The Commandant’s Home
It was mid afternoon when we arrived at the Rock Island Arsenal. After an FBI background check (seriously) and giving up our first born (not seriously), we were given a photo ID and entrance into the arsenal. It’s the largest active arsenal in the country and employs 6,000 civilian personnel. At its height in WWll it employed over 36,000 people, and 1/3 of them were women.
The museum is free to browse and contains every type of firearm imaginable. (It’s an arsenal for heaven’s sake!) We also toured Colonel Davenport’s home to learn more about his history and that of Rock Island.
We also stopped by the previous home of the arsenal commandant. It’s a beautiful stone home that was used for all types of gatherings besides the living quarters of the commandant and his/her family.
Due to the harsh afternoon light with high contrast and stark shadows I decided to convert it to black and white when I got home. There was no way to capture the entire frame of the home, so I tried to pull out an abstract that accentuated the lines, contrast, stone, iron, and mill work. I just wish we could have gotten inside. I’ll bet there are many stories waiting to be told in there.
