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Davenport is a city located along the Mississippi River in Scott County, Iowa, United States. Davenport is the county seat of and largest city in Scott County. Davenport was founded on May 14, 1836 by Antoine LeClaire and was named for his friend, George Davenport, a colonel during the Black Hawk War stationed at nearby Fort Armstrong. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of 98,359. A 2009 estimate shows the population had grown to 101,360, making it Iowa's third-largest city. As of January 2011, the mayor of Davenport is Bill Gluba. Davenport is the largest of the Quad Cities. The Quad Cities also consists of neighboring Bettendorf and the Illinois cities of Moline, East Moline, and Rock Island and has a population of 379,066.

Located approximately half way between Chicago and Des Moines, Davenport is on the border of Iowa and Illinois. The city is prone to frequent flooding due to its location on the Mississippi River. There are two main universities: Saint Ambrose University and Palmer College of Chiropractic, which is where the first chiropractic adjustment took place. Several annual music festivals take place in Davenport, including the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival, The Mississippi Valley Fair, and the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival, which is dedicated to native Bix Beiderbecke. An internationally known 7-mile foot race called the Bix 7 is run during the festival. The city has a Class A minor league baseball team, the Quad Cities River Bandits. Davenport has twenty-seven parks and over 12 miles of recreational paths for biking or walking.

Four interstates and two major United States Highways serve the city. Davenport has seen steady population growth since its incorporation, with an exception being the 1980s, when the population decreased due to job loss. Davenport has a declining crime rate and a low rate of unemployment, and was ranked as the most affordable metropolitan area in 2010 by Forbes. In 2007, Davenport, along with neighboring Rock Island, won the City Livability Award in the small-city category from the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Notable natives of the city have included jazz musician Bix Beiderbecke and former National Football League running back Roger Craig.

Davenport Neighborhoods
Davenport has several neighborhoods dating back to the 1840s. The original city plot was around current day Ripley and 5th Streets, where Antoine LeClaire had built his house. The city can be divided into five areas: downtown, central, east end, near north and northwest, and west end. Many architectural designs are found throughout the city including Victorian, Queen Anne, Tudor Revival, and others. Many of the original neighborhoods were inhabited by German settlers.

The east side of the city dates back to 1850 and has always contained higher end housing. The proximity and commanding view of the river kept these neighborhoods a fashionable address long after the original families departed. Lindsay Park, in The Village of East Davenport, was used as parade grounds for Civil War soldiers from Camp McClellan.

In contrast to the east side, the central and west neighborhoods originally contained many of the working class Germans who settled the town. Development on the west side started in the 1850s with extensive construction occurring in the 1870s. Housing was mostly one and a half to two story front gable American Foursquare and simplified Queen Anne style. The central Hamburg neighborhood contains the most architecturally significant residences in the old German neighborhoods. Also in central Davenport, the Vander Veer Park Historic District is a neighborhood anchored by Vander Veer Park, a large park with a botanical garden and a fountain. The park was modeled after New York City's Central Park and originally shared its name. Vander Veer is surrounded by large Queen Anne and Tudor Revival style houses that were built between 1895 and 1915. Development of the Vander Veer Park was one of the first major beautification efforts.

Today the eastern side of Davenport still contains many of the higher class houses in the city. The old Civil War parade grounds, in The Village of East Davenport ("The Village" for short), have been turned into Lyndsey Park, which is surrounded by small specialty shops. West of The Village, downtown contains the two tallest buildings in the Quad Cities, The Wells Fargo Bank Building which is seventeen stories tall and the Mid-American Energy Building is fifteen. Downtown contains a few other tall buildings, including the eleven-story Black Hawk Hotel and the ten-story Kahl Building.

Davenport Economy
Davenport's biggest labor industry is manufacturing, with over 7,600 jobs in the sector. John Deere is the second largest employer in the Quad Cities, after the Rock Island Arsenal as a whole. Deere, however, is the largest single employer, employing 7,200 workers in the Quad Cities and 948 on its north side Davenport plant. John Deere World Headquarters is located in Moline. Other large employers in Davenport and the Quad Cities include, Genesis Health System with 5,125 employees and 4,900 in Davenport, Trinity Regional Health System with 3,333, regional grocery store Hy-Vee with 3,138 and the Davenport Community School District with 2,237 employees.

Davenport is the headquarters for department store Von Maur, which has twenty-four stores. Davenport is also the headquarters of Lee Enterprises, which publishes fifty-five daily newspapers and more than 300 weekly newspapers, shoppers, and specialty publications, along with online sites in twenty-three states. As of September 2009, the unemployment rate in Davenport and the rest of the Quad Cities, had risen to 8.4%.

The median income for a household in the city is $40,378 with families earning $51,445. Males had a median income of $41,853 versus $30,002 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,828. About 10.5% of families and 14.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.2% of those under age 18 and 6.4% of those ages 65 or over.

Davenport has a lower cost of living than the national average, with the average home price being $99,312. In 2010, Forbes ranked Davenport as the best metropolitan area for cost of living, up from second in 2009. CNN Money ranked Davenport as the sixteenth most affordable housing in the country.

The surrounding Quad Cities have a few major places of employment, including the Rock Island Arsenal, which is the largest government-owned weapons manufacturing arsenal in the United States. KONE, Inc, a large manufacturer of elevators, is located in Moline, Illinois. Alcoa, a large aluminum manufacturer, is located in Riverdale, Iowa. Other local businesses include Whitey's Ice Cream, Hungry Hobo sandwich shop, and Happy Joe's and Harris Pizza – both local pizza restaurants.

Davenport Education
Davenport public schools serve nearly 17,000 students in the communities of Davenport, Blue Grass, Buffalo, and Walcott. The Davenport Community School District is the second largest school district in Iowa. Davenport has three public high schools: Central, West, and North and one private high school: Assumption. There are six public intermediate schools and twenty-three public elementary schools. One of the intermediate schools, Sudlow was named after Phebe Sudlow, the first female public school superintendent in the United States. She was superintendent for Davenport schools from 1874–1878. The high schools are part of the Mississippi Athletic Conference for sports. The city has four colleges and universities: Palmer Chiropractic College, which is the first chiropractic school and the location of the first chiropractic adjustment in the world, Saint Ambrose University, Kaplan University, and Hamilton Technical College. Marycrest International University was a university in Davenport from 1939 to 2002, when it closed and became senior citizen housing.

Davenport IA Area Information

Davenport IA Community Characteristics and Facts

Total Crime Risk: 231.0 (100 = National Average)
Population: 98,358
Population Growth Since 2000: 0%
Annual Max Avg. Temperature: 56 F
Annual Min Avg. Temperature: 37 F
Male Median Age: 32.3 years
Female Median Age: 35 years
Median Household Income: $50,996
Highest Education Level Attained: High School 32.22%, Bachelors 16.45%, Grad School 8.15%

Community Demographics

Davenport IA Demographics Summary

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Davenport IA Crime Rate Indexes

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2010 Population Growth and Population Statistics	Davenport, IA		Iowa
Total Population	98,358		3,016,808
Square Miles	129.06		55,869.36
Population Density	762.10		54.00
Population Change Since 1990	0.91%		8.68%
Population Change Since 2000	0.00%		3.09%
Forecasted Population Change by 2014	4.03%		2.59%
Population Male	48,262	49.07%	1,493,290	49.50%
Population Female	50,096	50.93%	1,523,518	50.50%
Median Age	33.60		36.90

Davenport IA Population Growth and Population Statistics

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2010 Weather Summary	Davenport, IA	Iowa
Weather Index	50	49
Annual Maximum Avg. Temperature	56.0 °F	58.0 °F
Annual Minimum Avg. Temperature	37.0 °F	38.0 °F
Annual Avg. Temperature	46.4 °F	48.3 °F
Annual Heating Degree Days (Tot Degrees < 65)	7,327	6,919
Annual Cooling Degree Days (Tot Degrees > 65)	593	862
Percent of Possible Sunshine	61	60
Mean Sky Cover (Sunrise to Sunset - Out of 10)	6	6
Mean Number of Days Clear (Out of 365 Days)	92	100
Mean Number of Days Rain (Out of 365 Days)	117	106
Mean Number of Days Snow (Out of 365 Days)	14	11
Avg. Annual Precipitation (Total Inches)	38.00"	32.00"
Avg. Annual Snowfall (Total Inches)	44.00"	34.00"