As the city of Moline grew, from a small village along the Mississippi River in 1845 to a thriving manufacturing community in 1900, rail transportation became a vital component to the overall success of this developing area. Several rail lines built depots along the main east-west corridor through town, which lay between Third and Fourth Avenues. These lines served to connect the area with cities like Chicago and Peoria, and other major cities to the east and west. What was lacking was a "belt line" connecting the small cities along the Mississippi river from Moline, and Davenport up to Clinton, Iowa and back; a distance of forty-one miles, one way.
Six local businessmen took it upon themselves to fund and build such a transportation link in 1899. They were; John Lambert, President, J.W. Gates, C.G. Gates, W.P. Palmer, -I.L. Ellwood and J.J. Mitchell. Without issuing any bonds or selling a single share of stock, they opened up a new rail route along the Iowa side of the Mississippi River. This included building the Crescent Railroad Bridge over the Mississippi River connecting Rock Island, Illinois with Davenport, Iowa. (Still operational in 1994) They named their Terminal line the Davenport, Rock Island and Northwestern. Northwestern was added to the name because it was the connecting line to the railroads outlying cities, but it had no financial ties to the D.R.I. line. There was talk of using Moline in the name, but it was decided that with all the manufacturing goods coming out of Moline, it already had enough notoriety.
The company chose to lay their track through Moline close to the river front. They entered into a franchise agreement with Mayor Swensson and the City Council in 1899, which included agreeing to build a depot on land, donated to them at the foot of Sixteenth Street. The franchise expired with no action being taken towards building the depot and newly elected Mayor Wessel and City Council members argued that.
The location should not have been donated, as the city needed the ground for a harbor. It was stated that the new lock was sure to be built and the harbor was a certainty. Since the Terminal people did not fulfill the terms of the ordinance, the property reverted back to the city.
After lengthy negotiations, a new franchise agreement was drafted in 1900 that required the Terminal group to purchase their own property between 18th and 20th Street and erect an appropriate depot estimated to cost $5,000 to be completed no later than January 1, 1901.
The architect chosen to design the lines Moline and Rock Island Depots was Olaf Z. Cervin, Rock Island. Plans for the Moline depot were revised several times, and the cost estimates given in Dispatch news articles rose to $6,000 and then $7,000 for what was reported to be a "modern" facility. The site finally chosen for the depot was at Twenty-first Street and Third Avenue.
No sooner had the depot been built, then news reached the public on March 2, 1901, that the D.R.I. & N.W. Terminal Lines had leased all of their property to the C.B.& Q. (Chicago Burlington & Quincy) & the C.M. & St. P. (Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul) rail lines for an estimated profit of over one million dollars. The two new lines had a fifty-fifty ownership split. Under this agreement, the C.B. & Q. line gained control of the superb shipping facilities on the D.R.I. & N.W. lines tailrace, which had been heavily utilized by all the factories since the building of the line. The "Q” was looking for a location to build a passenger depot for several years, so acquiring rights to the depot was an asset to their business. The agreement gave the C.M. & St. P. joint access to the passenger depot and a freight depot located at 2135 - 3rd Ave. They also acquired track necessary for their new line to Kansas City which, when completed, gave the Milwaukee through service from Chicago to Kansas City. .
Records show millions of tons of goods coming into and leaving Moline in the years that followed. Passenger trains made three and four trips daily from Moline to Chicago, a trip that took approximately four hours. Fares listed in 1901 show a trip to Denver cost $25 and only $30 to go on to San Francisco, or Los Angeles. The depot was in continuous use until 1934. At that time the rail lines chose to discontinue passenger service from this terminal and the property was offered for sale. It was purchased by' Frank Foundries which had been operating since 1917 on property just north of the station, across the railroad tracks. The building was converted into office space for the growing foundry' s business and remained such until the foundry was closed in 1993 ending the business' impressive 95-year history. The foundry prided themselves on producing “Frankite” castings that were "tailor-made" to fit exacting specifications. The foundry was torn down in 1993 leaving the area north of the depot open to the Mississippi River. The rail tracks have been removed, but the space can still be identified. During their sixty-year ownership, this charming little depot was well cared for and remains architecturally intact.
The D.R.I. & N.W. is still operating in the Quad Cities in 1994, serving primarily as pickup at the various factories, and aligning and depositing the rail cars for the major carriers to transport. Their offices are in Rock Island.

Thanks to David Vande Casteele for providing this history.