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[Narrator] Settled before Iowa was a state, Davenport tells the tale of community, culture and trade along the banks of the Mississippi River.
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[Narrator] A variety of architectural movements are preserved in Davenport in structures designed for civic and commercial life. A vintage art deco gem serving as a temple for enrichment, inspiration and entertainment. A century old Italianate firehouse sustained as a symbol of pride, service and communal bonds. A museum fusing Midwestern Soul with global art in a luminous modern space. A stunning Gothic Revival cathedral rooted as a spiritual and architectural cornerstone in Davenport for over 150 years. Step back in time through steep time worn streets where ornate ironwork and grand Victorian homes whisper tales of early 19th century immigrants. Join Iowa PBS as we explore the arts and the architecture within the Historic Buildings of Iowa: Davenport.
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Funding for this program is provided by Friends, the Iowa PBS Foundation, generations of families and friends who feel passionate about the programs they watch on Iowa PBS.
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[Narrator] High above downtown Davenport, perched on a bluff that once marked the edge of a booming pioneer town, lies one of the city's oldest and most distinguished neighborhoods, the Hamburg Historic District. Also known as the Gold Coast.
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[Marion Meginnis] The neighborhood was mostly built by Germans. The original city of Davenport was 37 and a half blocks. There are many beautiful houses in the Gold Coast. The earliest one is 1848. That was actually a college that was not German. But the houses then started being built in the 1850s and then on into about the 1920s.
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[Narrator] This hilltop quickly became a beacon for German immigrants drawn to Davenport by the promise of land, prosperity and freedom. Among the settlers were craftsmen, lumbermen and businessmen, many from Hamburg and other parts of Germany, who brought with them their traditions and an architectural style that still stands today.
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[Narrator] A walk through the Gold Coast can feel like wandering through a living architectural museum where more than 100 homes built between 1850 and 1915 stand as enduring examples of Greek Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival styles. Many of these homes were designed and built by the very immigrants who called them home.
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[Meginnis] You don't find these ostentatious grand houses. I don't think any house in the Gold Coast I would call ostentatious. They were well built, but they were not showy, I would say. Our bigger houses really tend to be, you know, 1910, as you kind of move out of the earlier establishment of the neighborhood.
[Narrator] Each facade is a historic chapter, each with its own personality, and each a piece of a neighborhood that helped build a city.
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[Narrator] The Lambrite–Iles–Petersen House is one of Davenport's most significant Italianates located in the Gold Coast neighborhood and a rare example of its size built in wood. Constructed in 1856 for lumber mill owner Joseph Lambrite, the home was designed by Chicago architect John Cochran, who would go on to design both the Iowa and Illinois state capitol buildings. During the Civil War, Dr. Thomas Iles, a surgeon, came to Davenport to practice at the Rock Island Arsenal and took occupancy of the home. Later, the Petersen family, founders of the Petersen department stores, resided in the Italianate structure. After years of vacancy and disrepair, the home was acquired in 2015 by Richard and Linda Stone. The stones removed additions and restored the house to reveal its original elegance. [Meginnis] It's perfectly sited on a bluff, so when you're down on 6th Street, you're looking up a house that you can now see that was overgrown and it has its cupola. It has wood coining blocks in addition to the wood trim, which is unusual. So, it's certainly made to look like a, you know, like a stone building. And remember, Joseph Lambrite had a mill. That's what he was here. It was all about wood. This was a lumber manufacturing center. So, you showcase your house in the material that you're making your money on. But it's a very grand looking place.
And you look up at it because you're looking at really one of the highest points in the Gold Coast.
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[Narrator] Another sentinel on the ridge is a mansion often referred to as Overview.
A fitting name for a home that commands breathtaking and sweeping river views.
[Meginnis] The Overview is a 1910 that was a Stephans house and Stephans was a very big name again with the department store that was more than just local, but then regional distribution as well. It is very grand. It's brick. It is a narrow Roman style brick with sort of red mortar which sets it apart. A very grand porch on the first floor and on the second floor. It's at a street that goes up at a pretty steep angle and it sort of dominates its corner. It's kind of a golden kind of honey colored brick. Very grand.
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[Meginnis] The John Roush house is a really classic example of a simple but very sturdy and lovely McClelland style house. It's been meticulously restored. It has, you know, it's very sturdy brick, gable front with probably an addition to the back at some point. It was built in the 1860s. John Roush came in the 1840s, so he would have been an early German immigrant and he actually manufactured bricks. It's a beautiful home. It takes advantage of its site. The site is fairly level, but steps down. And so, its front door, you go upstairs to get its front door and you have an entrance to the, you know, what would be the basement. So that's how they were able to adapt that style to the different sorts of levels that we have in the neighborhood.
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[Narrator] Located on the eastern edge of the Hamburg Historic District rests the castle formerly known as the Struck House. It is believed to be Davenport's only castle inspired building. With its turrets and castellated roofline, it truly resembles a medieval fortress.
[Meginnis] It's a red brick. It is sited on the corner of Ripley, again, that street that goes up at a high angle, and 6th Street, so it has a hillside. The current owners have done a great deal of planting of native species. That's their goal, to have all native species. So, it's beautifully planted and they do all the work themselves. But yeah, it's an unusual -- there's not another one like the Struck House.
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[Narrator] The Gold Coast is more than a chapter from the past. It's a living story unfolding every day, generation to generation. Here, history is lived in, cared for, and carried forward by those who call it home.
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[Narrator] High above downtown Davenport on West 12th Street, a place of worship ascends, a monument to faith shaped by the dedication of generations.
[John Gardiner] It's the devotion of people who were members of this church. They've made it what it is.
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[Narrator] Trinity Episcopal Cathedral embodies a vibrant, living history. Constructed shortly after the Civil War, this eastern Iowa landmark is distinguished as one of the earliest cathedrals in the Episcopal Church in the United States. Rising in Gothic Revival splendor, the cathedral's foundation is grounded in Iowa limestone and then crowned with limestone from Indiana.
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[Gardiner] The architect for this building was Edward Tuckerman Potter, and he was selected by Henry Washington Lee, who was the first Bishop of Iowa. Lee had been a parish priest in Rochester, New York, and was assigned by the church to come to Iowa and be its first bishop. He was a tremendously dynamic person and he had been very popular in Rochester, and they provided a significant amount of the dollars to build the church.
[Narrator] Bishop Lee purchased the former grounds of Iowa College, an institution that had since moved and became Grinnell College. A generous donation from a Chicago church member soon followed, and Bishop Lee put in motion his vision of a cathedral for the Iowa diocese.
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[Narrator] As you enter the nave of Trinity Cathedral, you are presented with a sea of Iowa butternut pews. Towering beams rise around you, guiding your gaze upward to the heavens, reflecting the inspiration behind its basilica style design.
[Gardiner] If you look upward, it looks like the bottom of a ship. And the pews are filled with people who are the oarsmen who move the church forward. And the bishop is the captain and he's up front and providing direction to the people who are moving the church forward.
[Narrator] Symbolism stretches throughout the cathedral, touching every space and embedding the mysteries of the Anglican faith in every chamber and hall. One of the most striking features is the set of nine arched lancet windows gracefully surrounding the altar.
[Gardiner] The first thing you look at, of course, is the altar and the windows at the altar in the sanctuary. On a sunny day, when the altar faced east – churches generally are positioned from west to east -- when that sun streams through those stained-glass windows, the impact is really very, very powerful.
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[Narrator] Hard surfaces, soaring ceilings and a spacious choir loft channel music to every corner of the cathedral. Surging through the nave is the beautiful sound of Trinity's Wolff Tracker Organ, a majestic instrument installed in 1979, whose melodies flow through nearly 3,000 pipes.
[Gardiner] It's a glorious organ and it adds to any service with music, and it can play very softly, but it also can play with great volume.
[Narrator] From its roots in England to its founding in New York, Trinity Cathedral reflects the enduring contributions of its parishioners across generations.
[Gardiner] The windows in the sanctuary here are all original to the building. Some of them are memorials to people, Rochester parishioners, others they simply were added to the building as the building was constructed. So, they're original, as are the clerestory windows up above and the trefoil windows up above in the ceiling. They're all original to the church. Elsewhere in the church, there are stained glass windows. There are some modern ones, but many of them are older windows that came from glass from Anglican churches that were decommissioned in England. You can see the difference in the windows. The old painted windows are really quite beautiful.
[organ playing]
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[Narrator] Passionate parishioners have been champions for Trinity Cathedral's upkeep and
expansion since its consecration in 1873.
[Gardiner] When they originally built the cathedral, they ran out of money and could not afford to build the bell tower. Fortunately for us, we had a member, Elizabeth Haynes, who paid for the construction of our new parish hall. But she still wanted that tower. The backstory is that she was the administrative assistant to the head of the Davenport Bank, and the two of them were good friends and he was a Roman Catholic and went to the St Anthony's Cathedral.
Of course, she went here. And her only provision when she built this tower was that it be higher than the tower at St. Anthony's. And to demonstrate that it was, she went up in a
bucket lift up to the top and looked over, and yes, this tower is higher than St. Anthony's Tower.
(laugher)
[Narrator] Rising 131 feet above the cathedral, the spire and bell tower were completed in 1998, thanks to a devoted member determined to bring Bishop Lee's vision to life more than a century and a half after the laying of the first cornerstone.
[Gardiner] The congregation historically has been people who are deeply involved in the community and obviously deeply involved in this church. It's very moving to think of the numbers of people who sat in these pews. To just sit here and you hear the creaking and noises of an old building, and you think of all the people who've been through here in their lifetimes. It's very touching.
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[Narrator] For nearly a century, downtown Davenport has been anchored by a grand theater, a testament to elegance, ambition, and resilience. Today it stands as the renewed Adler Theater, a shining example of art deco design and one of Iowa's most treasured stages. [Chandler Cox] We were funded by George Bechtel. He was a very prominent Davenport financier and municipal bondsman. At one point, he actually supplied about 90% of Iowa
bonds. So, he had a large chunk of money.
[Narrator] It was Bechtel's vision and wealth that brought forth the dream of a grand theater.
In 1926, he announced plans for a joint hotel and theater complex and hired architecture firm
A.S. Graven and Mayger to design the building.
[Cox] In 1931, we opened with black and white film in Vaudeville. We were the last building constructed downtown during the Great Depression.
[Narrator] The theater opened as part of the Radio Keith Orpheum Circuit, or better known
as RKO.
[Cox] He'd wanted a theater that was part of one of the big five of the Hollywood studios, that is MGM, Paramount, Warner Brothers, Fox or RKO.
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[Narrator] Inside the Adler Theater, art deco design dazzles visitors with geometric shapes, sweeping curves, and an acoustically enhanced egg white coated ceiling.
[Cox] Everything about us was chosen for acoustics and design. It was very popular in the 1930s, especially aesthetics. Our ceiling was painted with tempers, which back in the day was a dried powdered pigment mixed with egg whites. Our ceiling was painted with that specifically for acoustic qualities. It took about 2,000 egg whites to make our ceiling. I'd like to think that because of the Great Depression, those were probably local eggs and local farmers and Quad City chickens that laid my ceiling. And I'd like to think that those egg yolks probably
fed the painters.
[Narrator] Tiers of seating provide unbroken views of the stage for every guest.
[Cox] One of the lovely things about our theater when we were designed was that they wanted every seat in here to be available to somebody, regardless of their income. So even if you were in the very last seat in my upper balcony in the last row it is a beautiful view of the stage. There are no obstructions, there's no poles, there's no columns, and they were just built differently.
[Narrator] The Adler's interiors were guided by famed designer Henry Dreyfuss, who ensured that every detail, from carpet patterns to the carvings, matched in perfect harmony.
[Cox] He saw the overall vision and theme for RKO and he made sure that everything RKO did was kind of in that uniform thing. What we now know today as branding. The floral carvings on the exterior of my building match the floral in my carpet, match the flowers in my pattern on the seats, match outside on my advertising cases, and downstairs on my arch above my fireplace. Everything here matches in a way we just don't see anymore. It was part of the luxury and opulence of the late 1920s and really shows a time that you don't get to see elsewhere downtown Davenport.
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[Narrator] By the 1940s, talking pictures filled the screen. But the theater was never only a movie house. It was a stage welcoming live performances, traveling shows and Broadway tours.
[Cox] In 1973, we showed our last film. But the whole time we were still doing live events, live productions, Broadway theater league, comedy, ballet, a little bit of everything.
[Narrator] By the mid-20th century, downtown Davenport changed. The rise of malls and multiplex cinemas threatened the great picture houses in America. And the Davenport theater quickly fell into disrepair.
[Cox] And just like Internet killed the mall, the mall and movie theaters really killed the picture house. And it's unfortunately what led us into such a disarray prior to our 1986 rehabilitation.
We reopened as the Adler Theater. Prior to that, people did know us as the RKO Orpheum. We are named after the Adler family. That is the family that started the Quad City Times. So, they made a very sizable donation during our restoration to help us. And that is why we've been renamed the Adler.
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[Narrator] The reopening was marked with both triumph and tragedy. Hollywood legend Cary Grant took the Adler stage that year, only hours before his untimely death.
[Cox] He had an incident here. One of my staff members took him out into the back alley, and he did pass away up the street. We keep a photo of him on stage in remembrance. And he really loved the small towns of America, and he fell in love with Davenport, and it was why
he had come back. He really saw us the cornerstone of a rebuilding of downtown.
[Narrator] Over the decades, the Adler has welcomed an astonishing range of performers.
[Cox] It's hard to say who has been here as much as maybe who hasn't. It's been a little bit of everybody. I always say there's something for everybody here. In one month, I could have a symphony, a Broadway, a rock concert, a ballet, a children's show, a tribute, and still have 20 more shows. There's always something for everybody at the Adler.
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[Narrator] Yet beyond the famous names, what endures most is the building itself and the details it uniquely holds preserved for almost a century.
[Cox] When you look at our fireplace, there's granite and marble. Outside on my advertising cases, you see granite, marble, terracotta, brass, which was very popular for the time. You'll see a lot of metal working here, especially on our doors. My main entrance doors are still original. They're plated steel. The colors here are really important. The red, the gold, the black and the terracotta were very, very popular. One of the reasons why you'll always see red in a
theater is when the lights darken, red is one of the first colors in the eye to go dark. So, part of why theaters are always red, including ours, is it helps with that viewing scene when you're looking at it. One of the most, I think, defining features of us are our chandeliers and our great hall. The ceilings are about 22ft tall. And we have strands of crystals draping down in this very graceful arch with geometric shapes. And there's two of them from the ceiling. They are original. We also have pseudo balconies and mirrors, which help create a very open atmosphere that was also popular at the time. And everything here is very symmetrical and
uniform.
[Narrator] Having endured depression, decline and revival, the Adler Theater stands as a proud home to music, to laughter and tears. It is a place where history and imagination meet and where every curtain up breathes new life into the spirit of a city.
[Cox] It is important to maintain historic buildings because it connects us to our past
and to others. I love that something super small, like a detail on a seat, can tie me to somebody from 200 years ago, and that my ceiling can tie me to the farmers and, you know, the economic downturn of the time. It's important to maintain buildings to remind people of history and what we did to be here.
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[Narrator] Tucked quietly along the river, just east of downtown, lies a community that time never forgot. A place where vintage storefronts and 19th century architecture thrive with modern amenities. Founded in 1851, the village of East Davenport began as an independent settlement for the logging industry and those employed in the trade. With its strategic riverside location, the village became home to sawmills, iron foundries and riverboat landings
and bustled with the ambition of a growing frontier town.
[Julie Keehn] It was one of the easiest places to get off of the river. So, it became a lumberyard, a stone quarry, a blacksmith shop. This building itself was called house flower and
seed. So, we had a lot of industrial like type places here. One of the unique things about this area is none of the exteriors of the buildings have been changed much.
[Narrator] As you stroll along the village streets, you'll find the architecture itself tells a story.
Many of the buildings date back to the 1850s through the 1880s, and were constructed in Queen Anne and Italianate styles, suggesting both prosperity and productivity.
[Keehn] In the beginning, it was very unique in that both the owners of the businesses, the industrialists who lived here, had great big mansions throughout the area. But you also found little tiny houses where the people lived. So, it's a unique mix of big, beautiful places and
tiny little cottages.
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[Narrator] Perched just uphill sits Lindsay Park, a green expanse with a legacy all its own. Once a Civil War training ground known as Camp McClellan, this stretch of nature is revived today with art fairs and music festivals and offers a peaceful spot from which to take in the view of the river beneath towering old oaks.
[Keehn] Lindsay Park was one of the first park areas to be more than just a tiny little square block area. It's a good-sized park and the view up there to see the river is just gorgeous. One of the things I like to do every morning is walk up to Lindsay Park and overlook the river and
just get that sense of calm.
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[Keehn] Almost everything in this area faces the river, so we have worked very hard to not allow high rise buildings. We want you to be able to see the river and enjoy the beauty that is there.
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[Narrator] Today, the village has evolved, but its heart remains unchanged. The same storefronts that once housed blacksmiths and general stores now brim with boutiques, art studios, and wineries.
[Keehn] Many of the buildings are on the historical registry. In 1974, we created a village business association, which still exists today, and it is here to help preserve some of that history and yet find ways to incorporate new retail businesses and restaurants and bars into the area. We consider it our own little piece of history, I guess. And the fact that you can come down here and spend the day and shop and eat and dine and enjoy a drink, maybe some wine tasting, you know, it's just a very pleasant way to spend the day, walk through Lindsay Park. It's a good place to just spend the afternoon and go right on through the evening.
[Narrator] The village of East Davenport is more than a neighborhood of historic buildings. It's a community of living legacy. A place where the echoes of the past meet the energy of today. A village shaped by time, preserved by passion, and celebrated by all who walk its charming streets.
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[Narrator] Nestled in the heart of the historic village of East Davenport sits Hose Station No. 4,
standing as a proud symbol of the neighborhood's resilience and civic spirit.
[Glen Thebe] It's very well knit, I think, and close with the business owners down here. This as an area of town that was a little bit separate at one time from the actual city of Davenport. There was a giant lumber mill and lumberyard down here and that burnt back in the early 1900s. There was a massive fire down here.
[Narrator] On July 25, 1901, fire consumed eight blocks of the village of East Davenport. Thirty years later, Hose Station No. 4 was constructed. Known as the International Fire Museum, today this Italianate style structure echoes the elegance of 16th century Renaissance architecture. Its red brick exterior and distinctive brick coin corners reflect the craftsmanship of the era and the building's original life as a working fire station.
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[Narrator] The fire engine red firehouse doors open up to 11th Street. They were uniquely designed to ensure that firefighters could respond with speed and precision.
[Thebe] You can open and close those doors electrically. The watch officer sounded the alarm. You came down the pole and you came down the steps. You got in the rig. That cord right there, you pulled that cord. The doors opened up. It was on about a four-minute timer. So, you had time to start the truck, get the truck warmed up a little bit, pull out, and after you pulled out and left, the timer was activated and then the doors would close. And they still work.
[Narrator] Form and function worked hand in hand. Crafted with care and purpose, the station stood as steadfast refuge for the firefighters and the trusted tools they carried into the flames.
[Thebe] Fire stations had hose towers because your fire hose was made out of woven cloth and it needed to dry. And if it didn't get dried out, it would mold, mildew, it would come apart, it would lose its strength. So, the hose tower that's in the back of this building is 40 feet tall I believe. Your lengths of hose are hundred foot. So, there's a cable and a pulley system in there with a hook. You would take the hose back there, kind of find where center was, hook it up, run it up to the top. A very brave man had to climb those pegs three and a half stories up.
Then there's a wood platform up there that he would stand on. And then the guy down here raising it up, he would grab that hose and unhook it and put it onto the metal hooks. Then on the wall, there's a radiator and that radiator would heat up and then the heat rise, you know, rose up and that would help dry the hose. The floor has a metal grate in it which goes down to the basement. And in the basement there's a floor drain. So, any water and moisture went down the drain.
[Narrator] Original fixtures and flooring remain mostly pristine and endure as a living relic for life at the station.
[Thebe] Everything in this building is pretty much untouched. The floor is all original. The paint on the inside of the doors is original. None of this has ever been stripped down, revarnished. It's just been maintained. We've had to paint the outside of the doors here. We're really focused on just the preservation of keeping this place as original as possible.
[Narrator] Hose Station No. 4 was designed concurrently with other fire stations in Davenport, each built for the specific needs of the neighborhoods they protected. But some firehouse functions were ubiquitous, no matter their location. And the centralized watch office was the heartbeat of nearly every firehouse.
[Thebe] Most all stations had a watch office. Davenport Central Fire is the oldest operating fire station west of the Mississippi. And on the original Davenport Central building on the corner of Scott and 4th, there was a watch office just like this that stuck out. And that's where your night watchman was awake all night long basically, or for most part of the night, keeping an eye, answering the phone, waiting for the radio to call to come in. So, it's basically like a watch office radio room. And then in these old stations, you know, the Murphy's bed folded up into the wall, which is really, you know, it's unique. And that's where the gentleman would sleep at night when he finally went to bed. Somebody was always in the watch office. [Narrator] Built with purpose and pride, Hose Station No. 4 stands as a reminder of craftsmanship and community spirit. A monument and museum preserving the legacy of service, strength and success in the village of East Davenport.
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[Nathaniel Kraft] Bix Beiderbecke was a 1920s jazz age musician who grew up here in the Quad Cities, in Davenport. He's mostly known as one of the most influential jazz soloist of the jazz age alongside Louis Armstrong. He was mostly known for playing cornet, but he was a pianist by trade. Growing up he had a perfect pitch hearing where he could hear music and then repeat it on whichever instrument he was playing on almost note for note.
[Narrator] Known for his masterful improvisational soloing, Leon Bix Beiderbecke put Davenport on the musical map. He was born to German immigrants and as a child played his earliest concerts for his family at his grandparents’ house, this Italianate mansion built in the early 1880s in the Hamburg historic district.
[Kraft] The Beiderbecke Inn used to be Bix's grandparents’ house and it was built by his grandparents. Bix and all of the grandkids would entertain at parties. And so, in that house used to have a grand piano in there and all the kids would have to perform. And so, by the end of the night, everyone was waiting for him to play the piano for them. So, this, this old German house kind of was that kind of hub for this family.
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[Narrator] Davenport Central High School, originally established as Davenport High, is where
Bix attended classes. Built in 1907, this Beaux-Arts design structure is where the jazz legend cultivated his future career in music.
[Kraft] The music department was ran by a man named Ernst Otto, who is a German immigrant as well. He came to the Quad Cities and became the first superintendent of music.
And he taught all the way from elementary school to high school. He was a very, you know, very influential composer in town that taught every, you know, every kid that learned music, you know, even outside of high school, you know, his band director was the one trying to help him here and there. And a lot of times people think because of his knack and his natural gift of hearing that, you know, he kind of was growing up in this vacuum, he was going to be a famous musician wherever. But he had this kind of connection with some of the local, you know, the local musicians and things like that really helped him and had this great impact on his life. And probably that's why he became a musician was these people that he knew.
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[Narrator] Located downtown on Brady street, this three-story Victorian style brick building known as Hibernian Hall was the site of Bix's first professional gig as a musician.
[Kraft] Back then they didn't just, you know, a lot of dance studios had to have live music to
teach their waltzes and things like that. So, they had to hire local musicians for it. Bix got a group together and it was one of his first groups that he was kind of playing locally here. So, it was his first advertised gig.
[Narrator] Another venue he performed at regularly was the Danceland Ballroom, a Spanish colonial revival style building constructed in the 1920s.
[Kraft] Danceland is one of the oldest in operation dance studios/performance halls. They've been open since the early 1900s. Bix performed there several times, including with like the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. It's one of the oldest dance studios still in the country.
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[Narrator] Established in 1891, the Outing Club stood as a symbol of refinement and social life
for the Beiderbecke family.
[Kraft] Bix's family were German immigrants. And they were some of the first members of the Outing Club when it first started. A lot of it was kind of the affluent German community that started and founded the Outing Club. And so, the Beiderbecke family had been members for decades, essentially. So, Bix hung out there quite often. He largely played for their tennis team, and he also did recitals and things like that. A fun story about his, you know, his childhood is, yeah, he played tennis, so he played for the Outing Club. They did a tournament, and he ended up winning one of the tournaments in the singles, and we recently got the trophy.
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[Narrator] Constructed in 1915, the Black Hawk Hotel is a Beaux-Arts style structure that was a mainstay for Davenport high society and upscale guests. Bix often visited the hotel when he returned home and could be heard playing impromptu gig in the lobby.
[Kraft] After becoming much more famous later on, in the late 1920s and early 1930s, when he was alive, he would occasionally just hang out in the lobby and he would have his cornet with them. And so, he would kind of sometimes do impromptu performances. But the big thing that he was known for was a few performances in their ballrooms there.
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[Bix Fest Announcer) From the banks of the Mississippi River at Davenport, Iowa, the Iowa Public Broadcasting Network presents -- Bix '79.
[Narrator] Located on Beiderbecke Drive sits the LeClaire Park bandshell, also known as the Petersen Memorial Music Pavilion. Built in the early 1900s, the bandshell and pavilion were designed to host various city events.
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[Narrator] Launched in 1972, the LeClaire Memorial Jazz Festival draws thousands to Davenport each summer and used the bandshell as its primary venue for more than 30 years.
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[Kraft] So the band shell was built during Bix's time. It's not really well known if Bix ever played there officially. We know that Bix hung out often downtown to listen to the music. That bandshell has been active ever since. It's been a staple downtown where people have concerts and performances throughout the summer. Next to it, they had a local artist commission a bust of Bix's head. And so, there's a statue of Bix down by the bandshell to kind of commemorate those many years at the festival.
[Narrator] The Bix Beiderbecke Museum, located on West 2nd Street in downtown Davenport, commemorates the musician's life and his lasting influence in Davenport and the jazz music scene.
[Kraft] When you get to the museum, it goes through his life and his legacy. We have a number of items of his, both as a child and as an adult. The big things we have are his childhood vest and cornet. We then have later in life his tuxedo that he wore with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. We also have his grandparents' piano, Frankie Trumbauer's saxophone. We have Bill Rank's trombone, as well as some traveling trunks that they took on tour with them.
[Narrator] After years of struggling with health issues, Bix Beiderbecke's life was cut short in
Queens, New York on August 6, 1931. He was just 28 years old. His death stunned the jazz world, marking the end of a brilliant career.
[Kraft] When he died, they collected him and they brought him back on train all the way to the Quad Cities. He had a nice little mass here and then he was buried at Oakdale Cemetery.
So, people come from all over the world to go see his grave site.
[Narrator] Though his life was brief, Bix Beiderbecke's music endures. An echo of genius that reminds us how one Iowan influenced the sound of American jazz forever. And how one small city on the Mississippi River gave the world a voice that still inspires musicians today.
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[Narrator] Along the banks of the Mighty Mississippi sets an historic tribute to America's pastime that has become a cornerstone of the community -- Modern Woodmen Park, home to the Quad Cities River Bandits, a minor league affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. Originally named Municipal Stadium, the park opened its gates to the public on May 26, 1931.
[Dave Heller] It was one of the first, first public works projects commissioned by the federal government. Herbert Hoover is the only Iowan to ever become President of the United States.
And he decided as there was growing unemployment during the Great Depression, that he needed to do something to put people to work. And he really just dipped his toe in the public
works pond. And Davenport Municipal Stadium, which is what this was called, was built in 1931. And the first baseball team to play there was the Davenport Blue Socks.
[Narrator] Designed by local architects, Modern Woodmen Park features an art deco style common for the era, with a sturdy red brick facade and styling that captures both function and flair.
[Heller] You wouldn't build a building like this today because everything is brick, right? You could see behind me the brick. Everything is brick. And brick is expensive today. But back then, that's what they did. So, you have these wonderful curved arches that people come in and out of to get into the building. You have an intimacy in the ballpark that you don't find in more modern parks. You're right up close to the field and you're right up against the Mississippi River. You look out, you see the river, you see the bridge, you see Illinois across the Mississippi. There's no better view in baseball. It is the original deal. When so many ballparks, starting with Camden Yards were built in the 1990s and early 2000s and they wanted to look retro. We don't have to look retro. We are retro, right? We were the original.
We are what everybody else is copying. And I think that's pretty neat.
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[Narrator] Today's ballpark is a marvel, shaped by its riverside setting with breathtaking views from thousands of open-air seats. While it serves as a beautiful backdrop, the river has at times been an uninvited guest. After years of flooding, 2011 marked a turning point when the River Bandits installed an 8-foot-high flood wall between the park and the waters that once surged through the stands.
[Heller] We got the whole ballpark flood protected. So now when there's a flood, no water gets in, no water gets out. And that's a wonderful way of preserving the old and mixing it with the kind of modern amenities that you would really need. What good if you preserve the old if it gets flooded out and then nobody can use it?
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[Narrator] Preserving the old has allowed the park to be used in many unique and eccentric ways. It's the only ballpark in America where a seventh inning stretch includes a ride on a roller coaster or a Ferris wheel. From the roar of the crowd to the rush of a ride, family fun, classic baseball and amusement park magic collide at Modern Woodmen.
[Heller] We've created this little mini amusement park within the ballpark. We have the only Ferris wheel in all of baseball. 100 plus feet high. We have the only double decker carousel in all of baseball. In fact, the only double decker carousel in the entire state of Iowa is right here at Modern Woodmen Park. And you hear all these wonderful sounds of children's laughter at the ballpark. And that's what we really love.
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[Heller] Baseball here in the Quad Cities is the one thing that brings our whole community together. It's important that we be able to come together as a community, as in one place, and cheer for the same side. I think that's critical. I think that's a big part of what makes small town America great. To have these sort of major league amenities, big city amenities in a town and a community the size of the Quad Cities. And people agree. People love it. People vote with their feet and they show up here. It's part of what makes the Quad Cities so darn
awesome. And it's everything that Norman Rockwell could have ever dreamed. It's perfect.
[Narrator] Modern Woodmen Park stands as a testament to Davenport's rich baseball heritage and continues to offer fans a unique and engaging experience that blends history and tradition with modern entertainment.
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[Narrator] Four stories of sleek glass panels may defy the traditional image of an historic building, but it's what the Figge Art Museum holds, preserves and champions for future generations that makes it a landmark of cultural history in Davenport. Construction of the Figge began in 1999, and the museum opened to the public in 2005. However, planning for a museum began decades earlier, with an art collection in need of a permanent home.
[Joshua Johnson] The museum started in 1925 with an initial gift by C.A. Ficke, who was a former mayor of Davenport, a real estate developer who was able to make, you know, a small fortune, and through that fortune was able to collect 334 paintings and works of art that he eventually donated to the Davenport, what would become the Davenport Municipal Art Gallery. When he donated those works to the city of Davenport, it was with the understanding that they had to find a place to house all these works and that they had to care for them and exhibit them into perpetuity. So, from there, they were originally housed in a renovated armory building in downtown. Later down the line, they ended up moving up to what is referred to as Museum Hill up by the Putnam, and they would become the Davenport Museum of Art. And then from there, they would stay on the hill until they outgrew that building.
[Narrator] In the late 1990s, the city formed a committee of community leaders to explore new possibilities for the housing and showcasing of Davenport's growing art collection. The team decided new construction was the best path forward and began soliciting proposals from
architects around the world. British architect David Chipperfield and his international portfolio of modern minimalist designs caught the committee's attention and imagination.
[Johnson] They really came to the understanding that David Chipperfield's design and vision for the museum was going to be the one that best integrated what the community needed and also their hope to revitalize the downtown.
[Narrator] With the architect selected and planning underway, the art collection itself became guiding voice in how the building took shape.
[Johnson] When David Chipperfield was considering the design for this building, he needed to satisfy the place. He needed to satisfy the museology. So, the idea of how these things are being housed in a way that's safe and being displayed in a proper and aesthetic format, and also best for their continued conservation. Proper temperature and relative humidity and relatively low exposure to natural light are all considerations that he had to think about. [Narrator] The Figge Art Museum is home to an impressive range of collections spanning Spanish and European masterpieces to influential works by 19th and 20th century American
artists. Beyond its galleries, the museum serves as a cultural hub, offering workshops and forging partnerships with the Quad City Symphony, Ballet, Quad Cities and Quad City Arts. It is also the repository for 249 works and personal items from Iowa's most iconic and celebrated
painter, Grant Wood.
[Johnson] David Chipperfield is a remarkably kind of conscientious architect. So, he is considering every facet of the needs of the people who are going to use this building, the community it serves, its relationship to the kind of urban environment, its relationship to the
natural environment with the Mississippi River. And so, as he was considering how these spaces would be used, he was really delving in deep into what our collection had and what the potential was for the collection to grow. Really, when this museum was constructed, you know, this was a probably a larger museum than the community needed. What that has done is forced us to kind of grow into the museum. He referred to this building as kind of a loose fit.
So, he was thinking of it as being a malleable building that would kind of grow with the institution and grow with the community. Something that wasn't so bespoke that it wouldn't be able to change and evolve as the collection and the Quad Cities changed.
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[Narrator] Encompassing 115,000 square feet along West River Drive, the Figge's interior space is only part of its story.
[Johnson] He also was very conscientious that the double panes of glass on the exterior of the building were going to not only reflect the surrounding sky and ambient light, but also was going to kind of absorb it in a way and almost make the building, at some points, depending on the natural light, disappear and then glow. So, while it is architecturally very different, it blends very well with the natural landscape, so it doesn't feel as jarring.
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[Johnson] Whenever there's something new, it sometimes takes people a minute to acclimate. And I think while there may have initially been some naysayers, overwhelmingly the community has grown to love this building and see it as kind of the cultural hub of the Quad Cities and kind of the heart of the downtown Davenport community.
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[Narrator] The Figge Building, like the ever-evolving collection it houses, was envisioned as a living, luminous presence along the riverfront. It was imagined not only as a museum, but as a
lantern of culture. Its veil of panels softly lit, glowing against the night and the city it serves. Early plans to illuminate its skin were dimmed by budget constraints, but the light was never lost.
[Johnson] Fast forward to ten years later, the executive director at the time, Tim Schiffer, was on the lookout for a lighting artist to really make this building all that it can be. He identified Mexican American artist Leo Villarreal. He has done projects everywhere and has also worked on David Chipperfield buildings in the past as well. So, he was a perfect fit. So, in the same way that David Chipperfield was very interested in this building being so specific to the place, Leo Villarreal is doing the same thing. He is going to respond to the atmosphere, respond to the lighting, respond to the people that inhabit this museum and this community. This building wasn't only about the people who visit the museum. It was about revitalizing this area and downtown. And while not all of that, of course, can be contributed to the construction of this
building, a lot of it, I think, can. The idea of this civic pride in the downtown that in some ways was started by this initial gift by the Figge family. And then it got the ball rolling with this kind of urban development and creating a wider sense of place for this community centered around this museum. And in that way, I think this building did all of that and more.
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[Narrator] The Figge Art Museum, a structure housing history while writing its own story. Boldly modern, yet deeply rooted in the legacy of a city shaped by art, industry and the future. Becoming not just a repository for masterpieces, but a living, breathing chapter in the ongoing story of Davenport itself.
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[Narrator] A frontier town in eastern Iowa where history and architecture tell the tale of community, innovation and culture. A place where river commerce and industry came together, building a gateway to the American Heartland on this side of the Mississippi River. The story of the past honored by a new generation and preserved for the future.
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A story that lives on in the Historic Buildings of Iowa: Davenport.
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Funding for this program is provided by Friends, the Iowa PBS Foundation, generations of families and friends who feel passionate about the programs they watch on Iowa PBS.
