Yes, it is quite an impressive museum. One time I was over there, they had a whole wall full of Thompson Machine guns. The tank graveyard was a result of the arsenal rebuilding shot-up and blown-up tanks during WWI and WWII. They were concealed in wooden crates for propaganda purposes (didn't want the public to see them in that condition) and shipped by rail to the Rock Island Arsenal for repair and rebuilding. Of course, they were proudly shipped out on trains uncrated so that all could see the "new" tanks going off to war.

According to local legend, one apartment house in downtown Davenport, not far off the Arsenal bridge used the crating material to build the inside apartment walls.