“How Davenport Became the Wickedest City in America" at the German American Heritage Center -- February 8.
Sunday, February 8, 2 p.m.
German American Heritage Center, 712 West Second Street, Davenport IA
Employing contemporary newspaper clippings and photographs for his fascinating and insightful program, author and frequent River Cities' Reader contributor D. Ezra Sidran, PhD will present How Davenport Became the Wickedest City in America at Davenport's German American Heritage Center on February 8. This presentation in the venue's popular "Kaffee und Kuchen" series held in conjunction with the resent publication of Sidran's book My Wicked Hometown: The Hidden History of Davenport, Iowa.
As Sidran states in his nonfiction's introduction: "Any citizen of Davenport can tell you that our town was named after Colonel George Davenport. They might not know much else of the city's history, but that they are pretty sure of. Unfortunately, much of what they think they know is wrong.
"The person commonly called Col. George Davenport was, in fact, born John King in Lincolnshire, England, and the highest rank in any army that he obtained was probably sergeant. He changed his name sometime after arriving in America but before appearing at Fort Armstrong (now the location of the Rock Island Arsenal located in the middle of the Mississippi River between Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island, Illinois). Along the way, he married a widow, Margaret Lewis, 17 years older than himself, who had two children, William and Susan, from a previous marriage. Col. Davenport impregnated Susan, his stepdaughter, who gave birth to their first child, George L'Oste Davenport, in 1817, and then again in 1823 with their second child, Bailey Davenport. The prolific Colonel also allegedly impregnated his cook resulting in the birth of Mathilda Barrett [described as a 'mulatto (who) grew up in the house.'] The frisky colonel was presumed to have also fathered 'a number of Indian children as well.'
"The Colonel and Mrs. Davenport and various step-children and sundry offspring lived happily together on the island in the middle of the Mississippi until the colonel was murdered by banditti on July 4, 1845.
"Three men – John Long, Aaron Long, and Granville Young – would be convicted for the murder and publicly hanged in Rock Island, Illinois, before a crowd estimated at 4,000.
"My wife Kelly likes to say that Davenport, Iowa, is not just funky; it's River City funky. It's a special kind of funky. There are other funky towns, but there is a unique funkiness to a river city town. This is not Meredith Willson's River City from The Music Man. This is not ice-cream socials and dancing in the square River City. This is a hardscrabble river town where fleecing the rubes was business as usual."
How Davenport Became the Wickedest City in America will be presented at Davenport's German American Heritage Center on February 8, with refreshments for this “Kaffee und Kuchen” event served at 1:30 p.m. and the program beginning at 2 p.m. Participation is free for Heritage Center members and $8 for non-members, and more information is available by calling (563)322-8844 and visiting GAHC.org.
