KeyStone Sub-Areas have Historic Roots

In the 1890s, lawyer and developer E.H. Guyer envisioned a new town, a "KeyStone" between Rock Island and Moline. It would be marketed as a healthy, well-drained and elevated location that working families could afford. Guyer's town was originally platted in 1888 as Edgewood Park.

Because of a national recession in 1892-93, Guyer's utopian vision was not realized, but others, particularly William E. Brooks, saw the potential of the land, and began subdividing and building in earnest by the 1900s and 1910s. Brooks platted several additions directly east of 44th Street.

The Edgewood Park and Brooks' Groves area features an amazing array of architectural styles, but is characterized by the heaviest concentration of that purely Midwestern house form, the Foursquare, in all of Rock Island.

Boundaries

Edgewood Park and Brooks Groves Additions are located in the central area of the KeyStone neighborhood, with Edgewood in the 42nd to 44th Street vicinity from 7th to 10th Avenues, and Brooks' Groves roughly from 44th Street to 46th Street between 8th and 10th Avenues.

Ward 6

Plans & Publications

Neighborhood Association

KeyStone Neighborhood Association

Neighborhood Programs & Activities

Public Facilities

None.

Historic Register Properties in the Neighborhood

None.