Meet the Quad Cities (The place, not the team)

[QuadCityImages]

I recently put together this collection to post on city development forum, and I figured I'd also post it here to show something of the Quad Cities beyond the iWireless Center. Enjoy.

The Quad Cities are a metro area on the Mississippi River consisting of Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa, and Rock Island, Moline, and East Moline in Illinois. The MSA population is 376,000, and we're one of the few bi-state metros with population pretty evenly split between the two states. At around 100,000, Davenport is the largest city in the metro, but there really is no dominant city.

Downtown Davenport:






Downtown Rock Island:





Downtown Moline (During the Taste of the Quad Cities):


Downtown Bettendorf (Dominated by Isle of Capri Casino/Hotel):


The Quad Cities have grown up around the Mississippi, and we are beginning to really refocus on it as the area tries to reinvent itself. The 80's farm crisis hit the area hard (lost 30,000 jobs) but we are definitely in the midst of a rebirth.






The I-74 Bridge:


The Centennial Bridge:

The Arsenal Bridge was built in 1896, near the site of the first railroad bridge across the Mississippi. Its still a working swing span drawbridge.




Downtown Davenport has been working on a number of projects over the last 5-6 years to revitalize downtown, including the $113 million River Renaissance project. Part of RR was the $48.5M Figge Art Museum designed by David Chipperfield:

[QuadCityImages]

There has also been a number of new residential projects in both downtown Davenport and Rock Island:





Davenport's newly renovated riverfront baseball stadium:





A couple of nearby attractions include Maquoketa Caves and Wildcat Den State Park:



The rest of these are mostly some of the festivals and events that are hosted throughout the year:

[4X4]

Thanks for that. Some pretty cool pics. I particularly like the river pics.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by QuadCityImages

Well I am never complaining about the C-Train again. That train must take forever to get you around town. Not to mention the constant robberies by outlaw gunmen.

Thanks for sharing! That city looks like it has a lot of character.

[foofighter15]

good pictures! haven't been there in awhile.

[icarus]

I, for one, welcome our new Bob the Builder overlords.

BTW, is the Rock Island Line as mighty good as they say?

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

As one of what I presume is only a handful of Calgarian posters on this board who have been to the QC multiple times, I have to say that's a great array of pics. Eastern Iowa has a really picturesque quality that most people don't know about. I spent most of my time in Iowa living and going to school in Iowa City--but I have friends in the QC (D-Port to be exact!) and I've played a hockey tournament or two there as well.

Thanks for the nostalgia!

[icarus]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

As one of what I presume is only a handful of Calgarian posters on this board who have been to the QC multiple times, I have to say that's a great array of pics. Eastern Iowa has a really picturesque quality that most people don't know about. I spent most of my time in Iowa living and going to school in Iowa City--but I have friends in the QC (D-Port to be exact!) and I've played a hockey tournament or two there as well.

Sadly I have never been to QC, although I've travelled around Iowa a fair bit (Des Moines, Iowa City, Cedar Falls, Oskaloosa, Ottumwa, Ames, Montezuma and many points in between). If I find myself living back in North America in the next few years I would love to go to QC to watch some games.

[worth]

Thanks for the great pictures.

Tell me, what is the main industry in the QC? Or is it just an amalgamation of a lot of different sectors? And hows the economy right now? The area looks really beautiful. May have to put QC on the list of places to visit in the future!

[Drunk Skunk]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

As one of what I presume is only a handful of Calgarian posters on this board who have been to the QC multiple times, I have to say that's a great array of pics. Eastern Iowa has a really picturesque quality that most people don't know about. I spent most of my time in Iowa living and going to school in Iowa City--but I have friends in the QC (D-Port to be exact!) and I've played a hockey tournament or two there as well.

Thanks for the nostalgia!

Gotta love Iowa City and the ped-mall Thank all that's holy for drunken college girls. Er, I mean ... damn .. nevermind

Originally Posted by worth

Thanks for the great pictures.

Tell me, what is the main industry in the QC? Or is it just an amalgamation of a lot of different sectors? And hows the economy right now? The area looks really beautiful. May have to put QC on the list of places to visit in the future!

The economy is pretty slow in the area right now. John Deere and Case IH used to me the main industries in town. John Deere is still one of the largest employers, as is the Federal government, thanks to the Rock Island Arsenal. Nowadays, it's mainly just a mix of several different sectors, as you put it. Gambling is a pretty big draw here as well.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by Drunk Skunk

Gotta love Iowa City and the ped-mall Thank all that's holy for drunken college girls. Er, I mean ... damn .. nevermind

Yeah, the scenery is nice sometimes.... but when you're quite possibly their teacher, it adds a few years to the "jailbait" category. Besides--I'm a married man, Skunk.

[Displaced Flames fan]

I'm in Wichita, KS as some know and we have about 100,000 more in the metro. If I tried to post an array of pictures similar to these I would get about 6 in. What a nice place. Wichita is so backwards and boring . It's a huge fight to get anything done here as progress seems to be akin to the devil to most around here.

Things may improve once the arena is finished in 2009, but even that was a fight of epic proportions and there is still a vocal group trying to stop it even though the money has already been collected and construction has begun.

Brutal in comparison to most cities of similar size in the midwest.

[Drunk Skunk]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

Yeah, the scenery is nice sometimes.... but when you're quite possibly their teacher, it adds a few years to the "jailbait" category. Besides--I'm a married man, Skunk.

I can say that I've never had to experience it as their teacher ... well, not in the conventional sense anyway. I miss the old Union

Originally Posted by Displaced Flames fan

I'm in Wichita, KS as some know and we have about 100,000 more in the metro. If I tried to post an array of pictures similar to these I would get about 6 in. What a nice place. Wichita is so backwards and boring . It's a huge fight to get anything done here as progress seems to be akin to the devil to most around here.

Things may improve once the arena is finished in 2009, but even that was a fight of epic proportions and there is still a vocal group trying to stop it even though the money has already been collected and construction has begun.

Brutal in comparison to most cities of similar size in the midwest.

Hey, at least you have the Wichita Thunder!

[FlamesPuck12]

Wow there are alot of people at the QC Flames game. Way more than I expected for an AHL game.
Thanks for posting the pictures.

[Incinerator]

Sweet! C of Red QC style!

[STeeLy]

^^ The Q - C of Red??

[icarus]

The River of Red, I believe has been discussed and agreed upon.

[Flames89]

Without pics of your local hotties, this thread is incomplete.

[QuadCityImages]

Originally Posted by Chobyhy

Wow there are alot of people at the QC Flames game. Way more than I expected for an AHL game.

As much as I'd like to claim that's just an average game, that was the season-opener, which I believe had the biggest crowd so far. The sad thing is that in the early days of UHL hockey in the QC, we had a couple thousand more than that at games.

[Gugstanley]

Great pictures! It has been about 5 years since I have been out that way.
If I remember right that baseball stadium was under water one year when I was out. That has to be a serious home field advantage when you play games at a flooded diamond.