Rock River (Credit Island)

On the southwest edge of Davenport, Iowa, within the Quad Cities, sits an island in the Mississippi River known as Credit Island. The name traces back to its role as a fur trading post, where traders would extend credit against hides and skins that customers promised to hand over down the road. Recognition came on February 3, 1999, when the island earned a place on the Davenport Register of Historic Properties.

Modern times

When the two hundredth anniversary of the fighting arrived in 2014, interest in the old battlefield surged again, prompting a project aimed at pinning down exactly where on the island the combat had taken place.

These days, the island exists as a 420 acre park, roughly 1.7 square kilometers in size, managed by Davenport Parks and Recreation. Visitors can find a disc golf course there, along with fields set up for rugby, soccer, baseball, and softball. The park also offers picnic shelters, spots for fishing, and a trail for bicycling. Beyond recreation, the island regularly hosts public gatherings and draws people who come simply to take in the scenery or watch eagles.

Back in May 2010, Davenport secured funding from the State Historical Society of Iowa to carry out an archaeological survey of one of the islands dotting the Mississippi along the Iowa side.

Two years later, in 2012, crews began building a bridge along the island's west side, meant to connect the Mississippi River Trail bike path with Concord Street in Davenport.

Fire broke out at the Credit Island Lodge on May 2, 2013, and the structure was later brought back through restoration work completed in 2015.

Other names for Credit Island

Government maps have carried the label Credit Island since Illinois first became a state, a fact confirmed by the 1838 map reproduced on this page. Yet ownership changes and various commercial ventures over the decades brought a string of alternate titles to this stretch of land.

Around 1868, John and Dorothea Offerman, parents of four sons, left their farm situated between Slopertown Road and Harrison Street northwest of Davenport, Iowa, to acquire the island, which they then called Offerman's Island. County ownership records from 1894 confirm that John Offerman still held the property known as Credit Island at that time. A Mississippi River Commission survey conducted on August 7, 1895 likewise labeled it Offerman's Island.

This tract fell within Rockingham Township, located in Scott County, Iowa. Prior to the Offerman purchase, it had already carried several labels, including Suburban Island, Grand Island, and Manhattan Island. Ownership shifted again in 1901 when Claus Kuehl paid $22,500 for the property, and by 1903 it had taken on yet another identity as The Grand Isle.

New private owners acquired the land in 1904, giving it the name Suburban Island in reference to the rail line that serviced the location. Swimmers and athletes frequented the spot for recreation in the years leading up to World War I. When the city of Davenport purchased the island in 1918, officials ran a public contest to settle on a permanent name, and Credit Island emerged as the decisive favorite. Later on, a golf course took over the ground once occupied by picnic areas and swimming facilities.

During the 1890s, the surrounding region saw amusement parks spring up at several locations: Campbell's Island, Prospect Park, and Black Hawk State Park stood on the Illinois side of the river, while Suburban Island and Schutzen Park occupied the Iowa side. Following Davenport's 1918 acquisition of the island, the Park Board began keeping official meeting minutes, and these records contain no reference to the amusement park, suggesting it had already closed by that point. A Figure 8 roller coaster also operated on the island beginning in 1905, though the date of its removal remains unknown, and evidence indicates the amusement park itself persisted until at least 1917.