteryNoneNone
Hebrew Cemetery41.48179-90.55477
Homeland Cemetery41.51271-90.36525
Homestead Cemetery41.39854-90.44683
Illinois City Cemetery41.40127-90.89761
Illinois City Methodist Church CemeteryNoneNone
Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery41.48587-90.56486
Jesse Daily CemeteryNoneNone
Memorial Park Cemetery41.46753-90.55513
Mills CemeteryNoneNone
Moline Memorial Park Cemetery41.48086-90.46818
Mount Moriah Cemetery41.62137-90.20094
Mount Pleasant Cemetery41.55979-90.29035
Oak Grove Cemetery41.60214-90.33284
Oakleaf Memorial Park41.40029-90.47603
Old Catholic CemeteryNoneNone
Pleasant Point Cemetery41.61343-90.27146
Port Byron Cemetery41.60718-90.33032
Post Cemetery41.51114-90.52125
Rapids City Cemetery41.57618-90.3412
Resthaven Cemetery41.52854-90.40349
Reynolds Cemetery41.36613-91.0082
Reynolds Cemetery41.33317-90.67627
Riverside Cemetery41.50672-90.49354
Rock Island Confederate Cemetery41.51754-90.53403
Rock Island County Home Cemetery41.40607-90.47395
Rock Island National Cemetery41.51321-90.52423
Rock River View Cemetery41.47736-90.49669
Rose Hill CemeteryNoneNone
Rose Lawn Memorial Estates Cemetery41.47546-90.45545
Saint Johns Catholic Cemetery41.57616-90.33973
Saint Mary's Catholic Church Cemetery41.50993-90.45628
Schaefer Family Cemetery41.58355-90.29381
Schoening Family Cemetery41.3297-90.54905
Sortore CemeteryNoneNone
Virgil Anderson Farm CemeteryNoneNone
Weiss CemeteryNoneNone
William Carr Cemetery41.46917-90.54124
Woods Cemetery41.34161-90.56865
Yost Cemetery41.56609-90.34998
Zion Lutheran Church Cemetery41.5528-90.36623
Zion Lutheran Church Cemetery41.38887-90.81989
Zuma Cemetery41.57502-90.26962
Historical populated places — 1 of 1
NameLatLon
Glendale41.48559-90.41569

Source: USGS Geographic Names Information System (public domain). Cemeteries from the 2021 NationalFile archive; historical places from GNIS HistoricalFeatures topical extract.

Historical markers

HMdb link

Marker text and photos from the Historical Marker Database (HMdb) are not embedded here. HMdb allows non-commercial reuse with attribution, but commercial/compensated use needs written permission; this is a commercial site, so we only link out.

Search HMdb for Rock Island County, Illinois

Terms: hmdb.org/copyright.asp. Linking is encouraged by HMdb.