Harry Eldridge Bawden

BAWDEN, ELDRIDGE, KNOX

Posted By: Carol Bawden (email)
Date: 4/2/2007 at 14:54:07

HARRY ELDRIDGE BAWDEN was born 8 September 1894 in Muscatine, Louisa Cnty, Iowa, the youngest son of George Washington and Jenny Eldridge Bawden.

Harry attended Davenport schools and the University of Iowa where he was a member of Sigma Chi social fraternity. After one year, Harry returned to Davenport to join brothers Albert and Ray in the newsstand and picture postcard business - Davenport Postcard and Novelty Company at 113 - 115 Brady Street ca 1910-1915 - formerly a ticket office for the I & I interurban railroad.

Harry enlisted in the Army on 22 November 1917 at the Rock Island Arsenal, an island on the Mississippi River on the Illinois side, which had become a federal military ordnance facility during the Civil War. He served as a sergeant in the Special Training Ordnance Co, 2nd Regiment Training Camp, Hancock, Georgia. Upon his return to Davenport, he managed the commercial photography department of Bawden Brothers.

On 12 June 1926, Harry married Blanche Knox in Short Hills Country Club in Moline, Rock Island County, Illinois. Blanche was born 18 May 1898 in Moline. She was adopted into the Knox Funeral Home family - Luther Calvin and Sarah Jane Reily (sp) Knox. Calvin’s grandfather, Charles, founded the Knox Funeral Home in Rock Island, Illinois. The other was in Moline, Illinois and was founded by Charles’ cousin. The last Knox funeral home stopped operation in the 1950s and became Larson Funeral Home.

Blanche graduated from Moline High School and the National Kindergarten and Elementary College in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. She was a kindergarten teacher in Moline schools.

They had one child:

Nancy Glee (legally changed to Nan) b. 18 July 1927 in Davenport, Scott County, IA

The Bawden home at 105 Greenwood Avenue in Bettendorf, Scott County, Iowa (still stands) was where Blanche died 30 August 1972. At the time of Harry’s death 25 July 1976, in Davenport, Iowa, he was the chairman of the board of Bawden Bros. Inc. He was the last of the founding brothers. Harry was a member of First Presbyterian Church on Kirkwood Boulevard and Iowa Street, across from his mother Jennie Eldridge’s family home. He also belonged to American Legion Post 26, and the Rotary Club. He and Blanche are buried in Davenport’s Oakdale Memorial Gardens public mausoleum.

Harry spent his last years at Ridgecrest Retirement Village in Davenport where he brought happiness to others with his daily visits to those who were bedridden, placement of Playboy magazines in the sunrooms, and organizing trips to local restaurants for those who were able to travel. He was a beloved man, always enthusiastic and cheerful, with a keen interest in the role his family played in the development of Scott County and the City of Davenport.