Best Web Design in Davenport, IA (2026)

Web Design for Davenport, Iowa

Davenport is the largest of the Quad Cities, a metro that straddles the Mississippi River where the great river bends to flow east-to-west rather than north-to-south. Founded in 1836 on land opened after the Black Hawk War, it became a river-and-rail industrial center and the birthplace of jazz cornetist Bix Beiderbecke. Uniquely among big river cities, Davenport has deliberately refused to build a permanent floodwall, choosing riverfront parks and repeated flooding over a concrete barrier.

AppWT works with Davenport, IA businesses from Livonia, Michigan, mostly online and travelling as needed.

About Davenport

Also known as. The Quad Cities (with Bettendorf, Rock Island, Moline, and East Moline). The Most Livable Small City in America.

History. Davenport was founded on May 14, 1836, by Antoine Le Claire, who named it for his friend Colonel George Davenport, a fur trader and Army sutler at nearby Fort Armstrong. The site opened to American settlement after an 1832 treaty ending the Black Hawk War ceded the Iowa bank of the Mississippi. The city was incorporated on January 25, 1839. In 1856 the first railroad bridge across the Mississippi was completed at Davenport; after a steamboat, the Effie Afton, struck it, Abraham Lincoln successfully defended the bridge company in the resulting lawsuit. During the Civil War, Davenport served as Iowa's first military headquarters, hosting five training camps.

Local economy. Manufacturing is the leading sector; John Deere's Davenport Works is a major plant, and the region's identity is tied to farm-equipment production. Genesis Health System (about 4,900 employees) and Trinity Regional Health System are among the largest employers, reflecting a strong healthcare sector. Grocery chain Hy-Vee is a major regional employer, alongside Arconic/Alcoa aluminum operations in the metro. Historically, Oscar Mayer and Ralston Purina built plants in west Davenport before the farm-manufacturing contraction of the late 1970s and 1980s.

Culture and community. Davenport is the hometown of legendary jazz cornetist Bix Beiderbecke, celebrated each summer at the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival (started 1971). The Bix 7, established in 1975, is an internationally known 7-mile road race drawing well over 10,000 runners through the city's hilly streets. The Great Mississippi Valley Fair brings six days of concerts and midway attractions in late July and early August. The Quad Cities River Bandits, a Minor League Baseball team, play at riverside Modern Woodmen Park downtown.

What makes Davenport distinct. Davenport is the largest city on the Mississippi River with no permanent flood wall or levee, choosing open riverfront parks even though it floods repeatedly. In the Quad Cities, the Mississippi River flows east-to-west, so Iowa's Davenport actually sits north of the Illinois cities across the river. The 'Quad Cities' name persists even though the metro has long included five principal cities.

Davenport Landmarks and Local Life

• Figge Art Museum - a glass-clad downtown art museum on the riverfront
• Putnam Museum (founded 1867) - one of the oldest museums west of the Mississippi
• Vander Veer Botanical Park - a Victorian-era park with a conservatory and formal gardens
• Davenport City Hall - an 1895 Romanesque landmark
• Modern Woodmen Park - the riverside ballpark beside the Centennial Bridge