Continuing and ending our end of the month look at Mississippi River towns north of St. Louis for the time being, we come to the Quad Cities, and first we will look at Davenport, Iowa.

Of course, Davenport, and Rock Island, Illinois on the opposite bank (which we’ll look at in a few days) are critical to the history of St. Louis, if for the wrong reason. It was from the river banks of these two cities that Chicago railroad interests completed the first bridge across the Mississippi River in 1856, basically two decades before the Eads Bridge was completed. And as the the conventional wisdom goes, that is what killed St. Louis. But that is so, so simplistic. After all, in the decades following the completion of the Chicago and St. Louis bridges, St. Louis would go on to become the fourth largest city in America–hardly the outcome of a city that had somehow “lost” the bridge building race over the Mississippi.

There are much more complicated reasons St. Louis has struggled, but I won’t address those here, but rather talk about Davenport. It is the largest of the four cities in the Quad Cities, which is of course the largest metropolitan area north of St. Louis, and the only one before you reach Minneapolis–St. Paul.

Founded in 1836 and named after the founder’s friend, Davenport, like the other river towns we’ve looked at, is a manifestation of just how prosperous of a state Iowa was and still continues to be. And yes, those railroad ties to Chicago have helped, but perhaps we should ask who has helped whom more.

Oh yes, you might be wondering what is this gorgeous building? It’s a symbol of the prosperity that Davenport witnessed in the Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries.

Despite being built in 1927, the Weary & Alford Company, Richard C. Rich & Associates designed Davenport Bank and Trust Building is still the tallest skyscraper in Davenport. Its roots go back to the German Savings Bank founded in 1869, a reflection of the strong Teutonic business community in the city.

It is a Beaux-Arts style skyscraper, and shows how the influence of Louis Sullivan had waned in the early decades of the Twentieth Century.

Perhaps it is a bit of a strange composition, but I think of the Terminal Tower in Cleveland, and also of my essay about there being a “capital” skyscraper in American cities. This is certainly the one for Davenport.

Due to the anti-German sentiment that exploded during World War I, the bank changed its German name to the American Commercial and Savings Bank, which you can still see above the arcade below.

I took some bad photos through the lobby doors of the closed bank.

There is an inadequate Modernist expansion added on the side which is actually mostly a parking garage.

Moving along, there is a wide variety of other commercial structures around downtown that I photographed in the dimming light of dusk.

As is happening in many American cities, there are lofts being built in old warehouses.

One thing I was pleasantly surprised about downtown Davenport was the relative lack of surface parking lots. While they certainly existed, I’ve definitely seen cities with a much bigger problem of wasted space.

Buildings from across the decades exist throughout the downtown area.

There’s even a little bit of Art-Deco if you look closely.

Overall, I was impressed with downtown Davenport. There were businesses open, and with the flight of capital to the suburbia in all American cities, most urban areas are still rebuilding themselves.

This was the courthouse in the Nineteenth Century.

This is City Hall, below. At this point it was getting too dark.