Rural regions develop

Photo courtesy Special Collections, Augustana College Library The river was the life blood of many small Rock Island County towns. A pearl button factory in Andulusia, shown here in October 1915, harvested river mussles as raw materials.

Outlying Rock Island County communities were mostly agricultural, using the fertile land of the Mississippi River Valley to its fullest.

The first settlers came to the townships of Drury, Buffalo Prairie, Edgington, Andulusia, Bowling, Rural, Hampton, Zuma, Canoe Creek, Coe, Port Byron and Cordova between the 1830s and 1870s. While the six inner townships grew with people and industry, people in Rock Island County's outer communities were looking to strike out on their own.

Businesses, housing and post offices soon sprouted after the 12 townships were platted. While each community developed differently, its residents soon discovered the opportunities each township had for them.

The rise of the railroad brought prosperity to Port Byron, after it spent $20,000 trying to acquire similar transportation. With the help of a 9.75-mile line from Port Byron to Rock Island Junction, the town became a major shipping post.

A good supply of natural resources helped Edgington and Andulusia townships thrive in lower Rock Island County. With access to the Mississippi River and bluffs full of sand, stone, clay and coal, the town of Andulusia became a supplier to a glass works in Buffalo, Iowa, across the river.

Photo courtesy of Paul Hayes, Paul's Studio First Avenue in Silvis as it looked early in the century. The town was the home of the Rock Island Lines shops.

Andulusia Township had already established a log mill and a ferry service when it separated from Edgington in 1859. In 1872, it became the largest grain shipping port between Galena and St. Louis.

In upper Rock Island County, Cordova Township was truly the underdog of the 12 townships. Described in the county's history as an area that "has never risen to very great prominence," the township became a stopping point for travelers.

Despite growing developments in corn production, Rock Island County's outer townships didn't grow until the 1960s. The focal point of growth was in Cordova Township -- where development was least unexpected more than 100 years ago.

When the Cordova Industrial Park was constructed in 1963, the Nitrin Fertilizer plant was its first tenant. Although the $23 million, 65-acre plant brought excitement to Cordova, it closed in 1969 because of fires, explosions and changing technology.

While the loss of the Nitrin plant brought an economic sting to the community, 3M took its place in 1971.

Cordova welcomed nuclear energy in 1967, when the Quad-Cities Nuclear Power Station. Today the plant is jointly operated by ComEd and MidAmerican Energy.

IBP brought business to Zuma Township, when the meatpacker constructed a 437-acre plant near Joslin in 1971. The $13.5 million plant employs 1,900 people from the Quad-Cities and surrounding communities.

Today, upper Rock Island County townships are looking toward residential and business development in the future. As for its once-prosperous lower half, agriculture still remains the norm.