History of the Industrial Commission
Following a wide spread movement among cities and towns to develop
their commercial and manufacturing importance and recognizing that this
could best be attained through an organization whose efforts would be
con-fined to this field of activity the Industrial Commission of Rock
Island was created.
The first step necessary thereto was accomplished through the contribution
of a fund of $10,000 intended to meet the expenses incidental to the work
for a given period, and upon the attainment thereof an organization was
effected by the creation of five committees, namely: The manufacturers,
the railroads, the jobbers, the conventions and the board of control, of
which F. C. Denkmann was elected first president, Charles McHugh, vice
president; T. J. Medill, treasurer; and Mayer Levi, secretary.
Soon after the completion of the organization it became evident that
something more was necessary if Rock Island would compete with other
points in an effort to secure the location of new industries, and in
recognition thereof impetus was given to a movement to raise a fund of
$100,000 to be employed in: providing sites and buildings and in such
other ways as would meet the approval of the board of trustees. The mere
suggestion was sufficient to awaken an interest in the plan outlined and
within less than thirty days there was subscribed a total of nearly
$150,000, known as the Greater Rock Island Development Fund.
Nothing speaks more loudly of the loyalty, unselfishness and progressive
spirit of the people of Rock Island than the success that marked this
undertaking.
This fund has since then been complemented by a donation from Weyerhaeuser
and Denkmann, Charles H. Deere, and the J. F. Robinson and Morris
Rosenfield estates, of fifty acres of land exceptionally well adapted to
manufacturing purposes and admirably situated with respect to shipping
facilities, both by rail and water.
Coupled with these concrete conditions there has been a spirit awakened to
the consciousness of the possibilities that lie before Rock Island and a
determination to grasp them in furtherance of the ambition to become what
nature ordained and which is already evident in our wonderful growth as a
successful manufacturing center.
Source: Historic Rock Island County, pub. Kramer & Company, Rock Island, Illinois, 1908