The Rock Island Arsenal and Rock Island in the World Wars

Western Illinois Historical Review © 2020 Volume XI, Spring 2020 ISSN 2153-1714 ‘Rock Island Needs Machinists’: The Rock Island Arsenal and Rock Island in the World Wars By Jordan Monson Western Illinois University “Availability of workers… was vital to the successful operation of Rock Island Arsenal in the World War, just as it must be in any future military crisis in which the country may become involved.”1 Industries and businesses have a huge impact on the development of a community. No business can be successful without labor provided by communities, and communities rarely grow without the availability of jobs provided by businesses. In this same way, the Rock Island Arsenal has had a huge impact on the surrounding communities of Rock Island, Moline, Davenport, and Bettendorf, collectively known as the Quad Cities. Indeed, in an article published in 2018, Aarik Woods points out that the Rock Island Arsenal is far and away the largest employer in the region, and the economic impact of the Arsenal on the Quad Cities was more than one billion dollars.2 With that large of an economic impact, it is safe to say that the success of the Arsenal and the success of the Quad Cities are tied at the hip. However, the Rock Island Arsenal often goes through extreme variation in production and employment numbers, with “The Arsenal’s employment and production traditionally being cyclical in nature… increasing during national emergencies and declining during peacetime.”3 These mobilization and demobilization patterns of the Arsenal were most pronounced during the period between the first and second world wars. This pattern, with how vital the Arsenal is to Rock Island and the Quad Cities, would have a significant impact on the community. However, the connection between the Arsenal and the Quad Cities is something that has gone largely 1 Arsenal Publishing Company, of the tri-cities, War’s Greatest Workshop, Rock Island Arsenal: Historical, Topographical, and Illustrative (Rock Island, Illinois: The Arsenal Publishing co., of the Tri-cities, not Inc., 1922), 120. 2 Aarik Woods, “Rock Island Arsenal’s Annual Economic Impact more than $1 Billion,” Our Quad Cities, January 23, 2018. https://www.ourquadcities.com/news/rock-island-arsenals-annual-economic-impact-more-than-1- billion/ 3 Thomas J. Slattery, Rock Island Arsenal: An Arsenal for Democracy, World War II 50th Anniversary (Rock Island, Illinois: Historical Office, US Army Armament, Munitions and Chemical Command, 1992), 3. 1 unexplored by writers and historians, with scholarship largely focusing on the Arsenal’s contributions to the war effort or regarding the Arsenal as a separate entity from the Quad Cities. When studying the time period between World War I and the end of World War II, it becomes clear that the Rock Island Arsenal’s cyclical employment patterns had a significant impact on Rock Island and the Quad Cities. The historiography of the Rock Island Arsenal is actually somewhat limited, especially since the 1990s. Two of the most recent historical works on the Rock Island Arsenal during this time period are from Thomas Slattery, who published Rock Island Arsenal: An Arsenal for Democracy (1992) and An Illustrated History of the Rock Island Arsenal (1990). Rock Island Arsenal: An Arsenal for Democracy is a well-written article on the role of the Rock Island Arsenal during WWII, including its role as a facilitator to private industries in the region switching to war production, while An Illustrated History of the Rock Island Arsenal covers the history of the Arsenal up through the 19th century. Many of the secondary works on the topic are even less recent, which is the case with Ira Oliver Nothstein’s 1940 article “Rock Island and the Rock Island Arsenal.” The article provides a comprehensive history of the Island and Rock Island Arsenal from the settlement of the area through WWI. The Arsenal Publishing Company’s War’s Greatest Workshop, Rock Island Arsenal: Historical, Topographical, and Illustrative, published in 1922, provides an excellent, in depth look at the Rock Island Arsenal’s operations before and during WWI. Rock Island Arsenal’s pamphlet “A Short History of the Island of Rock Island: Including the Story of the Time Capsule,” published in 1967, provides a very short history of the Rock Island Arsenal throughout its history, from its inception up to the Korean War. 2 Finally, and most importantly, the historiography on Rock Island Arsenal almost never focuses on the connections and impacts between the Rock Island Arsenal and the surrounding communities of the Quad Cities. Most of the scholarly works already listed focus on the history and contributions of the Rock Island Arsenal itself, without spending a lot of time focusing on the surrounding Quad Cities. Even scholarly works dedicated to the Quad Cities will often give the Arsenal its own section and not give many details on the Arsenal’s impacts on the Quad Cities, which is the case in Robert Bouilly’s article “Arsenal Island,” within the 1982 work Quad Cities: Joined by a River. The Quad Cities has always been tied to the Rock Island Arsenal, even before the Arsenal itself was founded. The history of both Rock Island and the Rock Island Arsenal begins with the establishment of Fort Armstrong. Fort Armstrong was established in response to attacks on American troops by Black Hawk, serving with the British during the War of 1812.4 In response to these attacks, “…another and larger expedition was fitted out, the object of which was to punish the Indians at Rock Island and to establish a fort at or near that place.”5 Established around 1815, Fort Armstrong became the predecessor to the Rock Island Arsenal, and the small village that sprang up around it, consisting of the staff and guards of the fort, became the predecessor to the Quad Cities.6 The next big development in the Quad Cities was the arrival of white squatters in the Quad City area, seeking both fertile lands and the protection offered by Fort Armstrong.7 Once the local Native American population had been removed, settlers flocked to the area, eventually founding the cities of Rock Island and Davenport, marking the official 4 Ira Oliver Nothstein, “Rock Island and the Rock Island Arsenal,” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society 33, no. 4 (September 1940): 315-316. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40187950?seq=13#metadata_info_tab_contents 5 Nothstein, “Rock Island,” 316. 6 Nothstein, “Rock Island,” 318-319. 7 Nothstein, “Rock Island,” 312-322. 3 beginning of the Quad Cities.8 No longer requiring a fort for protection, Fort Armstrong was converted into an armory in 1840, which was then converted again into the Rock Island Arsenal in 1861.9 The Arsenal would not be completed until 1893, and the Arsenal would see its first real action during the Spanish-American War, making leather goods for the army.10 According to a publication from the Rock Island Arsenal, “The Spanish-American War marked the beginning of a new era for Rock Island Arsenal.”11 The Arsenal at this time saw its first big employment jump to 2900, and for the first time Quad Cities businessmen and lobbyists actively fought against the downsizing of the Arsenal after the war, now seeing that “the community had a substantial stake in keeping up employment at the Arsenal.”12 Despite this, however, employment at the Arsenal would dip back to around 1200 employees in the post-war years, and would remain at this level until the onset of the First World War.13 The First World War saw a large increase in employment numbers at the Rock Island Arsenal, which had a huge impact on the Quad Cities and Rock Island, particularly in terms of population. The availability of jobs is always a significant pull factor for people moving into a community. The outset of World War I had an enormous impact on the availability of jobs in the Rock Island area, especially considering the rapid expansion of the employment in the Rock Island Arsenal. According to the Arsenal Publishing Company, For some time prior to the outbreak of the World War in 1914, the employees at Rock Island Arsenal totaled approximately 1800 men and 175 women… the disturbance on the Mexican border started increased activities… High speed and maximum production then 8 Nothstein, “Rock Island,” 325-326. 9 Nothstein, “Rock Island,” 326-329. 10 Nothstein, “Rock Island,” 335-337. 11 Rock Island Arsenal, A Short History of the Island of Rock Island, 1816-1966; including the story of the time capsule (Rock Island, Illinois: Rock Island Arsenal, 967), 24. 12 Robert Bouilly, “Arsenal Island,” in Quad Cities: Joined by a River, ed. Frederick Anderson (Davenport: Lee Enterprises, 1982), 127. 13 Bouilly, “Arsenal Island,” 127. 4 became the watchword, and employees were added at a rate close to 250 or 300 each month.14 This rapid expansion of employees at the Arsenal would continue throughout the continuation of the First World War, increasing in its rapidity after the United States entered the war, until the number of employees at the Arsenal had reached nearly 15,000 in November of 1918.15 With over 10,000 new jobs available at the Rock Island Arsenal, with conditions for employees that “cannot be equaled by any other body of men in the vicinity,”16 you would expect that there would be a great number of people interested in moving to the Quad Cities to take advantage of the work. Indeed, there is a great amount of evidence to suggest this is the case, by examining census data, newspaper articles, and secondary scholarship. The availability of jobs at the Rock Island Arsenal during First World War led to a significant increase in the population of the surrounding area.

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