For those in the Quad Cities, the Velie/Deere connection is well known because Stephen Velie married John Deere’s daughter, Emma. From their union came five children.

Three of the sons went on to create a Velie empire. It was the youngest, Willard Lamb Velie, who built the Velie Plantation in Moline, Ill., that later became home for the Quad City Bank & Trust.

Willard began his career at John Deere as a clerk; he worked up the line until he eventually served on the Deere & Co. board of directors. While still working at Deere, he started the Velie Carriage Co. in 1902. It manufactured buggies, carriages, surreys, driving wagons, and spring wagons.

In 1908, he founded the Velie Engineering Co., which produced gas, steam, and electric motors and engines, plus automobile accessories and motor trucks. By 1911, he also added a line of trucks.

By this time Willard and his wife, Annie Flowerree, had made their fortune and decided to build their dream mansion. They had two children, Willard Lamb Velie Jr. and Marjorie Velie Heard. They raised the children in the mansion they would call Villa Velie.

They based the design on the Italian villas Annie had seen from her travels throughout Europe. They built on a 500-acre farm not far from the river. The foundation for the home was poured in 1911 and it ending up costing $194,000 (about $5 million in today’s dollars).

Villa Velie had 46 rooms with 14 bedrooms and 12 bathrooms. There was a 90-foot-long ballroom and the house was comprised of three floors. The home was completed and opened with a huge party on Dec. 5, 1913, with 500 guests.

Villa Velie was also a farm and vineyard and was later known as the Velie Plantation because of the greenhouse that produced bananas and tropical fresh fruits for consumption.

When the downturn in fortunes began in the mid-1920s, the Velies moved to a more modest home in Moline. The company had switched from buggies to automobiles, and for a while the cars flourished, but then the economy tanked and the house was too much to keep up. The family moved twice before Willard’s death.

It was 1927 when he decided to let his son, Will Jr., take over as vice president and general manager of the company. The two bought an airplane manufacturing company and began producing the Velie Monocoupe.

Sadly, this was the end of the line. Willard died of an embolism on Oct. 24, 1928, at the age of 62 and just months later, Will Jr. died of a heart attack, on March 20. Annie lived until 1964, dying at the age of 94.

Villa Velie sat empty until 1935, when it was purchased by Julius Gottlieb as Club 77 – this was an exclusive club for the area’s top 77 families. The building was sold again in 1941 to Stanley Wiedner, who remodeled it to become the Plantation Restaurant.

From 1945-83 the mansion was remembered by many as the social setting for those in the Quad Cities and beyond. It was here that director and CEO of Quad-City Bank & Trust, Doug Hultquist, has his first memories of the property: “My love of this building started in 1971 when my wife’s parents brought us here for her 16th birthday.”

The days of the Plantation with its Tahitian room and piano strains ended when the owner and manager, Nick Chirekos, was murdered by a disgruntled employee. In 1981, the building reopened as W.L. Velie’s along with a club called the Back Door Club that was quite popular. With river boat gambling coming to the Quad Cities, it was difficult for the restaurant and club to compete.

Thanks to the foresight of Doug and his colleagues at QCR Holdings, which now owns the rehabilitated mansion/bank, this history is now a visible and active part of the local community. It boasts beautiful fireplaces, ceilings, Greek and Italian murals, and an array of Velie advertisement displays.

For a tour of the lovely Velie Plantation, call ahead to Jackie Celske, at 563-468-4433.

Readers with questions or comments for Cindy Ladage may write to her in care of this publication. Learn more of Cindy’s finds and travel in her blog, “Traveling Adventures of a Farm Girl,” at http://travelingadventuresofafarmgirl.com