Later, it was sold in 1941 to Stanley Wiedner who invested half a million and remodeled it to become the Plantation Restaurant.
The pre-tiki establishment had a smaller area known as the Tahitian Room located inside, complete with plenty of rattan, bunches of bananas hanging from the ceiling, and private huts for intimate dinner conversation.
The picture of the nude Tahitian girl shown below was a backlight transparency and was there until the restaurant closed.
The Tahitian Room was open until 1980 and was the social setting for those in the Quad Cities and beyond.
The days of the Plantation and the Tahitian Room were numbered when the Manager, Nick Chirekos, was murdered by a disgruntled employee on November 18th, 1979. The restaurant closed in 1980.
In 1981, the building was sold and reopened as W.L. Velie’s along with a club called the Back Door Club that was quite popular. As time went on, it was hard to compete with river boat gambling.
The restaurant and club closed and an antique mall was there briefly before closing and leaving the mansion empty. That is until Quad City Bank and Trust chose the location for their bank.