Wharton Field House - 90th Birthday

My father, Homer Jackson, is the shadow at the bottom. He was a laborer in building Wharton - and very proud of it. Wharton looms in the background, so our family had an ideal location for Wharton and Browning events, basketball games, football games, track meets, fireworks, pro wrestling, car shows, and the Harlem Globetrotters. I am on the way in the photo, much to the dismay of my siblings, but still invisible and insensible of this photographic moment.

M - O - L - I - N - E ! Mary Gail Laverenz

Do you remember Mary Gail Laverenz back-flipping across the basketball court at Wharton Field House as the crowd spelled out M - 0 - L - I - N - E !

The roar of the crowd was deafening.

A photo would be great.

I recall at the time that only one other person did the same acrobatic cheer, Joline from Moline. I have no other information than that vague memory.

I found Mary Gail's name listed for a birthday at Trinity Lutheran Church, Moline. Let me know if I have the right person.

She is on the cast recording of this Broadway show.

Wharton had that monstrous scoreboard hanging over the court. Now it is gone. Who can forget how it blocked the view and seemed to limit play?

Browning Field in the 1920s

Browning Field
Wharton Field House was built in 1928.
Anonymous Dave:

"Here's a pic of Browning Field from the mid-1920s. A great shot that includes the old baseball stands that burned to the ground around 1958. Browning Playground is not there yet, nor is Whitey's Ice Cream... although the large white building at the very bottom center of the photo is the building that became the Whitey's "factory." Note how narrow 23rd Avenue (now Avenue of the Cities) is."

From Wikipedia:

John T. Browning (1830-1910) was a lawyer who served as the City of Moline's first City Attorney. He was also a two-term State Assemblyman. In his last year of his life, Browning was planning on erecting a memorial to himself on the farmland that he owned when he was convinced by A. M. Beal, President of the Moline Board of Education, to deed the land to the city for use as an athletic park. On July 14, 1910, he added the codicil to his will, stating that his land were to be "held in trust forever by the City of Moline and dedicated to the public as and for a playground and athletic park, which shall be known and designated as the John T. Browning Park, Playground, and Athletic Field".[1]

The next four years saw the creation of a American football/track and field stadium and a baseball field.[1] In the late 1920s, T. F. Wharton, president of the Moline High School boosters' club led the drive toward the sale of bonds, the proceeds of which to pay for the construction of a field house on adjoining land (this was also deeded to the city of Moline upon the retirement of the bonds).[3] Wharton Field House was opened to the public in 1928.

Whitey's Sgt. Camo Ice Cream

Our neighborhood, near Wharton Field House, was two blocks from the original Whitey's. The Dairy Queen was next door, so we could slum it and buy ice milk. But the best treat was to pick out a unique flavor at Whitey's, or enjoy a malted thicker than cement. I remember saving up to get a banana split, because TV shows always mentioned them.

Baskin Robbins had a fling at good ice cream, but they gave up on quality. Whitey's is forever, we hope.

Everyone goes back to Whitey's when returning to the Quad-Cities for a visit. Now they have online ordering, too.

The neighborhood included Wharton, Whitey's, and the Hasty Tasty Restaurant.

In the Beginning

Above is possibly the earliest known picture of me. My mother, Gladys Parker Jackson, is holding my older sister and brother. I could be on the way, but I am not sure. Homer Jackson, my father, is revealed in the shadow on the bottom of the shot. He always wore a hat outside. Behind is Wharton Field House, which my father helped build as a laborer. The street behind is 23rd Avenue. Visible is the home of Kathleen Wilcox' grandparents.

This is the Moline I remember. This is why people told me I was lucky:

1. You live across from the Field House? You never have to worry about where to park the car.
2. You can walk to Whitey's?
3. Your mom is a teacher and your dad makes doughnuts.

Across 18th Street A lived Ken, Linda, and Betty Wiley. Linda was a classmate. When they split the streets for going to one junior high or another, I went to Calvin Coolidge and her side got to stay at John Deere for 8th and 9th grade.

Darlene Gabriel and her sister lived across the alley.

A few houses away, on 23rd Avenue, Tom and Rick Hansen lived. One of my father's 8 mm films shows Tom, Darlene, and me playing in our backyard.

Our parents knew each other from parents' meetings, visiting each other, and saying hello at all the local stores.