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 The old south bridge was
finished in 1893, and was meant for wagons, but soon cars went across
its rickety wooden flooring. The deck of the north bridge had steel
grating, which you could see through. In this picture the little
tollhouse at the foot of 2nd St is not visible.
 Moeszinger and Marquis Hardware
was a business on 2nd at 8th Ave. So. The building was built in 1899,
and later C. E. Armstrong moved there, after their 1916 fire on 5th
Ave. (The Shoecraft Building)
 In front of that building we
see a horse wagon with "shoofly" roping. Note the bowling alley in the
background.
The Clinton National Bank
started on the corner of 2nd St. and 6th Ave.
It was once owned by Coan,
Young, and Lamb, but later became part of the Young Corp.
with the Clinton Herald.
Towel and Spreiter faced 2nd St., at 5th Ave., the main street of Clinton in 1900.
 The main trolley line was on 2nd
Street in 1910, these wider gauge tracks were installed in the
1890's to accommodate bigger trolleys and the new electric
railroad---Iowa Interurban, or CDM, as it was called.
Looking up 2nd St. from 6th Ave. So., we see the Lafayette Hotel on the right, then the Weston
and Howes Buildings.
On the left would be Marcucci's, the Fishbowl, the Davis Opera House, the Clinton National Bank, and
the tracks heading to Lyons.
 In the 1950's, 2nd Street at
7th Ave. So. was busy with the Clinton Hotel, the Lafayette,
Weston Bldg., and the Howes Bldg.
Motels were just catching on
around the country.
 A view looking north on 2nd St.
from atop the Weston Bldg. Note that it is before 1912,
because there is no Van Allen Bldg. The main trolley car line is
seen in the street and Towle & Spreiter faces 2nd Street. Cars are evident
and we see the City Hall, the Courthouse on the horizon, and the budding
Telephone Office on 4th Ave. The town is modern with
electric lights, too.
The Howes Bldg. had a floor
added later, and see all the trolley car wires in the sky. The globe
lights would be nice to have now.
 This block of buildings needs
study, but could very well have been on second street and 4th Ave.
So. or is it on Main Ave. , south side? Check these spots out. Study
the roof line, window placement and adjacent buildings. Note the big
structure in back.
The Holms Building, which became Voss
Plumbing. It's on 2nd St. at 3rd Ave. on the SE corner.
 Schall Candy Co. built
their main office and factory on the east side of 2nd St. a block
south of the Courthouse. You can see SCC in ornate design on the top
of that building.
The old city hall was on 2nd
St. behind the Van Allen bldg., as was the Clinton Herald, on the north corner.
Every city function was housed in this building---police, mayor, city council,
fire dept. etc. In 1935, when Washington Jr. High was built the city offices
were moved to the old grammar school on 3rd St. and DeWitt Park. A new fire
station was also built. This building languished until 1955, when it was torn
down.
 "Clinton's finest," the police
in the 1930's with their Thompson Sub Machine guns and their high-
powered police car. They are standing on 2nd St. with bullet proof
vests on awaiting the likes of John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, or
Machine Gun Kelly, who were noted bank robbers: Clinton did have a
bank robbery when the employees opened up one day, robbers were
waiting in the bank. The bandits were captured within hours and
sentenced to prison within weeks! The Turner Society Bldg. is in the
background, where gymnastics reigned supreme. There were many clubs
in every city around America where people could socialize. The
Strand Theater is on the other corner and showed all the great
serials of Flash Gordon and the Perils of Pauline on Friday night
for a dime.
The Revere Hotel on Second
Street at 4th Ave. So. was one of the oldest in Clinton and later housed
a wonderful teen hangout for good food and social life, run by the
Pollastrini family, who later brought the Rastrellis to
Clinton. The rumbling brick street was very busy. The
Revere Confectionery Shop was run by Amos "Curly" Pollastrini; "Curly's"
son's nick name was "Hershey" for the candy. The little guy in the
next photo used to come to the back door to visit Pete Rastrelli for
soft ice cream. The Revere and Marcucci's were teen hangouts in the
30's and 40's.
 Here's how little Gary Herrity
spent 1942 and the war years as his 3 brothers fought around the world.
The Herritys lived on 4th Ave. So., so their dentist dad could walk to
work, as many people did from 1850 to 1950. In the vicinity were the
MaidRite, telephone office, Beier's Bakery, The Strand, Turner's, the
pool hall (the Wooster Bldg), Les Campe's shoe repair, and the famous
Sino Grocery Store, which was one of several in the local chain.
Heinie and Obie Sino were famous Clintonians. When the Herritys'
listened to the radio they envisioned the wall, crank phone in Sino's
as the one Archie used in "Duffy's Tavern," and the Herrity's hall
closet was the vision when Fibber Magee's closet was accidentally
opened by Mayor LaTrivia. Crrrraaaaaassshhhhh! clunk, ping,
plop. Radio was the tool of imagination and whole families hovered around
it listening to "Allen's Alley," "The Life of Reilly," "The
Lone Ranger," and were scared silly by "Inter sanctum", "The Shadow" ..and many more.
 Old
cars had hard rubber tires. Henry Ford invented the assembly line for making
cars and his company turned out 15 million model T's between 1915 and 1923. You
"could have any color you want, just so it was black"! A driver used
to start the car with a crank in the front of the engine, which could give a
kick when it started, so you'd have to look out for broken arms!
 This hard rubber-tire truck of
1910 era was being weighed with lumber in it. Clinton had many lumber
companies and Gabriel's was on 4th Ave.
 The Clinton County courthouse
was completed in 1898, after more than 5 years of work, theft, and a
depression. The original county seat was in Camanche, which was
changed to Vandenburg (DeWitt), after the famous tornado of 1860
killed so many and decimated the town. The powers of Clinton drew the
county seat here in 1869, and a wood frame building was used. An old
jail was built, and Sheriffs Kai Petersen and Marv Bruhn gave parties
for the kids. The Courthouse Tower is the color of oxidized copper, like the Statue of Liberty.
This was the DeWitt Courthouse
of 1861-1868; it's on the cover of the 1976 bicentennial history book
of Clinton County.
The contractor took
courthouse stone to
build his own house on 5th Ave. So. and Argyle, which further delayed
the completion.
 Iten's Snow White Bakery was sold in 1928, just
in the nick of time to avoid the depression. This building became
Burpee's Seed Co. for years and now is a furniture
warehouse. The Iten Snow White Bakery was bought by Nabisco so they could get the patent for the saltine cracker.
 Stores were dark and lots of people liked to
socialize there. You've heard of "cracker barrel discussions" or "hot
stove leagues."Clothes of circa 1915 were
beginning to look more like today's, but more formal. Even bowlers and
store owners wore ties.
Every town had its brewery.
Whiskey Hollow, in Lyons, was our first, then this beautiful one was
built near "the Big Tree" on 2nd St. and 13th Ave. No. You dared not
go to the other side of the tree, if you belonged on the Clinton or
Lyons side. Clinton annexed Lyons in 1898 (never forgiven) and the
streets were changed/coordinated in 1927. So the story goes
about the brewery, that the German brewers lived on the other side of
2nd and had piping put under the street so that they could open a
spigot in their house and partake of the beer. "Pointer Beer" was one of
the favorites.
 The trolley heads north on 2nd
St. (then 6th in Lyons) by the Grace Episcopal and Lyons Methodist
Churches. The destination might be Joyce's Park, which was donated to
the city as the famous and beautiful Eagle Point Park!
Parades were important social events.
Getting ready for a
parade.
Another old parade float,
circa 1919
A WWI parade marches up 2nd St.
at 6th Ave. So.
  
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