The Iowa-Illinois Memorial Bridge, the first suspension bridge on the Mississippi River, was opened in 1935 to complete a road connection between Bettendorf, Iowa and Moline, Illinois. Soon thereafter Route 6 was reoriented through the Quad City area: earlier it had gone through the downtowns of East Moline, Moline, Rock Island, and Davenport. The reorientation involved two new road segments, one bypassing Davenport and one extending from downtown Moline to the airport four miles south. This bridge replaced the Government Bridge between Rock Island and Davenport as the river crossing for Route 6. In 1960, a second identical span was completed; making these the only twin suspension bridges on the Mississippi and one of only three nationally. (1940s postcard)