Butterworth Parkway - Creating the Park

In 1940 Moline citizens passed a referendum creating its first Playground and Recreation Board and a new tax of $1.33 ½ on each $1,000 of assessed property valuation for “conducting and maintaining a playground and recreation system for the use and benefit of its citizens”.    The board would be comprised of five members who would serve without compensation. Ben Butterworth lobbied for an appointment to that very first playground and recreation board and was successful.  Ralph Birks was hired as the first Park Superintendent.

Mr. Birks and the new Park Board went right to work and collaborating with a variety of community groups and volunteers offered a wide variety of activities to Moline residents.  The swimming pool was open, there were weekly flower shows, the City and the Industrial softball leagues had 8 teams each, horseshoes were popular at Riverside Park, and musical groups performed at several of the parks.  In the winter there was sledding, and they readied four ice rinks, one with floodlights installed for night skating.

Moline had eleven parks including the large Prospect and Riverside parks, along with small areas like Memorial Square and Observatory Park.  Soon they would enter into a lease agreement with Deere & Co., reportedly brokered by Ben Butterworth, for undeveloped land along the riverfront between 27^th and 34^th Streets.  They named the land Mississippi Park.

But the area was not at all park-like.  The land was not level and much of it was covered with scruffy weeds.  To make the land usable, the area was graded, and a parking lot was installed.  The plan was to upgrade the park as equipment and materials were available, but progress was slow.

On November 10, 1948 The Moline Dispatch featured a front-page account of public comments before City Council objecting to a proposed public harbor in front of their riverfront properties and emphasized that any rumors that they would surrender their rights to their waterfront property were untrue.

But as time passed attitudes changed.  Deere & Company’s lease of their land to the city was changed to a donation. Property owners agreed to donate or sell their land on the north side of River Drive and acquisitions continued into the 1970s. The marina, boat ramp and neighboring restaurant would be completed in 1973 and federal grants in the 1980’s allowed for further development including shelters, handicapped accessible fishing piers, parking and playgrounds. On September 9, 1972 the park was officially named the Ben Butterworth Parkway in honor of Mr. Butterworth’s long service on the Park Board and his commitment to parks with a variety of amenities, in all areas of the city, and accessible to all the citizens of Moline.  Ben Butterworth retired from the park board on December 24, 1968 after 27 years of service.

For the first few decades after the dedication of the Ben Butterworth Parkway, it hosted an annual celebration called Riverfest.  This event was huge attracting more than 100,000 attendees.  Thirty-five planning committees would come together to produce an event that included live music, a boat parade, fire engine rides, a penny arcade where for 25 cents you could purchase a bag of 25 arcade game tickets, a petting zoo, a racing pig contest, a Rolle Bolle tournament, food vendors and a parking shuttle system for offsite parking.  Best of all, almost everything was free!  The festival size decreased over time and in the early 2000’s it was discontinued due to lack of funding and I would guess, tired volunteers.

Did You Know?

The Belgians developed Rolle Bolle. Here in the United States, it is generally played on a 42-foot-long bare ground or limestone court with a stake at each end set 30 feet apart.  Two teams of 3-4 players take turns trying to score points by rolling their bolle towards the stake at the far end of the court.  Points are awarded for the closest bolle(s) to the stake.    The bolle is typically 6 to 8 inches in diameter with tapered edges that cause it to roll in an elliptical fashion.  The bowler aims the bolle along an elliptical path to get as close to the stake as possible. Knocking an opponent’s bolle out of the way is ok.  The first team to score a set number of points wins the game.

Another popular tradition along the Parkway was a holiday lights display billed as the “Great White Way.”  A one-mile stretch of the Parkway was illuminated by 80,000 Christmas lights.  Lights were all white except for a colorfully decorated tree at each end.  Kiwanis members and other volunteers donated their labor to decorate 300 tress and structures along the route.  Other events associated with the lighting included Christmas Caroling by members of the Quad City Music Guld and an ice sculpture contest.

A not so welcome tradition along the Parkway is flooding. Almost every spring, sections of the parkway and River Drive need to be closed due to high water.  Evidence of planning for flooding is seen in the current choices of plantings and materials.

One of the most popular features of the Parkway in both summer and winter continues to be the riverfront trail.  The Ralph B. Birks Recreational Trail, named for Moline’s first Parks Director, is 4.5 miles along the southern shoreline of Mississippi River.  Most of it runs within the park, but a small section runs adjacent to downtown Moline.  Its flat surface is great for walkers, runners, bikers, and leisurely strolls.  River views are fantastic and you may get a close-up view of ducks and geese as well.

The Birks Recreational Trail is part of the larger Great River Trail system that runs for 60 miles through small towns and midwestern countryside from Rock Island to Savana, Illinois.  Along the trail there are nine fitness stations with instructional exercise signs at each location.  This link to the Great River Trail website will give you access to a trail map and information on activities and restaurants along the way.

The Birks Recreational Trail is also part of two additional trails that cross paths here in the Quad Cities.  The first is Mississippi River Trail that runs 3,000 miles from the headwaters of the river in Itasca, Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico near New Orleans.

For those with even longer travel ambitions, the RBBR trail is also part of the American Discovery Trail that crosses the country from the coast in California to the coast in Delaware for more than 6,800 miles across 15 states. To pass through Moline you will need to take the northern route.

Did You Know?

There are two ways to add your own memorial to the Ben Butterworth Parkway: engraved memorial pavers or a black metal bench with a memorial plaque set in the concrete foundation. The bench is pictured below.  To learn more, follow the link.