Top Ten Davenport Fun Facts

Fred Angell opened the first Maid Rite Restaurant in Muscatine in 1926, and franchised four other shops later that same decade. All four of those restaurants are still in operation today, making those famous “loose meat” sandwiches. Don’t call it a “Hamburger”!

Modern Woodmen Park is one of the U.S.’s oldest minor league baseball parks still in use today. It was built in 1931.

Until 1960, it cost pedestrians 5 cents to walk across the Centennial Bridge. The toll for cars crossing the bridge ended in 2003.

One of the favorite phrases of greeting in Davenport is “Welcome to the Bix!” a reference to famous jazz legend Bix Beiderbecke – his 1925 song “Davenport Blues” was recorded … in Richmond Indiana!

John Deere is the SECOND largest employer in the Quad Cities….Rock Island Arsenal is #1.

The original Davenport city plot was at the corner of Ripley and 5th St. where Antoine LeClaire built his house. Location, location, location!

Davenport gets an average of 30 inches of snow each winter. Did I hear someone say "that's enough!"

Whiteys Ice Cream started in Moline in 1933 but it wasn't until 1988 when the Davenport area got it's first Whiteys shop, in Bettendorf - well worth the wait!

Famous athletes born in Davenport include NFL running back Roger Craig, NFL offensive lineman Julian Vandervelde, and Wretler Seth Rollins.

In August 1805, Zebulon Pike was the first US Representative to officially visit the Davenport area, He later went on to discover Pike's Peak in Colorado, because we don't have any mountains in Iowa.