We have such a place here in the Quad Cities. The 150-plus year old Arsenal Bridge connecting Davenport, Iowa to Rock Island, Illinois.
Can you name a place where you could see a plane fly over a train running over a car driving over a boat? 🤔
- Thread starter Torbee
- Start date
That's fine but are there bison on the bridge?
No, which is a travishamockery
at town council meeting:
Councilmember 1: Why again, do we need an ai data center in our backyard?
Councilmember 2 shows them this picture.
You guys have planes?
(BTW, always love seeing Rock Island trains - reminds me of Johnny Cash)
So I'm curious - what exactly are the four cities that this is named after?
In my neck of the woods, there is a Tri-Cities airport, and the "cities" in question are borderline cities at best (Johnson City, Kingsport, and Bristol - though as I think about it, perhaps Bristol should actually count as two).
I have crossed the Arsenal Bridge on the Rock Island Rocket passenger train.,
I have rode my bike and driven my car over that bridge.
I have passed under that bridge in my uncle's yacht.
Yes, the Arsenal Bridge is a historical marker for the Quad Cities, USA
Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, Rock Island and Moline, Illinois
2020 U.S. Census Population
Davenport...101,724... Bettendorf...39,102... Rock Island...37,108.... Moline...42,985
I have rode my bike and driven my car over that bridge.
I have passed under that bridge in my uncle's yacht.
Yes, the Arsenal Bridge is a historical marker for the Quad Cities, USA
Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, Rock Island and Moline, Illinois
2020 U.S. Census Population
Davenport...101,724... Bettendorf...39,102... Rock Island...37,108.... Moline...42,985
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The Quad Cities metro area is a bi-state Mississippi River region anchored by Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa and Rock Island, Moline, and East Moline in Illinois. Home to roughly 475,000 people across the broader metropolitan area, the QC sits at one of the Midwest’s most strategic transportation crossroads — where major rail lines, interstate highways, river commerce, and manufacturing networks intersect.
Historically, the Quad Cities developed as one of the Mississippi River’s great industrial hubs. The river itself drove early growth through lumber milling, riverboat commerce, and agricultural trade before the region evolved into a national manufacturing center in the late 19th and 20th centuries. The area’s legacy is still visible in its dense rail infrastructure, riverfront industrial corridors, and globally connected manufacturers.
One of the region’s most significant economic anchors is the Rock Island Arsenal — the U.S. Army’s largest government-owned weapons manufacturing arsenal and one of the nation’s oldest continuously operating military installations. Located on an island in the Mississippi River, the Arsenal remains a major employer and logistics hub while giving the QC an outsized role in national defense manufacturing and supply-chain operations.
Today, the Quad Cities economy is driven by advanced manufacturing, agricultural technology, logistics, defense, health care, and finance. Global companies including John Deere maintain major operations here, reinforcing the region’s importance in agriculture and heavy equipment innovation. River barge traffic, interstate access via I-80 and I-74, and multiple Class I rail connections make the metro one of the Midwest’s more efficient inland freight and distribution centers.
The QC also occupies a unique cultural and economic niche: large enough to support major industry, higher education, arts, and sports amenities, yet small enough to maintain relatively low costs of living and strong regional identity. It functions as a critical “middle-mile” connector between Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Omaha, and the broader agricultural economy of the Upper Midwest.
Wait a minute - that's five! So what I'm supposed to take away from this is that neither Virginia, Tennessee, Iowa, nor Illinois knows how to properly count to four?
Just a demographics change quirk.
Davenport has always been the major hub city - with a population of just over 100,000 it's actually the third-largest standalone city in Iowa. Rock Island and Moline have been around 40K for decades - Rock Island shrinking a bit lately. East Moline always around 25K. Now, Bettendorf started as just a sort of rural village/town back in the 1940s through 1960s or so - then it became the go-to "suburban" enclave. It now has a population pushing 40K, and thus has essentially bumped East Moline out of the Top 4 - although East Moline literally put up a sign declaring it ONE of the Quad Cities, which lol.
Davenport is the only one with any "skyline" to speak of:
Although with the new I-74 bridge and soon to be revamped elevator test tower, Moline can look fairly urban too.
So hold on a minute there fella...this is not a game where you are allowed to substitute players or engage in redistricting.Just a demographics change quirk.
Davenport has always been the major hub city - with a population of just over 100,000 it's actually the third-largest standalone city in Iowa. Rock Island and Moline have been around 40K for decades - Rock Island shrinking a bit lately. East Moline always around 25K. Now, Bettendorf started as just a sort of rural village/town back in the 1940s through 1960s or so - then it became the go-to "suburban" enclave. It now has a population pushing 40K, and thus has essentially bumped East Moline out of the Top 4 - although East Moline literally put up a sign declaring it ONE of the Quad Cities, which lol.
Davenport is the only one with any "skyline" to speak of:
Although with the new I-74 bridge and soon to be revamped elevator test tower, Moline can look fairly urban too.
Also...I'll bet the annual Moline v East Moline football rivalry game is a helluva scrap. (Is one of them the figurative "wrong side of the tracks"?)
Seriously...this is like the old line from the Cheech and Chong bit "Basketball Jones" - "The East Westchester North Stars, champions of the Southern Division..."
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East Moline (United Township High School or UTHS) plays in the Soule Bowl - kind of a neat old stadium dug into the side of a hill:
I have officially lived in all five of the Quad Cities. Six if you count Eldridge.
All it needs is a bare breasted (young, female) hottie, and we're talking. This being the kind of Board it is, I felt a need to include the qualifiers "young" and "female" in order to avoid seeing something that I cannot later unsee.
Someone needs to tell the creator of The Simpsons. I'm originally from Iowa, but I had to laugh when I saw the episode about Lisa Simpson traveling to Des Moines to take on the folks who put out the SAT, and flying into "Iowa Non-International Airport."