I’ve posted somephotos of the current state of the former Carthage College/Robert Morris campus in Carthage, IL on my Flickr page.
Carthage College was the site of the first Circle K club in the U.S., had several prominent alumni, and was home of legendary biology professor Alice Kibbe. But the college eventually was moved to Kenosha, WI, and the former campus in Carthage (my home town) fell on hard times, including being bought by a mysterious Korean absentee landlord who could not be found for most of the 90′s and 00′s.
When I ran the Strawberry Strut (June 12), we saw some folks sorting and stacking bricks from a demolished building onto pallets. It looked like construction crews had separated debris into several containers as well.
I happened to be in the Quad Cities not long after I read about the home, so I got C-Nor, (a.k.a. my fiancee, Chris), to program the address into his GPS.
We navigated from Davenport (IA) to Moline, (with the British lady on the Garmin directing/annoying us the whole way), until we found the lonely structure that was once owned by John Deere (the man). Read about the history of the house here.
I’m not sure why the house and /or property are called “Red Cliff.” I definitely get the “cliff” part, and you will, too, if you check out the photos I took. But the house is, um, green. The house stands out literally and figuratively; it looks out over Moline from a dramatic little look-out point while the rest of the neighborhood is un-remarkable. Chris and I walked right up to the house and looked in the windows. There are some sawhorses and tools inside, not to mention a sign out front that says “Restoration in progress,” that hint at a promising future. But the “10 Most Endangered” list says the restoration effort has been abandoned and the property is now in foreclosure.
P.S. On a related note: Time.com recently published a list of the 11 most endangered national places, on which some of the causes of “danger” are proposed Wal-Marts and condo developments. (I will try to think of something non-depressing for my next post!)
I used to live in a duplex at the base of the hill that the mansion is on. It was a neighborhood in decline then, and the decline has only continuted. When I lived there the Deere place was basically a flop house, divided into a bunch of dumpy apartments, and then eventually became vacant. Years after I moved out, the apartment building across from the house I lived in was shut down because it had basically become a crack house. All of which probably explains in part why it’s been so difficult to renovate the place.
@ Tom, that’s really interesting that you lived right by there… and that it was in such flop-house conditions. They left that part out of the description on the state endangered site!
It’s time for a quick roundup of news about the restoration/re-vamping of the former Carthage College/ Robert Morris campus.
old Bryan Auditorium/ new Charger Center
I have received a couple of e-mails and/or comments on the blog from CC alumni and area residents who were interested in the old school in my hometown. (Thank you!) For those of you new to the blog, let me explain that I’ve done quite a bit of writing and blogging about the strange saga that surrounded the campus, a quick summary of which you can find here.
If you’re from Carthage, attended Carthage College or Robert Morris (or one of the strange “international” incarnations of the college in the 90s), or have any memories whatsoever to share about the campus, I would love to hear from you.
As an award-winning newspaper reporter and columnist, public radio commentator, blogger, and publications writer & editor, I have been writing about the people and places of western Illinois for more than 15 years. Send me your story ideas at alison.sixdegrees@gmail.com
Tom Snee 
Alison 
When I ran the Strawberry Strut (June 12), we saw some folks sorting and stacking bricks from a demolished building onto pallets. It looked like construction crews had separated debris into several containers as well.