Rock Island High School Architecture History

In 2009 the RIHS Library received a letter from Joyce Sandbulte of Sioux Center, Iowa.  Enclosed with her letter were photos taken by her father, Joseph Sperl, who took the photos when the high school was being built. Joseph Sperl worked for Coath & Goss of Chicago, the general construction contractors.  The original photos are now on file in the archive room of the RIHS library.  Click on a thumbnail photo below to see the full photo; then click your browser’s back button to return to this page.

  January 1936 construction photos

  March 1936 construction photos

  April 1936 construction photos

August 1936 construction photos

  November 1936 construction photos

  Group photo of construction workers.  In the middle is Joseph Sperl, whose daughter Joyce donated this clipping from the July 27, 1936 edition of the Rock Island Argus.

  Coath & Goss advertisement in the 1937 Watchtower.

  Benjamin A. Horn advertisement in the 1938 Watchtower

  1938 postcard donated by Joyce Sandbulte

Rock Island Preservation Commision

Click on the above link to view a six page excerpt concerning the Rock Island High School building; from Rock Island’s Modernistic Architecture, by the Rock Island Preservation Commission, 1997.

Rock Island Preservation Society

A history of Rock Island high school buildings

Click on the above link to view an article by Diane Oestreich, slightly modified from the original, which appeared in the Rock Island Argus and Moline Dispatch on May 20, 2001.