More photos from this shoot

Photo: Terry Herbig Aerial view of Davenport riverfront.

More photos from this shoot

Photo: Gary Krambeck Julie Craighead, 59, of Rock Island in-line skates along the bike path of the Ben Butterworth Parkway in Moline.

Photo: The Davenport riverfront as it looked in 1875. Most riverfront property at the time was used for commercial or industrial purposes.

Buzzing timber mills showered the Quad-Cities' riverfront in sawdust.

More than 100 years ago, industry lined the banks of the Mississippi River and planted the early seeds of the area. Evidence of those industrial times along the riverfront has disappeared, replaced with recreational areas and tourist attractions.

"Starting on the coast in the mid-1980s, people started to realize the value of having an urban riverfront and having it be clean water," River Action executive director Kathy Wine said.

"As more recreation and the need for more marinas came, we changed the face of the urban riverfront."

Several key catalysts mixed over time, and the riverfront transformation from industry to recreation gradually ensued.

Ms. Wine said Ben Butterworth ignited the initial change in the 1960s, by helping to convince riverfront property owners to donate part of their land to the city. Levees were replaced with parks and the earliest parts of the Ben Butterworth Parkway were laid.

Ms. Wine said the Clean Water Act of 1974 also sparked a major transition. "After the Clean Water Act, there was a desire to clean up the water. Now you have the recreation. You have more boaters out there appreciating it. They wanted to be near it."

Ms. Wine and Roald Tweet, a Mississippi River historian and retired Augustana English professor, agree that 1983 was the year when the industry-to-recreation transition rapidly increased.

"That's the year when the middle section of the Ben Butterworth Parkway was placed," said Milt Hand, Moline parks and recreation director. The middle section connected the Moline parkway from 34th to 55th street.

The Junior League of the Quad-Cities also celebrated 1983 as "the Year of the River," drawing attention to a cleaner, more refined riverfront. Wildlife also played a role in the transformation.

"Outside tourists kept coming to see the eagles," Mr. Tweet said. "That attracted us back to the river. International Harvester and other places that hug the river were giving out. The change was sudden to tourism."

Mr. Tweet said it was a case of "what goes around comes around." In the 19th Century, this area was a summer tourist attraction for folks from St. Louis, he said.

At one time, Mr. Tweet said, Andalusia was going to be the "hot springs of the north. "There were plans to develop Andalusia into a grand resort."

While those plans didn't pan out, more than 100 years later, attractions have continued to spring up along Quad-Cities' banks. In 2006, Davenport's Figge Art Museum celebrated its first year. To the west of the Centennial Bridge, the city also built Skatepark, a series of platforms and obstacles for skating enthusiasts. Davenport has plans to add basketball courts in the same area.

Led by River Action, improvements to the Sylvan Slough off Moline's banks began in 2006. Ground also was broken for the Bettendorf Events Center.

Now all eyes are gazing toward the future. Last June, Western Illinois University approved a master plan to develop a 20-acre riverfront campus in Moline on land donated to the city by John Deere in 2003.

"When Western Illinois starts to develop, that will change the usage of the riverfront," Mr. Hand said. "We'll have to do some modifications to the riverfront at the same time."

And the next riverfront phase will begin.