What to See in Davenport - Top Sights and Attractions

Museum in Davenport, Iowa. The Figge Art Museum is an art museum in Davenport, Iowa. The Figge, as it is commonly known, has an encyclopedic collection and serves as the major art museum for the eastern Iowa and western Illinois region. The Figge works closely with several regional universities and colleges as an art resource and collections hub for a number of higher education programs.

The museum opened on August 6, 2005, and is the renamed successor to the Davenport Museum of Art, which was opened on October 10, 1928, as the Davenport Municipal Art Gallery. The museum has its roots in the Davenport Art Association, which was founded before February 23, 1878, and was re-located on November 15, 1889, to the Bianca Wheeler art studio. The Figge Art Museum is one of the oldest art institutions in the country and is considered the first municipal art gallery in the United States. The Figge won an AIA award.

The new building was designed by Stirling Prize-winning Modernist British architect David Chipperfield. It was Chipperfield's first architectural commission in the United States. The Figge Art Museum gets its name from the V.O. and Elizabeth Kahl Figge Foundation, which donated $13 million towards its $47 million construction. The Figge family, a local banking family of Swiss origin, has a long tradition of philanthropy and cultural enrichment.

The first pieces of its collections were donated by Davenport community leader Charles Ficke (1850–1931), a successful lawyer and former mayor, who collected art from around the world. Robert E. Harsche, then Director of the Art Institute of Chicago, reported that to his knowledge no American public art gallery had "started out with so large a number of important paintings as a nucleus."^[1]

Cathedral in Davenport, Iowa. Sacred Heart Cathedral, located in Davenport, Iowa, United States, is a Catholic cathedral and a parish church in the Diocese of Davenport. The cathedral is located on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River to the east of Downtown Davenport. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Cathedral Complex. This designation includes the church building, rectory, and the former convent, which was torn down in 2012. The cathedral is adjacent to the Cork Hill Historic District, also on the National Register. Its location on Cork Hill, a section of the city settled by Irish immigrants, gives the cathedral its nickname Cork Hill Cathedral.^[5]

Park in Davenport, Iowa. Centennial Park is one of four parks located along the Mississippi River in downtown Davenport, Iowa, United States. The other three are LeClaire Park, which is immediately to the east of Centennial Park, Veterans Memorial Park, which is being developed immediately to the west, and River Heritage Park that is under development on the far east side of downtown. Development of the 250-acre park was begun in 2000. Its name is derived from the Rock Island Centennial Bridge, which is on the east side of the park. Centennial Park features a boat ramp, a playground, a gazebo, fishing areas, a dog off leash area, basketball courts, a sprayground, and a skateboard park. The skate board park is used for skateboarding, roller blades and BMX bikes. The Riverfront Parkway passes through the park, and the River's Edge, an indoor sports complex operated by Davenport Parks and Recreation, is on the northeast corner of the park.^[6]

Arch bridge in Rock Island, Illinois. The Rock Island Centennial Bridge, officially the Master Sargeant Stanley W. Talbot Memorial Bridge, connects Rock Island, Illinois, and Davenport, Iowa. The bridge is 3,850 feet long and stands 170 feet above water level.

Construction of the bridge began in 1938 and it opened on July 12, 1940, as a toll bridge. The bridge cost $1.75 million to construct. It was designed by Ash-Howard-Needles & Tammen and built by the American Bridge Company, McCarthy Improvement Company, and Priester Construction Company. The original toll was $0.10, and eventually rose to $0.50 for automobiles (and as high as $2.00 for semi-trucks). Early in the bridge's history, pedestrians paid a $0.05 walker's fee; this fee ended in 1960. The tolls for motorists ended on May 2, 2003. On that day, a ceremony was held to commemorate the occasion and to honor the toll workers and all of those who had worked for the bridge during the toll era. The bridge had been under the management of Sue Nelson before going toll-free. The Dohrn Transfer Company of Rock Island, the first official toll-paying vehicle to cross the bridge in 1949, was the last official patron of the bridge.

On September 4, 1988, 128 sodium lamps were installed on the arches, making the bridge a scenic sight at night. River Action Inc. raised funds for the lighting project through their initiative "Lights! River! Action!".

On July 13, 2005, the city of Rock Island transferred ownership of the bridge to the Illinois Department of Transportation after the completion of a project costing over $11 million in structural upgrades to the bridge.

It was originally going to be named the Galbraith Bridge, after Rock Island's mayor at the time, Robert Galbraith. He suggested it be named the Centennial Bridge, in commemoration of the city of Rock Island's centennial. In 2017, the bridge was officially renamed as the Master Sgt. Stanley Talbot Memorial Bridge.

The five arches of the bridge are a symbol often used to represent the Quad Cities. The two largest arches symbolize Rock Island and Davenport while the smaller ones represent the other surrounding Quad-Cities (Bettendorf, Moline, and East Moline). Modern Woodmen Park in Davenport is just upriver from the bridge. On the Rock Island side, "The District," the nightlife hub of the Quad Cities, is about one block east of the bridge.^[11]

Cable-stayed bridge in Davenport, Iowa. The Davenport Skybridge is a pedestrian cable-stayed bridge that spans River Drive in downtown Davenport, Iowa. It connects LeClaire Park to a courtyard and parking ramp on 2nd Street, located near the River Music Experience. The bridge, completed in 2005, is 50 feet tall, 575 feet long, and features 99 feet columns. It was designed by Holabird & Root and Neumann Monson, P.C.

At the south end, facing the river, is an observation deck with a view of the Mississippi River, LeClaire Park Bandshell, the Centennial Bridge, and the Davenport Levee, where many festivals take place throughout the warmer months.

The inside of the Skybridge contains kaleidoscope lighting. The lighting consists of 228 LED fixtures and 8,036 individual lights. The LEDs are capable of displaying various patterns. The lighting color and patterns can be adjusted for events occurring in the area, such as a red, white, and blue color scheme for the Independence Day; red and green for Christmas; and various other patterns.

The Skybridge was a component of the Riverfront/Downtown Davenport improvement program, River Renaissance. The total cost of the structure was $7 million. Iowa taxpayers provided $3.5 million in the form of a Vision Iowa grant, Rhythm City Casino paid $2 million, and the City of Davenport taxpayers spent $500,000 for its initial construction. The Riverboat Development Authority, the agency responsible for distributing some of the taxes collected from Rhythm City, allocated $1.3 million. The bridge's stated purpose is to serve as a tourist attraction with a unique vantage point of the Mississippi River, while also functioning as a safe way to cross the highway.^[15]

City park in Davenport, Iowa. Sunderbruch Park is a 134-acre park located in the west end of Davenport, Iowa, United States. The park is largely undeveloped and consists of three different trail systems: hiking, off road biking and equestrian. The off road biking trails includes difficulty ranging from green to black diamond in its seven mile system. The green trails are two miles of wooded scenery. It features a few small log crossings, one ladder bridge and one corduroy feature. The blue trails provide moderate changes in elevation, some rooted and off-camber terrain and a variety of corduroy sections and log crossings. The black trails have more challenging ascents and descents in elevation, creek crossings, narrow winding trails, roots, skinnies, drops and multiple log crossings. In addition to the biking trails there are also 4.5 miles of equestrian trails.^[16]

Non-profit organization. The River Music Experience is a multi-use music facility and 5013 non-profit organization located on the first two floors of the historic Redstone Building in downtown Davenport, Iowa.

The stated purpose of the River Music Experience is

to give Quad City residents and visitors opportunities to experience America's music, especially the music of the Mississippi River, through live musical performances, and programs which nurture, educate and inspire musicians and music appreciators.

The River Music Experience is the home of the RME Cafe, a coffee shop and live music venue, Redstone Room. RME Cafe and its community stage plays host to over 150 performances per year. These range from a weekly open mic night to the top local bands, and are typically open to the public and free of charge. The Redstone Room is a state-of-the-art music venue hosting national and regional acts that play original music.

The River Music Experience offers a broad array of educational programming including Rock Camp USA, the Sound Lab educational recording studio, traditional music lessons, weekly open mic nights, monthly jazz jams, the "Songwriters in the Round" workshops, monthly Community Drum Circle, Winter Blues workshop series, and the ongoing River Currents Tours - a co-production with the Figge Art Museum which introduces grade-school students to the history of American roots music.

For the past five years, the River Music Experience has organized River Roots Live, an annual two-day music festival held on the banks of the Mississippi River in Davenport's LeClare Park. The festival has featured acts like Little Feat, The BoDeans, Edgar Winter, the Black Crowes, Junior Brown, Umphrey's McGee, Greg Brown, America, Alejandro Escovedo, and many others.^[17]

Catholic church in Davenport, Iowa. St. Mary's Catholic Church was a parish of the Diocese of Davenport. The church building is located in the west end of Davenport, Iowa, United States, at the corner of Fillmore and W. 6th Streets. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church Complex. The designation includes the church building and rectory on the west side of Fillmore Street, and the former parochial school building and convent on the east side. A former school building operated by the parish two blocks north on West Eighth Street is also on the National Register and is listed as St. Mary's Academy. The parish ceased operations in July 2020 when it was merged into St. Anthony's Church downtown. The parish campus is being acquired by the nonprofit organization Humility Homes & Services, which is operated by the Congregation of the Humility of Mary.^[18]

Park in Davenport, Iowa. Indian Springs Park is a public park located on the east side of Davenport, Iowa, United States. The park is located on 3 acres in a natural depression north of East River Drive and to the west of a railroad trestle bridge. The land was donated to the city in 1921 by Mrs. D.N. Richardson with the expressed purpose of creating a park. The property contains a spring that was used by Native Americans, from which the park derives its name, as well as early travelers and the areas first settlers. The spring itself was capped in 1929 and a pipe 6 inches in diameter directs the water into a storm drain. During the high water season in the spring the park's basin fills with spring water and shore birds return to nest. The park, which is largely undeveloped, has served as a play area for the neighborhood children, students from neighboring Hoover Elementary School, and later the day care that is housed there. The park is a contributing property in the Village of East Davenport Historic District, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. It was added to the Davenport Register of Historic Properties in 2005.^[19]

Swing bridge in Davenport, Iowa. The Crescent Bridge carries a rail line across the Mississippi River between Davenport, Iowa and Rock Island, Illinois. It was formerly owned by the Davenport, Rock Island and North Western Railway, a joint subsidiary of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad and Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, which was split in 1995 between then-joint owners Burlington Northern Railroad and Soo Line Railroad, with BN getting the bridge and the Illinois-side line, and Soo Line getting the Iowa-side line. Since then, after spinning off its lines in the area to I&M Rail Link, later Iowa, Chicago and Eastern Railroad, the lines were repurchased by the Canadian Pacific Railway, parent of the Soo Line. Meanwhile, BN has merged into the BNSF Railway, the current owner of the bridge.^[24]

Swing bridge in Davenport, Iowa. The Government Bridge or Arsenal Bridge spans the Mississippi River, connecting Rock Island, Illinois and Davenport, Iowa. The Iowa Interstate Railroad uses the upper deck of the bridge for its ex-Chicago and Rock Island Railroad route between Council Bluffs, Iowa and Chicago, Illinois. The lower deck carries automobile traffic between the two cities. It is located near Upper Mississippi Mile Marker 483, adjacent to the Mississippi River Lock and Dam No. 15. The current structure is the fourth at this location. The bridges all were built with a swing section to accommodate traffic navigating the river.

The first Rock Island Bridge, which was finished in 1856, was the first railroad bridge across the Mississippi. The bridge was 1,582 feet (482 m) long, and the draw-span was 285 feet (87 m). It was located upstream from the current bridge. It was a threat to the South (which sought to create a southern rail route to the Pacific) and to St. Louis, whose steamboats faced competition from Chicago's railroads. The Effie Afton struck the bridge weeks after it opened, and steamboat companies brought lawsuits. It was repaired, but was replaced in 1866 by the a wooden structure in the same location. In 1868, the second bridge was damaged by an ice storm and a tornado; however, construction crews repaired and reopened the bridge. It was replaced in 1872 by a twin double-deck bridge. The third bridge, 366 ft (112 m) long, was built downstream near the Rock Island shore in the present location. During the 1880s, the bridge accommodated horse-drawn trolley cars. Electric trolleys ran on the current bridge until 1940.^[27]

The Davenport Downtown Commercial Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district located in the central business district of Davenport, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020. At the time of its nomination it consisted of 43 resources, which included 33 contributing buildings, one contributing structure, and nine non-contributing buildings. In addition, the district also contains 33 buildings that are individually listed on the National Register. This historic district is bordered by four other districts: the Crescent Warehouse Historic District and the Davenport Motor Row and Industrial Historic District on the east, the Hamburg Historic District to the northwest, and the West Third Street Historic District on the west.^[35]