Below: Moline Club, 1992
Images Courtesy of the Quad Cities Institute for Cultural & Healing Traditions
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Moline Commercial Club
1530 5th Avenue
Built In 1912 the current Moline Club building was originally built for the puposes and ideals of The Moline Commercial Club which was started in 1895 by Charles Deere, son of John Deere. Charles Deere was the one who saw his father's vision and modernized the business he inherited to what has now evolved as Deere and Company and become a global company. The Moline Commercial Club was designed "to promote civic, business and Industrial interests of the City of Moline." Although Charles Deere died in 1907, his legacy in the building was fulfilled by those that followed him. Ben Butterworth was one of the key supporterss of The Moline Commercial Club and was instrumental in the construction of its building.
The building was designed by H.W. Wittsett, a leading architect of the Moline area at that time. The bulding had a first floor that was retail space and was leased to a business-man by the name of Mr. Leedy.
The building is extremely beautiful, both in design and thought. It is a prime example of an Arts and Craft or Craftsman style building of the turn of the century. This architectual style was popularized by Frank Lloyd Wright as the Prairie School, sometimes known as the Mission School.
The Moline Commercial Club dissolved around the Great Depression in the later 1920s, after which time the building was sold to the YWCA, still being an active part of Moline. It then went into private hands and later significant disuse in the late 1970s at the time when the downtowns in America were in their retraction and the shopping malls were coming forward with alarming speed!
The Moline Club building was bought by its current owner, Ms. Narveen S. Virdi, in September 1990, completing the legacy of Charles Deere's concept for the building, the building and the club were restored over time. The original blueprints were available, and the building was kept as true to its original form as was possible in the modern era. The first floor is still retail. The second floor is reserved for The Moline Commercial Club, restoring the ideologies of Charles Deere. The Moline Club Ballroom is available to the public for banquets and private parties with The Moline Club in-house chef and specialized menus.
See the building, a jewel in Moline, in all its glory, reinstated for Moline. Call 309-762-8547 for private tours.
Having been used as a YWCA from 1927 to 1978, the building again serves its original purpose as home to The Moline Commercial Club, and the Quad Cities Institute for Cultural & Healing Traditions, a non-profit organization that hosts events programs such as the Independent Scholars Evening.
The Moline Club was presented with an MPS Preservation Award in 1992.
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