Rock Island is one of those towns that pops up in nostalgic culture over and over, but not a lot of people know where it is or much about it. It's almost mythical in a way, due especially to the Rock Island Line, a real train route, short for the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, memorialized in the folk song of the same name. But Rock Island's story is steeped in real history — especially the actual Rock Island, the largest island on the Mississippi River, for which the town is named.
This week, the island now known as Arsenal Island in Rock Island, Illinois.
The American Tobacco Campus and Burt's Bees
Red Rocks
Charters of Freedom
Chicago Sculpture
The Hoover Dam, and Its Mascot
The Wave Organ
The City Museum
Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle
Biltmore
The Market Theater Gum Wall
River Cities Speedway
The International UFO Museum & Research Center
Bellingrath Gardens & Home
The Hollywood Sign
The Shreveport Water Works
The Stanley Hotel
The Space Needle
Cadillac Ranch
The Great Buffalo Roundup
The Neon Boneyard
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It is Free
The Modern West
Concrete Pastures Podcast
The Atlas Obscura Podcast
Points Talk with the Travel Mom Squad
Travel with Rick Steves
Frequent Miler on the Air