Today in History notes the death of John Streckfus, founder of Streckfus Steamers. He died in St. Louis, which is where he relocated the headquarters, but it all started here in the Rock Island area. The Commodore was born in Edgington, just south of RI, and moved into town at an early age. There were three Streckfus homes, one of which is still standing and occupied. The other two were demolished years ago. He started his river business by delivering groceries via boat between RI and Andalusia and quickly got into the excursion business. The first boat he had built for the company was the original
JS, built in 1901 at Howard Shipyard. While this was built as an excursion boat with a long dance floor, they did some longer trips at first. After its demise, he bought the four Diamond Jo Line packets and gradually converted them into excursion boats: Quincy/
JS Deluxe, Sidney/Washington, Saint Paul/Saint Paul/Senator, and the Dubuque/Capitol. These were later replaced by the President and Admiral. Streckfus Steamers officially ended when NO Steamboat bought the President in 1980....Streckfus was to excursion boating as Greene and Leyhe were to overnight boating.