Rock Island, Illinois, the seat of Rock Island County. It is situated at the junction of the Mississippi and Rock rivers. Together with neighboring cities—including Moline and East Moline, Illinois, and Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa—it forms part of a closely knit economic area known as the "Quad Cities." (Originally, there were only four cities in the area.) Products include military equipment, manufactured at the Rock Island Arsenal on an island in the Mississippi, and farm equipment.
Augustana College is in Rock Island. Many parks dot the city, and Black Hawk State Park is adjacent, A museum at the Rock Island Arsenal displays military arms and equipment. Fort Armstrong Blockhouse is a reconstruction of a structure built on the island in 1816.
The community was settled as Farnhamsburg in 1826. It was renamed Stephenson in 1835 and Rock Island in 1841. The site of the arsenal was a military prison during the Civil War.
Population: 39,684.
