Page "Moline, Illinois" Paragraph 20

Moline was a successful, if somewhat boring, turn-of-the-20th-century city.

It was clean, well maintained, and prosperous, and unlike Rock Island and Davenport, contained no slums, congestion, or red-light districts.

Despite the occasional conflicts between native-born and immigrant leaders, the Puritanical, serious temperament of the city had not changed in the half-century since Moline's founding.

The city became known as " Proud Moline " to its neighbors, a somewhat derisive nickname that touched on Moliners ' sometimes haughty, holier-than-thou attitude.

The electric streetcar system expanded as the city did, and by 1915 there were over of paved city streets and of sidewalks.

Recognizing a need for more recreational space, Riverside Park was established in 1902 near present-day 34th Street on the waterfront, and the Tri-City Railway Company opened Prospect Park in the southern part of the city in 1911 as an amusement park.

The widespread prosperity attracted wave upon wave of immigrants, and Moline's immigrant workers often sent for their extended families in the Old Country to join them in America.

The 1910 census showed the Tri-Cities metro area to have the second highest per-capita income in the United States.