Captain J. B. Rhodes came to Savanna in July, 1841, where he first engaged as a clerk in the store of J. W. White. Eventually he became White's successor in business, and then, sole proprietor.

Rhodes served as Carroll County Sheriff from 1846-1850 and was one of the county’s first tax collectors. Many times he advanced the tax money for the farmers, who in turn paid him at the time their crops were sold. ln his later years he proudly boasted that “no man had ever defaulted for a dollar in these transactions.”

By 1852, he engaged in steam boating and continued for over 25 years, He was the captain of the “Dubuque”, becoming a large stockholder in the Northern Line Packet Company.

On July 29, 1869, what began as an argument ended as a race riot on the steamer Dubuque as she made her way north from Davenport under the command of Capt. John Rhodes. She had more than 30 men in her crew, over two dozen of them black. She carried nearly 100 passengers on the cabin deck and almost twice that number in the steerage and freight deck below.

Following the normal customs, the clerk went to collect tickets and stationed Moises Davis, a black deckhand, at the top of the stairway. No one was allowed upstairs until all tickets were collected.

A quarrelsome Irish lumberman named Mike Lynch attempted to gain the upper deck. When he was refused, a short fight began,which he lost. Under the influence of drink and anger, he gathered 20 of his friends and led a rush at Davis.

In the battle that followed, the raftsmen joined in and soon the fight spread to include all. At Hagy’s Landing near Hampton, 16 back men gained the safety of shore, amid a hail of shots and thrown missiles. But since Rhodes was told the boat would be burned if he stopped for help, the Dubuque continued up river, The fight went on and it wasn’t long before Davis and four other black men either jumped or were thrown into the river and drowned. The only other black men aboard who survived did so because the other passengers hid then

Lynch and another man left the boat at Camanche in time to avoid capture at Clinton by a posse alerted by the men who had reached safety at Hampton.

Twenty men were placed in irons and returned to Rock Island where nine were finally tried in June of 1870. Judged guilty, they were sentenced from one to three years. Ringleader Lynch was eventually caught, tried and sentenced to 10 years for his part in the crime.

In 1846 he married Captain Rhodes married Mary Jane Pierce, the settler’s first child to be born in Carroll County…daughter of Aaron and Harriet Pierce. Rhodes constructed what was known as the Steamboat House at what is now 1019 North Main Street. The home was surrounded by a large metal gate and had a large cupola on top.