Uptown

Moline’s first urban residential settlement on the bluff began in this area in the 1870s. Many Swedish immigrants who arrived in the late 19th century settled here, although because Swedes were so numerous in most parts of Moline, a distinct “Swede Town” never developed. Uptown includes early bluff-top churches and the first bluff-top business district, which contained several businesses by 1880 near the top of 15th Street hill (called Rodman Avenue before 1883). This street carried a horse-drawn trolley route beginning in 1884, which became an electric trolley in 1889. It was paved in 1902. The Uptown business district retains that name today.

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