History · Davenport

Davenport has 254 places on the National Register

More historic than 94% of U.S. towns · #17 of 140 in Iowa. What drives it

With 24% of its homes built before 1940 and 22 historic districts holding 1,618 contributing buildings. Below: 7 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, the census since 1850, and every listing on the Register.

1836first post office

254on the National Register

24%homes built before 1940

7old photos & papers

47famous people

Add an old photo Share a memory

From Davenport’s archive · credits on each photo

Quick answers

How Davenport began

When was Davenport founded?

1836

The Davenport post office opened in 1836, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Rockingham (1837), Green Tree Tavern (1878) and Green Tree (1883), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 1,848 in 18502020 census: 101,724190 years

How historic is Davenport?

More historic than 94% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: the first Davenport post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

History grade

What drives Davenport’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Davenport is more historic than 94% of U.S. towns, #17 of 140 in Iowa. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Davenport’s overall grade.

Founding era1836, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA⁻Homes built before 194024.0% of homes (±1.3) · typical IA town 21.6% · U.S. 8.4%A⁻National Register254 listings, 1,618 historic buildings, 160 per 10,000 residents · typical IA town 9.1 · U.S. 2.4A

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 94%

NewerOlder

Iowa towns of 2,500+ (140)Ahead of 88%

Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Davenport ranks #51 on History.

Iowa towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Iowa town has 9.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Davenport’s 160 sits above most of its state (91% of Iowa towns have fewer) while its 1,618 historic buildings outnumber those of 99% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share (±1.3 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Davenport’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A historic districtThe Hamburg Historic District takes in 361 historic buildings.Landmarks on the Register254 places on the National Register.Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Davenport, and 15 old place names are still on the map.On the map since 18915 editions of the USGS map, 1891 to 1991. Watch Davenport change.

★ What stands out · On the National Register

254 listings protect 1,618 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.

places listed

254

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

1,618

each building in a district counts

first listed

1974

Antoine LeClaire House

BuildingsDistrictsStructures

Architectural styles listings

Vernacular Greek Revival25

Italianate20

Colonial Revival18

Queen Anne16

Vernacular15

Greek Revival11

Antoine LeClaire HouseItalian Bracketed · Built 1855

Hiller BuildingGreek Revival

Frick's TavernItalianate · Built 1872

Trinity Episcopal CathedralGothic Revival · Built 1873

Collins HouseVictorian

Edward S. Barrows HouseClassical Revival

Ambrose HallSecond Empire

Leon Bismark Beiderbecke HouseLate Victorian

All 254 listings

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Davenport’s post office has been open since 1836. Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Davenport

1836–today

Rockingham

1837–1847

Green Tree Tavern

1878–1883

Green Tree

1883–1903

Balluff

1884–1890

18301930today

Hamlets and corners on the map

Black HawkChapel HillGreen AcresHickory Grove Mobile Home ParkLakewood ParkNahantPonderosa Park Mobile Home ParkProbsteiRidgeview ParkRockinghamRustic Ridge Mobile Home ParkSilver Creek Mobile Home CommunityTeds Mobile Home ParkWalnut GroveWood Dale Mobile Home Park

Gone or out of use

BallufflocaleBalluff Post Officepost officeBel Air Drive-InlocaleBerea ChurchchurchBnai AmethchurchDavenport District Number Nine SchoolschoolFejervary HomelocaleFull Gospel LighthousechurchGrand Avenue ChurchchurchGreen Acres SchoolschoolGreentree Post Officepost officeHarbor Road SchoolschoolHoly Family SchoolschoolImmaculate Conception AcademyschoolImmanuel ChurchchurchIsolation HospitalhospitalMcClellan Heights United ChurchchurchProbstei Schoolschool

12cemeteries and burying grounds inside Davenport

Davenport Memorial ParkFairmontFriday FamilyHoly FamilyMount Calvary CatholicMount Nebo HebrewOakdaleOakdale Cemetery Soldiers' LotPine HillSacred HeartSaint Marys ChurchTri - City Jewish

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Davenport came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Davenport.

Read it all →

The land was originally inhabited by the Sauk, Meskwaki, and Ho-Chunk peoples. France laid claim to this territory as part of its New France and Illinois Country in the 18th century. Its traders and missionaries came to the area from Canada (Quebec), but it did not have many settlers here. After losing to Great Britain in the Seven Years' War, France ceded its territory east of the Mississippi River to the British and transferred the lands to the west to Spain.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Davenport in 1858

Passages that mention Davenport, cut from the printed page as they were published.

**Davenport, past and present**1858 · page 134Read the page →
Read the text
This sidewalk estimate includes none above the Railroad Bridge, none in East Davenport, and none in North Davenport, except Brady street, though they are all within the city limits ; these would certainly eke out the measures to twenty miles of sidewalk in the city of Davenport.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

By an act approved in February of this year, the inhabitants of Davenport were incorporated a body politic, &c, under the name of the " Mayor and Aldermen of the Town of Davenport." The town was divided into three wards, each of which elected two Aldermen. That portion west of Harrison street was t… — **Davenport, past and present**1858 · page 97Read the page →
Read the text
By an act approved in February of this year, the inhabitants of Davenport were incorporated a body politic, &c, under the name of the " Mayor and Aldermen of the Town of Davenport." The town was divided into three wards, each of which elected two Aldermen. That portion west of Harrison street was the First Ward ; and that lying between Brady and Harrison streets the Second, and that lying East of Brady street constituted the Third.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

**Davenport, past and present**1858 · page 134Read the page →
Read the text
This sidewalk estimate includes none above the Eailroad Bridge, none in East Davenport, and none in North Davenport, except Brady street, though they are all within the city limits ; these would certainly eke out the measures to twenty miles of sidewalk in the city of Davenport.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

**Davenport, past and present**1858 · page 70Read the page →
Read the text
The town of Davenport was incorporated by this Legislature. The first election for township officers was held April first. Rodolphus Bennett was elected Mayor, Frazer "Wilson :Recorder, and Dr. A. C. Donaldson, D. C. Eldredge, Jobn Forrest, Thomas Dillon, and Capt. John Litch, Trustees.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Davenport, 1800 to 1993

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

19th century
1800In the archiveBridgeDavenportIAAerialView1800s
1836Post officeThe Davenport post office opens
1837Post officeThe Rockingham post office opens
1844In the archiveEast view of Davenport. Iowa T. Fort Armstrong on Rock-Island, Ill- town of Rock-Island. …
1847Post officeThe Rockingham post office closes
1853In the archiveOld Trinity Church
1855BuiltAntoine LeClaire House is built
1860In the archiveDavenport IowalJS
1872BuiltFrick's Tavern is built
1873BuiltTrinity Episcopal Cathedral is built
1878Post officeThe Green Tree Tavern post office opens
1883Post officeThe Green Tree Tavern post office closes
1891On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
20th century
1906BuiltHillside is built
1946Born hereSue Lyon is born here
1970Born hereLara Flynn Boyle is born here
1986Born hereSeth Rollins is born here
1993Born hereJulia Michaels is born here

By decade

Davenport, decade by decade

4 decades in the archive, from the 1800s to the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1800s1 item

1800BridgeDavenportIAAerialView1800sDocument

1840s–1860s6 items

East view of Davenport. Iowa T. Fort Armstrong on Rock-Island, Ill- town of Rock-Island. Ill- Moline

1844East view of Davenport. Iowa T. Fort Armstrong on Roc…

1844Fort Armstrong, Davenport, Rock Island and Moline

1853Old Trinity Church

1855Davenport, Iowa

1860Davenport IowalJS

1860Meyers Universum Band 21 36

On the map

Davenport on the map, 1891 to 1991

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Davenport. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

1891Davenport sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Davenport.

Every building

Davenport, building by building, 1886–1910

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Davenport fire insurance map, 1886, sheet 4

1886Sheet 4 of 23

Edition

Sheets

+22 more at the Library of Congress

BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Retake this viewEast view of Davenport. Iowa T. Fort Armstrong on Rock-Island, Ill- town of Rock-Island. Ill- Moline, 1844

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Davenport’s page.

Retake this view · +15

People over time

Davenport, census by census

Between 1,848 and 103,264 people in every census since 1850.

18 censuses, 1850–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Davenport’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

47 famous people were born in Davenport

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →

Lara Flynn BoyleAmerican actress · b. 1970

Seth RollinsAmerican professional wrestler and actor · b. 1986

Julia MichaelsAmerican singer and songwriter · b. 1993

Sue LyonAmerican actress · b. 1946

Bix BeiderbeckeAmerican jazz musician · b. 1903

Susan GlaspellAmerican writer · b. 1876

Help out

Finish Davenport’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Retake an old viewEast view of Davenport. Iowa T. Fort Ar…: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Bettendorf4 historic placesC⁻EldridgeIts storyC⁻Buffalo1 historic placeB⁺

Questions about Davenport’s history

What year was Davenport founded?

The Davenport post office opened in 1836, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Davenport rank for history?

Davenport is more historic than 94% of U.S. towns, #17 of 140 in Iowa. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Davenport?

254 listings: 230 buildings, among them the Antoine LeClaire House (listed 1974, the first), 22 historic districts with 1,322 contributing buildings, and 2 structures. 1,618 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Davenport?

24% of Davenport’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.3 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1967.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

Start a conversation

Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (7), Wikidata (5), the National Register of Historic Places (254), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

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