When Tom’s alarm rang at 6:00am on Friday September 8, 2023, I knew it was a lot later than my photographer’s original plan of a 3am wakeup call had we not left home a day earlier. Tom and his wife, Vicki, had their stuff packed and we were headed out of St. Joseph, Michigan at roughly 7:56am. It was a disappointing start to the day as the temperature was in the low 60s and a steady rain fell from the overcast sky. While the three of us didn’t mind the cooler temperature, it was the precipitation that was a growing concern. Weather can make or break a trip, and with a second consecutive day of rain, I began to wonder if Tom and Vic had picked a bad time of year to travel. The reasoning behind my photographer’s decision to travel after Labor Day was based solely on the fact that most young kids should be back in school and not sightseeing with their parents. It’s not that Tom and I don’t like children, because we do; but we don’t want to be near them when we’re visiting historic sites. Young children tend to be bored, disruptive, and they get in the way of our photos. Kids need to be at amusement parks instead of burning off their energy inside museums or Presidential homes.
Rain fell as we drove through the upper part of Indiana and halfway through Illinois along I-80. But by the time we had made it across the Mississippi River and into the Davenport, Iowa area around 10:30am, the sky was blue with a spattering of white, puffy clouds.
Our first official site on the trip was in the Village of East Davenport. When Vicki parked the Truckster along East 11th Street, Tom carried me to the front of a business called Lagomarcino’s Confectionery. At first, I was miffed because it seemed too early in the morning for my photographer to be dining on candy and ice cream. It didn’t take long, however, before I discovered Lagomarcino’s was a Presidential site. That’s right – Presidents enjoy candy and ice cream, too.
On Wednesday August 15, 2012, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama arrived at the confectionery where the President delivered a campaign re-election speech in front of the building. When Obama’s address had finished, the First Couple went inside Lagomarcino’s where they were treated to hot fudge sundaes.
After I had posed for a handful of photos near the exterior of Lagomarcino’s, Tom carried me inside where I stood in Booth #3 where the President and First Lady had sat just eleven years earlier. As I stood in the booth and absorbed the atmosphere, it felt as though Barack and Michelle were there with me. In my mind, they looked like college sweethearts gazing into each other’s eyes as they slowly ate their hot fudge sundaes. And perhaps it was because being at Lagomarcino’s had brought back special memories for the couple as their first date featured Baskin-Robbins ice cream in the Summer of 1989.
While I thought our time in Lagomarcino’s couldn’t get any better, it did. One of the staff members told my photographer the sundae glasses used by the Obama’s had been preserved and he would let me pose next to them. Tom carried me over to the soda bar where the two Presidential artifacts were positioned on the shelf atop a mirrored cabinet. The best part of all, at least to my photographer and me, was the relics were not behind protective glass. And since the precious pieces were out in the open, that gave me the perfect opportunity to gently touch the sundae glass used by President Obama.
What an amazing start to the trip! Not only did I stand in the footsteps and butt prints of President Barack Obama, but I nearly licked hot fudge from the sundae glass he had eaten from. At one point during our visit, I thought perhaps Tom would order a hot fudge sundae and eat it while seated at Booth #3. But for some strange reason he didn’t. Instead, he purchased a caramel apple “for the road”, while Vicki bought a bag of assorted chocolates to munch on.
We left Lagomarcino’s in the rearview mirror and headed southwest along the western shore of the Mississippi River and into downtown Davenport. Then, believe it or not, Vicki parked our Truckster along North Ripley Street and just a short distance from the historic Capitol Theater, which was part of the ten-story Kahl Building. When my photographer carried me to an area where we had a great view of the theater, I wondered which of our President’s had delivered speeches within its walls.
The Capitol Theater had opened on December 25, 1920 with a showing of the movie ‘The Man Who Lost Himself’ starring William Faversham. That’s when I immediately thought we were at a Joe Biden Presidential site, but I was mistaken. Over the years, the venue hosted numerous performers and vaudeville shows – but no politicians. Then, on the brisk, cold evening of January 29, 1959, a handful of America’s biggest recording stars took to the Capitol’s stage for a night no one in attendance would ever forget. Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper, Dion and the Belmonts, and Frankie Sardo performed in front of a packed house during their ill-fated Winter Dance Party tour. Just four nights later, Holly, Valens, and The Bopper were killed in a plane crash following their February 2nd performance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. As more modern venues were constructed in the area, the Capitol Theater lost its popularity – by 1977, it ceased operations as a movie theater and in the early 2000s, its doors were closed for good. However, in 2018, the property was purchased by Jim Bergman who began to renovate the historic building, including the theater. The upper floors were transformed into 65 apartments, while the Capitol Theater was in the final stages of restoration before its opening show scheduled for September 13th.
As I posed for several images near the building’s exterior, Tom noticed several construction workers had been going in and out of the theater’s side entrance. When the three of us walked to that same area, my photographer struck-up a conversation with a woman who was standing near the doorway. It turned out the young woman worked for Bergman and her job was to oversee the restoration project. The next thing I knew, the three of us were following the woman into the historic Capitol Theater.
I couldn’t believe my eyes as I looked around the beautifully restored theater. A dozen or so workers were in constant motion as they put the finishing touches around the stage and in the seating area. Vicki and the woman were engaged in a conversation about the restoration project, while Tom and I got as close to the stage as possible without causing issues with the workers. It’s hard to describe the amazingly ornate, handcrafted plasterwork and the original detailed artwork that had been preserved, but the Capitol Theater was one of those places that makes a bobble head stop and say “Wow”.
Tom would’ve given his left ear lobe for the opportunity to stand on the historic stage where Buddy, Ritchie, and The Bopper once stood, but that wasn’t possible due to the ongoing restoration. And that was okay. Since the theater wasn’t open to the public yet, I knew we had been very fortunate to have been allowed inside at all. I simply stood back and gazed at the large stage; framed by four enormous columns, elaborate gold drapery, and an ornate dome at the ceiling. Even though there was a myriad of workers on the stage, there was one moment where I saw a large man, sporting a crew-cut hair style and a leopard-print coat, ramble up to the microphone to say: “Oh baby, you know what I like!”
Even though 64 years had passed since the Winter Dance Party performers last graced that stage, I was stunned to learn the price of admission to one of the two shows at the Capitol was only $1.50, including tax. Billed as the ‘Concert of Stars’ and sponsored by Davenport’s radio station The Big KSTT, Buddy, Ritchie, Bopper, and Dion rocked the Capitol on “The Night the Music Lived – January 29, 1959”. And thanks to the vision of Jim Bergman, and his passion to preserve history, the music will continue to live on within the walls of the beautiful Capitol Theater.
With a wiggle in my walk as my ponytail was a hangin’ down, the three of us left the historic Capitol Theater and headed across the street to the Truckster where we began our short drive to the third of our four sites in Davenport – the historic LeClaire Park Bandshell. When I discovered we were headed for a bandshell, I wondered which band was performing there. Perhaps it was the legendary band KISS? Or maybe even the great founding father of shock rock Alice Cooper?
It turned out there were no bands performing there. However, the LeClaire Park Bandshell, also known officially as the W.D. Petersen Memorial Music Pavilion, has been a Presidential site since August 4, 2004 when President George W. Bush came to Davenport to campaign for his re-election. Then on September 12, 2007, Senator Barack Obama stood on a platform near the bandshell and addressed a packed crowd gathered in LeClaire Park. That park was established in the late 1890s along the shore of the Mighty Mississippi River, and just east of Modern Woodmen Park – home of the Minor League Baseball team known as the Quad Cities River Bandits.
As soon as my photographer carried me into the park, we had the entire pavilion area to ourselves, which made it easy for me to pose for photos without feeling the need to rush. As I stood on the bandshell’s stage and looked out over the empty seats and across the vacant LeClaire Park, I thought I heard President Bush’s remarks from nearly two decades earlier. “We have a little difference of opinion about the heart and soul – some of them think you can find it in Hollywood. I think you find it right here in Davenport, Iowa.” If I was a betting bobble head, I’d bet ol’ W said nearly the same thing in every city he campaigned in.
Tom carried me down to the river’s edge as soon as we had finished our pictures at the bandshell. The two of us met up with Vicki, who was seated on a park bench as she enjoyed the view of the muddy Mississippi. After a few minutes of idle time, which is rare, my impatient photographer told his wife it was noon and we needed to head to the final site in Davenport – which was a statue of Abraham Lincoln in nearby Bechtel Park.
It took only a couple of minutes for us to make the short drive to Bechtel Park. My photographer’s wife stayed in the van while Tom carried me into the park, which seemed to be somewhat neglected. But as rundown as the park seemed to be, the 13-foot-tall statue of Abraham Lincoln looked majestic as it stood proudly in the shadow of the nearby Arsenal Bridge. But that statue wasn’t just a monument erected to honor the memory of our 16th President. Instead, it represented a moment in Davenport history when the Plains lawyer came from Springfield to fight a legal battle – a battle that helped shape the future of the area and our nation.
In 1856, which was the same year Abraham Lincoln abandoned the Whig Party and joined the newly formed Republican Party, the up-and-coming politician donned his lawyer hat and arrived in Davenport to investigate one of his most famous legal cases along the Mississippi River. Captain John Hurd, whose steamboat sunk after colliding with the railroad bridge that traversed the river from Davenport to the Rock Island Arsenal, filed a lawsuit against the Railroad Bridge Company with two goals in mind. He sought payment for his lost boat, and he wanted the bridge removed – sighting it was a hazard to all riverboat traffic. Lincoln, who was hired by the railroad company, was meticulous during in his fact-finding mission. Not satisfied with only the descriptions of the riverboat wreck, Abe consulted data from Robert E. Lee’s original survey, he spoke with local railroad workers, he considered the speed of the river, traffic on the river, and the engineering specifications of the bridge itself. The case was heard in a Chicago circuit court, and ultimately ended in a hung jury. The bridge was allowed to stay, and Lincoln’s role in the case helped solidify him as a skilled trial attorney.
Tom placed me on the statue, which was called ‘Lincoln with Boy on Bridge’ and was dedicated on January 7, 2016. Towering over us was the modern Arsenal Bridge, which was erected in 1895 roughly 1,500 feet downstream from the original bridge that was demolished in 1872. The larger-than-life figure of the clean-shaven lawyer depicted Lincoln deep in thought as a young boy looked up at him from the bridge. According to the wording engraved on the statue’s base, Lincoln said to the boy: “I’m mighty glad I came out here where I can get a little less opinion, and a little more fact.”
There have been statues of Abraham Lincoln erected all around the country, and most of them honor his legacy for saving the Union and emancipating the slaves during his Presidency. But the statue in Bechtel Park honored Lincoln for his work as an attorney and the steel bridge behind it stood as a double-decked monument to one of Abe’s defining legal achievements. Had Lincoln not won the case for the railroad, which saved the first bridge to span the Mississippi River, the transcontinental railroad may have been delayed for years.
Our morning in Davenport, Iowa couldn’t have gone any better. I stood in the footsteps of several Presidents, plus I visited the historic Capitol Theater where the Winter Dance Party musicians performed just four days before three of the headliners were killed.
But it was 12:30pm and time to head West – likely on the same route used by Buddy Holly’s bus in 1959 when Winter Dance Party tour traveled to Fort Dodge, Iowa following their shows in Davenport. While Tom, Vicki, and I had planned on seeing the Laramar Ballroom in Fort Dodge as well, that visit was scheduled for the following day. Instead, my photographer planned for us to stop in West Branch, Iowa where the three of us would spend the rest of our Friday afternoon with our 31st President, Herbert Hoover. See you there!
