House with a past

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By Alma Gaul | Friday, May 9, 2008 5:05 PM CDT | () comments

Larry Fisher/Quad-City Times The exterior of the home has been painted in a four-color scheme of green, red and cream. Buy this Photo

Sometimes when Francy Ricketts steps onto the front porch of her Rock Island office and looks down the street, she imagines the October night in 1924 when Dr. Cyrus T. Foster was hurrying home to what was then his residence.

The physician and surgeon did not make it. Two men were following him and, after catching up, one pressed a gun in his side and pulled the trigger. Foster died sometime later in a hospital.

Interestingly, the spot where Foster fell — the east side of Broadway Presbyterian Church — is not along the most direct route between Foster’s home and the place he was coming from. Ricketts speculates that the doctor knew he was being followed and deliberately led the assailants away from his home, thereby saving his family from possible harm.

She never will know for sure, of course, but it’s something she thinks of. She also wonders about motive. Was it robbery or something more nefarious? Rock Island gangster John Looney was still on the loose at that time, so maybe the good doctor had crossed Looney and there was a “hit out on him,” she muses.

Old homes with histories have a way of captivating their occupants, and Rock Island’s Broadway Historic District is full of those sorts of dwellings.

If you’d like to tour some of those homes and hear their histories, you have a chance Saturday-Sunday, May 17-18, when nine private residences will be open for the district’s annual tour of homes.

This year’s tour — with more homes open than usual — celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Broadway association, a nonprofit group dedicated to restoring the neighborhood and educating both visitors and residents about the history and architecture of the Victorian era.

A closer look

The Ricketts property at 2208 7th Ave. was built in 1883 and had several occupants before it was purchased by Dr. Foster in 1907. His widow remained there until 1966, when she sold it to her daughter and her husband, and it remained in the family into the 1980s.

It became a rental property and had twice been lost by its owners to back taxes when Ricketts purchased the house in 2003 for use as her psychology office.

“The third time’s a charm,” she said.

She liked the location because it is on a busy street and easy to find, but the house itself needed work. She hired a contractor to upgrade the power and install a new roof, a heating/air conditioning system and plumbing. She also chose a four-color exterior paint scheme dominated by green with accents of cream and red.

For her efforts to restore and adapt the building to a new use, she received a commendation in 2004 from the Rock Island Preservation Society.

“Some houses just won’t work for commercial; this one would,” she said. The bottom floor is her professional office for Adolescent Child and Couples Psychology, and the upstairs is an apartment. Although the downstairs is a work area, it is decorated like a home, a setting that makes Ricketts’ clients feel comfortable and calms their anxieties.

The front door, with its original leaded- and beveled-glass, opens to a foyer with an Italianate-style staircase ascending to the second floor.

To the left is a parlor that was originally two rooms with a scalloped arch in between. The opening has been filled in to create two private offices. An important feature of the first parlor is an original metal chandelier that was built for both gas and electricity.

A second parlor is dominated by a bay window and a profusion of potted plants.

The back of the house contains a kitchen with pine plank flooring, red walls and glass-fronted cupboards believed to be original. A small room added to the back of the house as a pantry is now a bathroom.

Visitors will want to check out two other features: various pieces of original artwork hanging throughout the first floor and the garden on the east side of the property that was installed by former owner Chris Larson.

The garden is a “vernacular Italianate” design, Ricketts said, which was ahead of its time with a fish pond and areas that retain stormwater runoff.

Alma Gaul can be contacted at (563) 383-2324 or agaul@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.

IF YOU GO

What: Annual tour of homes in Rock Island’s Broadway Historic District

When: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday-Sunday, May 17-18

How much: $13 in advance at any Quad-City area Hy-Vee Food Store; $15 the day of the event at any home. Children 12 years and younger free.

For more information: Call (309) 786-1307 or visit broadwaydistrict.org on the Web