Quad City Photo Thread (Des Moines, Davenport: lofts, hotel, neighborhoods)

[QuadCityImages]

This is basically supposed to be along the lines of the recent Iowa City photo thread. I feel that each major Iowa city should have a thread like this to show people that we're not all living on farms or towns with one street.
I've also posted this in the Illinois forum, and a couple other places around the internet. Please feel free to add your Quad City pictures if you've got them.

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:




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:

[metro223]

I like your pics a lot... I have a question though, and you might know... Has Bettendorf been making any plans to help out their downtown, I think Davenport and Rock Island have improved a lot on their vibrancy, but whenever I'm in Bett. things downtown just seem... sorta dull. (not to be rude)

I think Bettendorf is a great community with awesome neighborhoods, they just need a nice little downtown area to top it all off... something to make them stand out from the surrounding communities. Correct me if I'm wrong here, or if I missed out on the good areas of downtown Bettendorf!

[QuadCityImages]

Originally Posted by metro223

Correct me if I'm wrong here, or if I missed out on the good areas of downtown Bettendorf!

I'd probably say they have the least interesting downtown of the "5" Quad Cities. They're currently building an events center that will be tied into the casino, and have built a couple smaller office/retail strip buildings down there, but otherwise I don't know of any major plans. The new I-74 bridge will somewhat rearrange part of downtown Bettendorf in the future as well. Currently its pretty dominated by the casino, and their floodwall blocks most views of the river.

[Magnolia Bloom]

Wow! Wonderful pix. Like looking through a picture book. And I had some of those preconceived notions.... beautiful area.

What's up with that place with like a million pool tables?

[metro223]

Well, that's unfortunate, I really think that would improve Bettendorf a lot, because the residential areas for the most part are great. Oh and I had to laugh at you saying the "5" Quad Cities, gotta love those few proud die-hards who claim East Moline is one of the main cities, I mean just the name East Moline screams suburb IMHO.

[QuadCityImages]

Its the River Center, which is just a convention center, during the Iowa State Poolplayers Association Tournament. They actually brought in all those tables and strung all the lights just for the tournament.

[SteelCityRising]

Methinks the Quad Cities have a lot in common with the "Tri-Cities" of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazleton, PA. Our metro has 550,000 residents with a similar "Rust Belt" atmosphere. I think I'd like living in the Quad Cities very much, even though I'd obviously rather live in Dubuque, Iowa City, or Des Moines from what I've researched on this state forum.

[dubuqueaskme]

Yeah, I have been to Scranton PA and find it quite similar to The Quad Cities... come to think of it.

Same climate over here... I don't know if we are necessarily in the Rust Belt in Iowa though...

[HeneryHawk]

Nice pics. To bad the traffic lights and all are in the way of your pic of the Figge and the classic Sol Lewitt sculpture.

Does Dubuque have any highbrow art like a Chipperfield designed building or the art contained within the Figge, or a Sol Lewitt, or a classic stadium like Modern Woodmen for baseball. But then, I guess neither Davenport or any other of the Quad Cities have a like trolley car to ride in either.

[irongrl]

Here are some photos of the Duck Creek Bike Path in Davenport/Bettendorf. These were taken in the summer of 2007, right before I moved from the QC area.