Davenport

Sister cities

• Kaiserslautern
• Ilhéus
• County Carlow
• Dobrich

History

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. In 1803, France regained and sold its holdings in North America west of the Mississippi River to the United States under the Louisiana Purchase. Lieutenant Zebulon Pike was the first United States representative to officially visit the Upper Mississippi River area. On August 27, 1805, Pike camped on the present-day site of Davenport. In 1832, a group of Sauk, Meskwaki, and Kickapoo were defeated by the United States in the Black Hawk War. The United States government concluded the Black Hawk Purchase, sometimes called the Forty-Mile Strip or Scott's Purchase, by which the US acquired lands in what is now eastern Iowa. The purchase was made for $640,000 on September 21, 1832, and contained an area of some , at a price equivalent to 11 cents/acre ($26/km). Although named after the defeated chief Black Hawk, he was being held prisoner by the US. Sauk chief Keokuk, who had remained neutral in the war, signed off on the purchase. It was made on the site of present-day Davenport. Army General Winfield Scott and Governor of Illinois, John Reynolds, acted on behalf of the United States, with Antoine Le Claire, a mixed-race (Métis) man, serving as translator. He later was credited with founding Davenport. Chief Keokuk gave a generous portion of land to Antoine Le Claire's wife, Marguerite, the granddaughter of a Sauk…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (3.2%) is water. Davenport is located approximately west of Chicago and east of the Iowa state capital of Des Moines. The city is located about north of St. Louis, Missouri, and southeast of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Farmland surrounds Davenport outside the Quad Cities area. Davenport is located on the banks of the Mississippi River. At this point the river has a maximum depth of around and is wide where the Centennial Bridge crosses it. The river flows from east to west in this area, as opposed to its usual north to south direction. From the river the city starts to slope north up a hill, which is steep at some points. The streets of the city, especially downtown and in the central part of the town, follow a grid design. Davenport often makes national headlines when it suffers seasonal flooding by the Mississippi River. Davenport residents prefer to maintain open access to the river for parks and vistas rather than have it cut off by dikes and levees. Davenport has adopted ordinances requiring any new construction in the floodplain to be elevated above the 100-year-flood level or protected with walls. As a result, former mayor Phil Yerington said that if they "let Mother Nature take her course, we'll all be better off". An example of a Davenport building that is elevated or flood-proofed is the Figge Art Museum. Under the Köppen climate classification, Davenport is considered to have a humid continental climate (Dfa). Summers are very warm to hot with high levels of humidity. Winters have cold temperatures and often high winds, with snow likely from November through February. Average snowfall in Davenport is per year. January is on average the coldest month,…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  8,485
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  7,368
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  7,272
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  6,553
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  6,403
• Downy Woodpecker

  Dryobates pubescens (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  6,001
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,882
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  5,736

Largest nearby schools

• Pleasant Valley High School
  High · Bettendorf · 1,658 students · 17.6:1 ratio
• Central High School
  High · Davenport · 1,505 students · 16.7:1 ratio
• Bettendorf High School
  High · Bettendorf · 1,482 students · 15.1:1 ratio
• West High School
  High · Davenport · 1,469 students · 16.7:1 ratio
• North High School
  High · Davenport · 1,352 students · 17.6:1 ratio
• North Scott High School
  High · Eldridge · 1,059 students · 17.1:1 ratio
• Bettendorf Middle School
  Middle · Bettendorf · 987 students · 13.9:1 ratio
• Hopewell Elementary
  Elementary · Bettendorf · 698 students · 16.2:1 ratio