Burtis–Kimball House Hotel/Burtis Opera House

The first phase of hotel construction in Davenport lasted from 1836, when the city was founded, until just before the Civil War. Most of these hotels were small and were located near the Mississippi River to take advantage of the passengers disembarking from the riverboats. The second phase marked the arrival of the railroad when the first bridge to cross the Mississippi was opened between Rock Island, Illinois and Davenport in 1856. Two years later J.J. Burtis, who had operated the LeClaire House in Davenport, opened his own hotel. It had an entrance on the mainline of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. The hotel rose to prominence in 1861 when Iowa Governor Samuel Kirkwood made the hotel his Civil War headquarters as the telegraph lines did not extend any further west. A new railroad bridge replaced the original one in 1872, and Burtis built a new hotel along the new mainline of the railroad at Fourth and Perry Streets in 1874. The block was already the site of the Burtis Opera House. The new hotel featured its own train platform In 1939 the building was heavily damaged by fire. Bill Vale was paid $5,000 to tear it down, and then bought the property for $25,000. He put in bout $12,000 in repairs, and renamed the building the Vale Apartments. As time went on the building started to decline. While attempts were made to save it, the building had become structurally unsafe and was torn down in 1993. ==Burtis Opera House==

The Burtis Opera House was opened in Davenport in 1867 at 415 Perry Street. The theater could hold an audience of 1,600 and it was a widely used facility. Mark Twain spoke to a sold-out house on his "The American Vandal Abroad" tour in 1869. In March 1874 Susan B. Anthony lectured on the woman's right to vote. The Quad City Symphony Orchestra played its first concert as the Tri-City Symphony in the Burtis on March 29, 1916. The Burtis was an elegant building constructed in the Second Empire style. The building's appearance was altered in the rebuilding process. The third story with its mansard roof, as well as the second floor, were not retained. The pilasters on the corners were shortened and a simple cornice was added across the top. The roof is flat and a raised parapet defines the main entrance. The arched windows that flanked the center pavilion were retained in an altered form. The building's style now resembles the Renaissance Revival style. By 1925 the building housed the General Outdoor Advertising Company. It was later occupied by a VFW post and state offices. The building stands on its own next to the raised railroad tracks since the Kimball House/Vale Apartments and the rail station have been torn down. Tri-City Electric occupied the building for several years before the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. In 2020 the building was included as a contributing property in the Davenport Downtown Commercial Historic District as the Thomas Cusack Co. District Headquarters. ==References==