(upbeat music) (camera clicking) - [Narrator] The power of the Mississippi River has long been the driving force behind development along its banks.

In 1836 a visionary and entrepreneur named David Sears moved to the unincorporated area we now know as Moline and built his first dam, which extended from where 15th Street would end to the northern end of what we now know as Arsenal Island.

Sears built sawmills and flower mills along the river, some of which were among the larger employers in the region at the time.

As more and more businesses moved in Sears and his partners, John Spencer and Spencer White, planted and named the area Moline, which is French for city of mills.

Out of all the businesses that opened along the banks of the river and because of Sears's dam, one would become responsible for putting the city of Moline on the map.

In Grand Detour, Illinois another entrepreneur named John Deere had perfected a method of producing steel plows that didn't rust.

David Sears convinced Deere that the river and dams provided the perfect location to expand his business and in 1848, John Deere moved to the city.

Sears built another dam from Arsenal Island over to what was then Benham's Island, now underwater.

This was used as a steamboat landing providing a crucial coaling point.

With an eye always on the horizon for new opportunities, Sears began plans to develop the island which was unoccupied.

It is interesting to note that only Sears and George Davenport were ever granted title to the island.

With the coming of the Civil War Sears moved and the government decided to use the island as the location for their fort and jail.

However, when Sears returned to Moline, the government did not return the land but instead paid him $153,000.

Still an entrepreneur Sears bought land near the mouth of the Rock River and built another dam.

The community that developed around it became known as Searstown and is part of present day Rock Island.

Sears finally retired in 1881, after building a home near the Black Hawk Watchtower.

He died in 1884.

Though mills no longer doubt the shoreline and his dams have disappeared, the legacy of David Sears lives on because of the infrastructure he built and the businesses that followed.

(upbeat music)