When new economic development or civic efforts are launched in any community or region, it takes years for them to get going and even more years for the community to appreciate their impact. And sometimes it takes the death of the founding leaders to help citizens fully understand.
That is the case with the passing of Gerald “Jerry” L. Butts, who died on Wednesday, Oct. 23, just one day after the City of Moline proclaimed Tuesday, Oct. 22, as “John Slover and Jerry Butts Day,” to honor the longtime Quad Cities leaders’ work in launching Renew Moline 35 years ago. Mr. Butts was 93.
Mr. Butts was a well-loved business and community leader known for helping lead the effort to bring downtown Moline back to life after the devastating 1980s Farm Crisis.
Mr. Butts’ insurance business also was a fixture in his life and the city’s downtown since shortly after he attended Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana, and Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois, and served in Army Intelligence in Alaska during the Korean Conflict, his obituary said.
“John (Slover) and Jerry rallied support of the business community, refusing to accept that ‘fate’ was a strategy and instead, created an organization dedicated to promoting redevelopment. Today, Downtown Moline has vibrancy, excitement, and a bright future,” the proclamation read by Moline Mayor Sangeetha Rayapati said.
“Downtown Moline looks the way it does largely because 35 years ago people like Jerry Butts, John Slover, Jerry Taylor, Bob Hanson and others were inspired to pursue a vision for their community,” Renew Moline’s President & CEO Alexandra Elias told the QCBJ. Examples abound of how that agency has helped “the community aspire and implement a dream,” she said.
Raising money from business leaders was key to Renew’s success, but it wouldn’t have happened without Mr. Butts and the other visionary leaders.
“Deere’s contributions were just magnanimous and also a key to Renew’s success,” Mr. Butts told the QCBJ in a September interview. “Had it not been for Deere, this would not have happened.”
That includes what was initially called the Mark of Quad Cities civic center, which continues to be a catalyst for downtown and riverfront change. It sits on land donated and cleared by John Deere. (In 2003, Deere also donated and cleared 20 acres of riverfront land that once was home to the John Deere Tech Center. It would become the home of the Western Illinois University Quad Cities Riverfront Campus and represents another Renew Moline partnership.)
It is estimated that Renew Moline efforts have supported more than $400 million in economic development in downtown Moline.
So how do you honor community leaders who selflessly gave so much just to better the community that they loved? It is to provide even more support and encouragement as Renew Moline continues with its mission to make Moline better, and to not discourage other new community and civic endeavors.
