Another memory bites the dust ...
AS landmarks go, the old three-story building at
1820 W. 3rd St., never looked like much, but west Davenport once took the place into its arms. Now, there’s not a brick left, and the site of the original Davenport Clinic is a leveled space. Bulldozers have finished the job on the building.
If you’re a west ender, it was here that you likely had your sore throat treated, had your cut finger sutured, had your aching ulcers cared for, had your eyes checked and your teeth pulled. The original old clinic was a hospital of sorts for everyone who lived on the other side of the tracks, which meant west of Division Street.
Once it was a three-story apartment house, but it found new life when Dr. Jack Sunderbruch figured that a medical clinic was needed in the west end. Sixty years ago, Dr. Jack found a partner in Dr. Robert Neufeld. They bought that building on West Third. They were joined by Dr. Ross Carney, and soon came Dr. Gordon Flynn and Dr. Gordon Rock. Dr. Rock, an obstetrician, quit counting after delivering 2,500 babies, most from west end mommies.
With 14 physicians and a dentist, it was west Davenport’s sick bay. In time, they built around that old clinic building; it was hidden in expansion. But it stood until the whole works was razed a week or so ago.
The name stays, though; the new Davenport Clinic building, to the west of the original, stands smartly modern and spiffy.
It’s the original old brick clinic that holds so many memories for our family. It was here that Dr. Jack looked at my shattered legs and shook his head; I had just slid down a fire pole too fast and battered myself up quite badly. It was here that both my dad and my sister were diagnosed with the cancer that killed them. It was here that all our kids got their shots, and where Tim would hide under a table to escape Dr. Carney’s needle. It was here, after we had been ushered around to sophisticated pediatric clinics, that Dr. Flynn, a general practitioner, detected the seriousness of our son Peter’s problem and quickly sent him off to Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
No wonder I get a lump in my throat whenever I drive by that empty space at 1820 W. 3rd St. in west Davenport.
Crash! Viaduct claims another truck
Coincidence: After writing just Sunday about Ron Bellomy, the “trestle troll” who keeps track of the truck-eating viaducts in downtown Davenport, another truck smacked one on Monday, scattering mulch over street and sidewalks of Main Street.
The smells remembered
“When you and your nose were taking a trip down memory lane, you stopped too soon,” says Larry Atkins. “Had you continued on Rockingham, those whacko smell mixtures that you referred to would have been wiped out by the sweet smell of hot candy cooking in the kitchens of Lusk Candy Co. Then, before you knew it, you would be taking in the aroma of fresh bread baking at Peter Pan Bakery. Continuing on, you would be catching a whiff of potato chips at Hiland chip factory.”
“YOU OVERLOOKED one especially delicious smell,” says Jon Ryan. “The onions growing in Pleasant Valley were pleasantly overwhelming.”
Bill Wundram can be contacted at (563) 383-2249 or bwundram@qctimes.com.