Rock Island

City and administrative headquarters of Rock Island County, northwest Illinois, USA, at the confluence of the Rock and Mississippi rivers, 270 km/170 mi southwest of Chicago; population (2000) 39,700. Manufactured products include rubber, electronics, farm implements, aluminium products, machinery, and clothing. The town was founded in 1835, at a bridge site over the Mississippi, which incorporated the island or ‘rock’ for which it was named; the isle is now the location of a US government arsenal and the Armament National Readiness Command Headquarters for the US Army. Augustana College (1860) is in the city.

Rock Island is part of the Quad Cities metropolitan area, which also includes Moline in Illinois, and Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa.

Originally a Sac and Fox village, Rock Island attracted Americans for its strategic value and fertile surrounding lands, which soon became cornfields. Fort Armstrong was built on the island in 1816, while the city itself was settled in 1826. Serving as US military headquarters during the Black Hawk War, Rock Island thrived as a steamboat port. A Civil War prisoner camp was established on the island, which is also the site of a National and a Confederate cemetery.