Davenport - Iowa - History

With the establishment of military outposts after the settlement of the War of 1812 in favour of the United States, white settlers moved westward into the old Northwest Territory. This movement displaced the Sauk and Fox Indians in western Illinois and many skirmishes resulted between the Indians and whites. Under the leadership of Black Hawk, the Indians fought for their homeland during 1831 and 1832. The American military prevailed and on September 21, 1832, Chief Keokuk signed a treaty transferring a 50-mile-wide strip of land stretching along the Iowa bank of the Mississippi from the Yellow River in the north to the Des Moines River in the south This became known as the "Black Hawk Purchase" and was opened to white settlers in 1833. Two-square-mile tracts were set aside for Antoine LeClaire in the Purchase as gratitude for the friendship and honesty the interpreter showed towards the Indians.

In 1836 when land surveys were completed, settlement of the area began to grow. To encourage town building, seven men gathered at the home of Colonel George Davenport near Fort Armstrong. Those attending this meeting were Antoine LeClaire, the prime mover; Colonel George Davenport, LeClaire’s good friend; James May, a riverboat captain; William Gordon, a surveyor; P.G. Hambaugh and Thomas Smith, both dispatched at Fort Armstrong; Levi S. Colton, ferry operator and Alexander W. McGregor. At the suggestion of Antoine LeClaire, "Davenport" was selected as the name for the new city in honour of one of the seasoned local figures in the group, Colonel Davenport.

When Davenport was laid out on an east-west bend in the Mississippi River, confident promoters predicted the new town would become the "Queen City of the West." The original town comprised a six by six and one-half square block site with three public squares and a public levee. East/west streets were named after Indian tribes and north/south streets after national heroes. Davenport became a special charter city in the Territory of Iowa in 1839 and won the battle to be the seat of Scott County by 1841.

Population grew slowly in the late 1830’s and 40’s. Transportation connections up the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers were seasonal and hazardous. But by 1850 a steady stream of settlers found its way to and through Davenport. Most of the early settlers were native-born Americans from New England, Mid-Atlantic States, and the Ohio Valley. During the 1850’s large numbers of Germans and Irish immigrated to the area. When the Mississippi was bridged for the first time by the Rock Island Railroad in 1856, Davenport received an extra boost.

Davenport industry and commerce began a half-century of uninterrupted growth after the Civil War. The lumber industry and the related fields of planning mills, cooperage (barrel) firms, and furniture factories were the mainstay of the economy. Logs were rafted down the Mississippi from northern pine forests and processed in Davenport mills. Meat packing plants, cigar factories, flourmills, foundries, machine shops and breweries were also important employers.

Retail and wholesale commercial trade were the City’s life blood. By the 1890’s, Davenport banks were the largest in Iowa and West 2^nd Street was the retail center of the Tri-Cities. More than 150 local wholesale firms dealt in groceries, produce, coffee, spices, cigars, dry goods, and hardware.

Davenporters kept abreast of national and local news by reading one of the local German or English newspapers. Introduction of the telegraph in the 1850’s and the telephone in the 1870’s made communication more rapid. Davenport became a part of the national culture by serving as a regular stop for German and American theater troupes and travelling lecturers.

As the 20th century dawned, Davenport was firmly established as a major partner in the Iowa-Illinois Tri-Cites. Population topped 35,000 and the city’s land size increased to nearly 8 square miles. Rockingham was still a separate village downstream from Davenport and Bettendorf was the unincorporated village of Gilbert Town. Germans lived west of Harrison Street , and Irish clustered around Sacred Heart Cathedral on "Cork Hill".

Davenport’s economy was prosperous but changing. While the lumber industry was in decline, other industries like washing machine and cigar manufacture expanded. Davenporters bragged that their city was the washing machine capital of the nation and that between Chicago and Los Angeles, Davenport was the largest cigar producer.

Two new bridges changed the river skyline at the turn of the century. The new Government Bridge for wagons and trains was completed in 1895, and the Crescent Railroad Bridge was finished in 1901.

On the social and political scene, the issue of prohibition was the principal local controversy. Constant battle between temperance promoters and local drinkers and brewers was waged inside and outside courts. The liquor interests pledged that the "Independent State of Scott" would stay wet. In politics, Henry Vollmer, a German-American lawyer and businessman, was Davenport mayor for four annual terms between 1893 and 1896. Davenport’s new City Hall was begun, financed and finished during his tenure in office and on April 14, 1896 the building was dedicated with a parade and ceremonies to the "cause of good government". One hundreds years later on April 14, 1996 the City Hall which Mayor Vollmer dedicated was rededicated by Mayor Gibbs in a celebration at City Hall again to the "cause of good government" and a time capsule was buried beneath a plaque bearing that inscription just outside City Hall.

After 1900, Davenport’s urban character was enhanced. Electric streetcar lines spanned the city’s hills and outlying suburbs. Multi-story office buildings, banks and hotels dotted the riverfront commercial area and railroad facilities improved. By the 1930’s river improvements were making river transit competitive again.