Day in history for December 26, 2001

1851 -- 150 years ago

Corn on the Rock Island market brought 20 cents a bushel; winter wheat, 55 cents, and oats, 18 cents.

1876 -- 125 years ago

The Harper House dining room is being frescoed in oil and when completed the new mirrors will be put in.

1901 -- 100 years ago

Clemann and Salzmann purchased the Harper Theater building for $30,000 for a furniture store.

1926 -- 75 years ago

The coming of International Harvester Company to Rock Island led industrial expansion in the Tri-Cities during 1926.

1951 -- 50 years ago

An estimated $4,103,000 in improvements for western Illinois is included in a whopping $100,000,000 Illinois hard road program unfolded for 1952 by the state highway department. Principal work in western Illinois is slated for Moline and Henry County. Outstanding in the program is proposed improvement of U.S. Route 6, through use of bituminous resurfacing, in Henry and Bureau Counties and extensive widening of 23rd Ave., Moline.

1976 -- 25 years ago

The old house still stands majestically on the brow of 12 th Street hill at 11th Avenue. The Moline landmark was built in the early 1800s by a grocer who could not finish it. But a blacksmith named John Deere came along and purchased the house, adding to the structure now known as the Red Cliff Apartments. It was a frame dwelling with a view of the Mississippi River and the town below.

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