A history lesson, one YouTube video at a time in The Cities.

[lively music] [music ends] This month, WQPT is teaming up with amateur historian and Quad City native Jared Howe to showcase some stories he's featured in his YouTube series Forgotten Quad Cities for about a year Howe, has put together history vignettes that tell the story of the cities from before white settlers arrived to the 1993 floods.

From concerts that were groundbreaking and memorable, to the comfort foods that are a staple of the Quad City Diet.

On Monday, August 17th well featur some of those stories on WQPT, and we got a chance to talk with Jare Howe from his home in Seattle.

So Jared, Forgotten Quad Cities, where did this idea to d these YouTube videos come from?

That's a great idea.

I think it was born from, having a father that told me about a bunch of the old stories.

When I was a young kid.

And so I grew up knowing abou the Watchtower amusement park.

I'd heard about John Looney.

I had heard about the Rock Island Independents, the NFL team that was, that played there.

So I knew about all the stories.

But I got to be a certain age, and I was wanting to learn more about them.

And, so a couple of years ago, I started to write, content about some of these stories.

I went on the internets and did some research.

And then I had a friend who was doing, not just content on Facebook, but was creating what was called Reels.

So she created some videos of, content.

I was like, you know what?

I could probably do that as well.

So I got, one of the tools that she was using, and I started t create these reels, and that was probably less than a year ago that started.

And, within a couple weeks, it took off and people started find my site.

I have no idea how that happened, but people starte to want to learn more about it.

So, as of this, right now we have about 30,000 folks who have come and, our, Friends of the, of the site.

Well and that that's pretty amazing.

Now, you left the Quad Cities for Seattle a couple of years ago.

I mean, are the strings still there in a way?

I mean, you seem to still have this connection.

Well, it's a funny thing, right?

You grow up, and your hometown always has particular kind of pull, right?

At least that's what I found.

And I've lived many, I've lived many other places.

East coast and West coast.

But I find my strongest roots back there.

And, there's something about where you grew up that has the heart strings, right?

So, I don't know why, but I feel like every other place I've lived, I feel like I'm visiting.

So.

And whenever I go back home, I feel like, oh, this is my birthplace.

This is where I'm from.

This is who I am.

So, that's what I really feel.

I was looking at, you know, some of the topics you have, and then we'll go through a number of them.

But, just as a generalization, it just it struck me there are an awful lot of stories, to be told about Quad City history dating back to, you know, even just as white settlers arrived.

It's just such a rich area fo for somebody who loves history.

Yes.

I would say that part of the reason why I started this as well, because I didn't know the stories, right?

I didn't know exactly how were we founded and who first came here, who first lived here.

And I knew it, sort of like a basic way, but I didn't know the whole stories.

And one of the first stories I learned about was, the Suak people who lived here.

And, as you know, we grew up with Black Hawk and being told about those stories, but I didn't know how big his, city was.

That was that was here.

And, I had not been told that story.

So that was one of the first stories that I told on this page.

And, it just led me to more and more stories that I kind of knew about but didn't know really the whole story.

So that's been what I've wanted to tell is that, stories that have just been kind of lost, you know.

Well, and so often they are people stories.

I mean, right, as you brought up, I mean, Black Hawk or or Colonel Davenport, John Deere or or my favorite character, John Looney.

John Looney, yeah.

Which is, which I want to talk to a lot mor because you've spent a couple, issues, a couple of, editions on him.

But, I mean, it is that kind of, you like telling the stories of the people?

I definitely, want to tell the stories of the people first, because I feel the story of peopl is what draws folks in, right?

Because you just don't want to learn about this thing happened, that that thing happened.

You all learned what were, the people who were here.

What did they did?

What, what did they do?

How did they live?

What were the choice that they actually made?

Right?

And how did those choices that they made then affect us now?

And not only people, not only people, but also products?

Let's be honest.

When you talk about the Quad Cities, you talk about Whitey's ice cream and you talk about Quad City pizza.

I mean, do you still have a taste for those?

Is that is that something that you knew had to be included in the discussion?

I mean, I'll tell you this, I've gone many places in my life.

I have never had as good of ice cream as Whitey's.

And I mean that I'm telling the truth about that.

Because Whitey's ice cream.

It's so good.

And I've never been anywhere else.

Where the pizza, was the exact same as the pizza back home.

And I thought when I grew up, I didn't know we had our own style pizza.

I thought this was just pizza.

Right.

So it took me some time after looking like, oh, wow, this is different than any other place.

And, the pizza just taste a little bit better, right?

I grew up close to Whiteys.

I grew up close to Harris Pizza, and that was what I knew good ice cream and pizza was.

Well, and one of the interesting things about Quad City Pizza, and you ask any Quad Citian.

Every now and then you see a scissors being brought ou in order to cut the slices and, and all of that.

And let's, let's take a little look at one of your pieces, because you did, like I said, you did a vignette on Quad City pizza.

“What Home Tastes Like”.

Let's take a look at that right now.

What home tastes like.

The story of Quad City style pizza in the Quad Cities.

Pizza is more than just food.

It is memory.

It is loyalty.

It is identity.

People here don't ask where to get pizza.

They ask whose pizza you grew up with.

Quad city style pizza.

Did not come from a single chef or a single moment.

There is no signed recipe card, no agreed upon birth year.

Instead, it emerged slowly shaped by immigration, industry and the working rhythms of ou Quad Cities slowly taking shape.

Italian families began settling in the Quad Cities in the lat 19th and early 20th centuries.

Many drawn by factor jobs, rail work, river commerce, and nearby coal mining.

Food i those households was practical.

It had to stretch.

It had to feed people who worked long hours and it had to reheat well.

This was not luxury food.

It was fuel.

Pizza appeared in the quad Cities earlier than many people realize, but it did not immediately resemble what locals recognize today.

In the 1920s and 1930s Italian taverns and cafes served simple flat pizzas influence by southern Italian traditions.

They were often round, sometimes cut into wedges, sometimes eaten communally at the table.

The version people now call Quad City style began to take shape after World War Two, roughly in the late 1940s and 1950s, when small family run pizza shops spread across Rock Island, Davenport, Moline and Bettendorf.

This is where the origin stories start to overlap.

Several families and businesses are commonly cited as shaping the style.

Harris Pizza in Rock Island traces its roots to 1960, when Harris and Conni Rainey opened their first shop.

Harris Pizza is often credited with popularizing the defining elements of the style the malted crust, the sweet sauce, and the finely ground sausage spread edge to edge.

The Rainey family has consistently stated they did not invent the style outright, but refined what already existed locally and standardized it across locations.

Frank's pizzeria, located in Silvis, opened earlier in the late 1950s and is frequently mentioned by long time resident as an equally early influence.

Frank's customer argue that the flavor profile, ovens and strip cut method were already in place there before Harris expanded.

Frank's never franchised, never modernized much, and that consistenc has become part of its legend.

Other longtime shops and families have mad similar claims over the years, including early tavern owners in Davenport and Moline who served square cut pizza before it was widely marketed as a regional style.

Some former owners recalled learning the malt edition from local bakers rather than inventing it themselves.

Borrowing from bread recipes that used malt syrup because it was cheap and readily available.

What made Quad Cities pizza different did not come from culinary experimentation.

It came from what was on hand.

Malt sirup was a byproduct of the region's brewing, baking and industrial food culture.

It added color, a subtl sweetness and density to dough that needed to hold up in boxes, on counters, and through reheating.

Over time, that malt flavor became the signature.

The crust didn't fold.

It snapped.

The toppings followed the same logic.

Sausage was not scattered.

It was ground fine and spread evenly, a technique that ensured every bite had meat without requiring large quantities.

Cheese was layered heavily, but not delicately.

Pepperoni was thick, ofte curling at the edges as it baked And then there was the cut, not slicing, strips The strip cut likely evolved for speed and sharing.

Long rectangle were easier to serve in taverns and at large gatherings.

They encouraged grazin instead of individual portions.

Pizza became something you shared automatically.

By the 1960s and 1970s, the style was fully recognizable.

Neighborhood pizza shops were everywhere.

Some were attached to bars.

Some sat near factories or rail lines.

Many stayed open late to catch second and third shifts.

Pizza was picked up after work, after games, after wakes, after union meetings, after church events.

Over time, the pizza change slightly, but never completely.

Sausages grew sweeter in some shop spicier, and others some crust became a little thicker.

Others, thinner and crisper.

Cheese blends shifted with availability and cost.

Ovens modernized boxes changed, bu the fundamentals stayed intact.

Malted crust.

Dense chew.

Strip cut.

Heavy sausage.

That consistency is wh people who leave the Quad Cities talk about missing the pizza with such intensity.

Attempts to recreate it elsewhere usually fail not because the recipe is secret, but because the context is missing.

This pizza was shaped b river towns, factory schedules and families who ordere from the same place for decades.

It absorbed habits, expectations, loyalty.

Even now, when food culture prizes reinvention, Quad Cities Pizza resists it.

This pizza was never trying to impress anyone else.

It was mad for the people who lived here.

And in the Quad Cities, that has always been enough.

Jared, that was a look at Quad City Pizza.

It was always kind of a fight between, you know, you know, all the different types of pizza joints that made that type of pizza.

Correct.

Yeah.

Everyone has their favorite place, from Franks, to Harris to a bunch of other places that I don't even have never heard of.

But the comments that were left by people, they all have their favorite pizza place.

And that video was probably my most watched one because everyone loves pizz and everyone has their own place that they think makes this pizza that the best and makes their own style of pizza different.

I want to talk about the area of history that I've always found fascinating about the Quad Cities.

Maybe that says more about me than it says about anything else And one would be, of course, a Bucktown and the wickedest city in America.

The other, of course, is John Looney.

Yeah.

Let's start with John Looney.

Let's talk about even the, Market square riot, the fact that he owned a newspaper, the fact that he went after the folks at the Argus, John Looney was a character bigger, far bigger than the city.

That is so true.

And, like, what I never kne is how widespread his power was.

I had heard that, oh, yeah, he was a mobster that lived, you know, about 100 years ago.

But as I did more research, I really learned tha he basically ran the show here.

He basically, you know, he got into a fight market square with, with the mayor.

There was a riot.

Three people got killed, in that riots.

And there were gunfights in downtown.

There were, you know, mobsters.

There were mob fights.

There were all kinds of things that when you when you read about that now, it's hard to, yeah, it's hard to think tha our little town was like that.

Right?

I mean, I grew up in thi sleepy town and and at one time it was a completely different place.

And it's so fascinating that that's kinda been just lost.

Right?

People don't really know that about about, where we, where we live.

So that was one of the storie that I love to tell more about.

Right?

Well, and and John Looney also had, the relationship with a woman who was of ill repute and brought a lot of, that type of, crime into Rock Island.

And then all I had to do was look across the river and into Davenport.

And you've got Bucktown, which is now known basically as an are that has some nice restaurants.

It's got an arts community.

It it's kind of a wholesome area, but it was not that way.

It was it was the most wicked place, it was described, between what Chicago and Denver.

People said, like, there was there was one quote, that you couldn't get away with anything even in big cities like Chicago and new New New York, as you could get in Bucktown.

So they would show shows.

They would have, place to buy booze, places to gamble.

And I also read that many of these places didn't even have doors because they never shut down.

So they were open 24 hours a day.

And the sailors and folks from the, from the boats would come up there and gamble away all their money.

And the police basically turned the other way because they brought in a lot of taxes.

So the city knew about it.

The city kind of allowed it to be there, but it was a completely different plac than Davenport that we know now.

One story, because a lot o the stories that you mentioned, I enjoyed the vignette and theres stuff that I know, but there's little parcels that I didn't know.

And I think that's what you're saying as well.

Is that in your research, you were able to find that stuff.

But I'll tell you the truth, one story I had never really heard of and that had to do with Bazooka Charlie... I know isnt that... ...a Moline teacher during WWII.

Tell me that story, because I did not know that.

Okay, so someone, read your mind, made contact and said, hey you should read about this guy.

So there was a Moline teacher who, in World War two, learned how to strap, what did he do?

He strapped guns on his plane and was able to drop bombs.

Or he or he, strap bombs on his plane.

Was able to, take his plane, which was made out of, like, sheet metal and paper or something like that, and basicall drop these bombs on tanks and, because of that, it changed the outcome of World War Two.

So up until now, people didn't take these planes as being anything that they had to, think about or plan for.

But he basically turned these planes into, planes that could do much damage.

So he was, he came back here, he taught for many years.

And, a guy who I'd never heard of until I did this page.

You also take a look a music and entertainment and two, I mean, there' there's other stories to tell, of course, but two that, you, point out, was Jimi Hendri playing at the Col back in 1968 and then the one that a lot of people are familiar with, if you know much about the Capital Theater and you go back to Holly and the last performance before the day, the music died.

Tell m a little bit about the Capital Theater a link that you found in regards to the Big Bopper and, uh... Ritchie Valens.

...yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

So everyone knows that they died in Iowa.

In 1959.

What most people didnt know is that they played here in Davenport at the Capital Theater three days prior.

So while we all know the stor about the day that music died, what I never heard of is that Buddy Holly came through here on that same bus three days prior.

And what we all learned, too, is that, what I learned is that one of the reasons why he took that plane that day is because the bus heater, the the, you know, the bus actually broke down.

And so they were freezing.

It was a very cold night.

It's very cold drives to the next town.

So he decided, because the heater was not working on that bus to take that plane, on that night.

And we all know what the outcome of that was.

But he came through.

We had so many different, you know, famous folks come through here.

And that's one of the things I tell on and in a lot of my stories, is that there were so many famous folks that have spent time here and a lot of stories we don't even know about.

So, I love to tell those stories.

I love to find out about, stories like that.

So.

So we've we've talked about some of the stories that you've done so far.

And once again you've got your YouTube channel.

Yes.

And you've got the special that's going to be on WQPT, which is coming up, Monday, August 17th at 8:30 p.m.. Tell me about the stories you still want to tell.

There has to be a lot of stuff rattling in your mind and what you want to do next.

It's so funny.

I've told, Im almost at 50.

I think I'm at 47 that I've told.

I have another 30 to 35 stories, at least, to tell.

And the list keeps, i keeps getting longer and longer.

So, some of the stories, well, let's think, I, one of the stories that I think is important to tell is that there was a treaty signed in 1804, and this was a treaty, that was, pushed by the white men, to sign.

They, the Sauk sent four men down to Saint, St.

Louis because there was a killing that the Sauk tribe, they had killed, a white man.

And so they sent four people from the Sauk Tribe down to St.

Louis.

They signed a treat that they thought was different than the one that they actually signed.

Inside this treaty, they gave away all the land that Black Haw and his people live, lived on.

And this treaty was the reaso why the Black Hawk War started.

This was the reason why the Sauk were forced off their land here, and that treat has kind of been lost to time.

So we don't know much about the people who signed that.

We don't know much about what it actually did.

I want people to learn about what the, how that treat changed the lives of the people who actually were here first, and what that treaty did, which was to give up millions and millions of acres of land for basically a couple, a small amount of money.

And, what we learned to what I learned from that is that the Sauk did not believe that that treaty should have been signed.

They did not give up their land, but it was used against them to force them off their their land here.

So that's one of the ones that I'm gonna do soon.

Our thanks to Jared Howe host of Forgotten Quad Cities, and you can watch Forgotten Quad Cities Monday, August 17t on WQPT PBS for the Quad Cities.

And welcome to August.

You can almost feel summer starting to wind down.

But for those of us not ready to give up on a little bit of summer, here are some great events you may want to consider.

Thanks to, Visit Quad Cities.

[soft music] Check out the things t do this week in the Quad Cities.

Start your week off by seeing Bluey and Bingo on stage at the Adler Theater.

Then head over to Modern Woodmen Park to watch as the Quad Cities River Bandit take on the Fort Wayne Tincaps.

Next experience the only tug of war across the Mississippi River at Tug Fest.

Then attend a music, film, art and comedy festival.

There will be 40 plus venues hosting ove 200 performances across the QC.

Finally, witness the largest paddle event on the Mississippi River.

Explore the area's natural beauty during Floatzilla.

For more events like these check out our events calendar at VisitQuadCities.com [music ends] Charlotte Blu is her stage name, but she went by the name Charlotte Boyer when she took to the stage in the Black Box Theatre to perform for us.

Here's Charlotte from when she took to the stage to perform the original “Beginning to Feel the Blues”.

[electric guitar strumming] [singing] I remember when we were little kids.

[?]

and watching The Incredibles.

But there ain't no more lunchtime to be had.

Juice box is always empty.

And the playground is trash.

And the playground, the trash that began to fill the place.

Now I'm beginning to feel the blues.

I'm beginning to feel the blues.

I'm beginning to feel the blues.

Running the skateboards along the parking lot.

Playing hide and seek ‘til it got dark.

Dancing to the MJ CD.

And now my friends don't want to jam with me.

Now I'm beginning to feel the blues.

Beginning to feel the blues.

I'm beginning to feel the blues.

I'm beginning to feel the blues.

Beginning to feel the blues.

Begin to feel the blues.

Im beginning to feel the blues.

[?]

change and people run on.

Still my life remains the same.

People, all the people grow up.

Still, my life will never change.

I'm beginning to feel the blues.

Begin to feel the blues.

I'm beginning to feel the blues.

I begin to feel the blues.

Beginning to feel the blues.

I'm beginning to feel the blues.

I'm beginning to feel., oh, ohhhhhh, is things not are the same as they were before.

And they are not my friends anymore.

Sticks are not the same as they were before.

Mmmmmmm.

And they are not my friends anymore.

[guitar strumming ends] Charlotte Blu with “Beginning to Feel the Blues”, performe at Molines Black Box Theatre.

On the air, on the radio, on the web.

on your mobile device and streaming on your computer, thanks for taking some time to join us as we talk about the issues on The Cities.

[lively music] [music ends]