. ►css own© association Davenport la. \\ Davenport, Iowa; \ts location sod business advantages. Return this book on or before the Latest Date stamped below. University of Illinois Library UL 2 4 13b L161 — H41 n»r LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates https://archive.org/details/davenportiowaitsOOunse LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF IIJJNO' -COURT HOUSE. DAVENPORT, IOWA, ITS LOCATION AND BUSINESS ADVANTAGES, COMPILED AND ISSUED BY The Business Men’s Association. 1894. DAVENPORT, IOWA : THE DEMOCRAT COMPANY, PRINTERS. SECOND STREET Looking; West From Brady. JUN2 0 1934 Howard Merc- Lib 4 fi 3 °i m The Business Men’s Association HE DESIGN of this little book is to furnish strangers, especially those seeking a location for manufacturing or other business enterprises, reli- able information concerning Davenport. It is prepared and circulated by the Business Men's Associa- tion , an organization of Two Hundred and Fifty leading business and professional men of the city who lend their counsel and influence toward furthering the prosperity and growth of Davenport. The matter presented and the information herein given have been prepared with great care, and it is confidently asserted that no wild assertions have been made. It is thus presented to a candid, thinking public, in the hope that it will invite investigation. 868039 6 BUSINESS ADVANTAGES OF Davenport. History is not the mission of this little book, though to write the chronicles of so interesting a city would be a splendid pleasure. It is the Davenport of to-day that is held up to view. Men of enterprise and affairs live and move and act in the swift-moving currents of the present. Davenport’s location in the grandest valley on the globe; progress and municipal growth; commercial and manufacturing advantages; educational, literary and charitable features; avenues for trade and investment — these and other deversified interests are herein set forth. These pages picture busy life among busy men in a busy city. Location. Davenport is admirably located on the west bank of the great river of the continent — in the heart of the magnificent Mississippi Valley. It is 181 miles west of Chicago; 318 miles east of Omaha, 322 miles north of St. Louis, and 397 miles south of St. Paul. It is opposite the most beautiful island that divides the Mississippi — an island richly adorned by nature, proudly embellished by the genius of man, and made historic by exciting scenes and memorable associations. On this island the national govern- ment has developed abundant water-power, erected great work- shops and arsenal, and expended more than Ten Million Dollars. Climate. The climate of this locality is varied, but exceptionally healthy and invigorating, and embraces in each twelve months the four distinct seasons. The following statistics are taken from the records of the United States Weather Bureau office in this city for the past twenty-two years : The mean annual temperature of Daven- port is 49°. The average temperature for spring, 48°; for summer, 72°; for autumn, 52°; and for winter, 24°. The highest temperature recorded is 98° ; the lowest 27° below DAVENPORT, IOWA. i zero. The average annual rainfall is 35 inches; the greatest amount in any year was 47 inches in 1876; the least, 23 inches in 1886. The average number of fair days in a year is 256; cloudy, 109; rainy (with appreciable rainfall), 120. The average relative humidity is 65 per cent. The average velocity of the wind is from 6 to 8 miles per hour, and the highest velocity ever attained was 60 miles per hour. The prevailing direction of wind is southwest during the summer months, and northwest during the winter months. The average last killing frost in spring is April 25; the average first killing frost in autumn is October 14. Snow usually covers the ground during the greater part of the mid-winter months. Population. Davenport has not made rapid strides in populations and has had no booms — those short-lived and undesirable infections. The growth has been regular and steady. The population to-day is believed to be 40,000, by those whose estimate has a basis in actual knowledge. The city now has a thrift and business impetus that promise to far exceed the past. The Davenport of the future must be the principal city of Imperial Iowa. A Davenport, according to mortality returns, Healthy is one of the healthiest cities in the Union. City. The death-rate has been less than two per cent, per annum for years. Not only does an invigorating climate give it pre-eminence over most cities, but the city’s supply of pure, filtered water is abundant; the surface drainage is good naturally ; and the sewer system, the result of the best sanitary engineering, reaches the suburbs as w r ell as the thickly settled sections of the city. Health affairs are managed by a non-partisan Board of Health, that works in 8 BUSINESS ADVANTAGES OF harmony with state and national associations, and is tireless in the performance of exacting duties. The enforcement of proper sanitary regulations is immediate and certain. Educational. Davenport is justly proud of a public school system that will bear the closest scrutiny and comparison with the best in the country. They have long borne an enviable reputation for excellence, modern methods and thoroughness of instruction. The buildings, eleven in number, are constructed on approved plans and of the best of materials. They are supplied with modern furnishings and all that tends to an elevating and refining influence. They are thoroughly organized and graded in every department, and only capable and experienced persons are employed as instruc- tors. Popular and progressive features of the system are a WATER COMPANY FILTERS. DAVENPORT, IOWA. 9 High School, a Normal and Practice School for the training of teachers, evening schools, kindergarten departments, a well- equipped Manual Training School for boys and a Cooking School for girls. In addition to the excellent public schools there are many private schools of a high grade. Griswold College and Kemper Hall, for boys, and St. Katharine’s Hall, for girls are under the management of the Episcopal church. The Roman ONE OF ELEVEN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. Catholics have St. Ambrose Seminary for boys, Immaculate Conception Academy for girls, and several excellent primary and intermediate parochial schools. Fine opportunitv to secure a practical education is afforded by the Davenport Business College and the Tri-City Commercial College. Several well- equipped kindergartens are doing the little people a world of 10 BUSINESS ADVANTAGES OF good. The interests of music, art, literature and the drama are honored, appreciated and cultivated by our citizens. A city that fosters the best of good schools is certain to be a city of good homes, of polite society, of inteligence and refinement. Parks and Davenport is well to the front in those Improvements, public measures which bring adornment as well as prosperity to cities. A special an- nual tax for the improvement of parks has been voted by the people. These beautifiers of the city, so essential to public health and comforts are becoming more attractive every year. During the coming season a new one will be laid out in the eastern part of the city. All the business and most of the residence streets are paved. Several miles of substantial brick pavement have been laid in the past two years, and so universal is the demand for perma- nent street improvement that each succeeding year sees more and more of this work completed. Good roads and well-kept highways are not neglected by wise, thorough-going city- builders. Real There is no more reliable indication of a Estate. city’s growth and prosperity than a steady increase in the value of real estate. In this line of activity prospective investors must distinguish between a boom and a healthy growth in values. The transactions in real estate in this city have been of such a character as to con- vince the intelligent observer of the desirableness of Davenport realty as a safe investment. Sales are made for legitimate, not purely speculative purposes, and prices are on a solid basis. The advance in value has been in all cases the result of advance in wealth and prosperity. Suitable and advantagious sites for DAVENPORT, IOWA. 11 MASONIC TEMPLE 12 BUSINESS ADVANTAGES OF manufacturing purposes can be bought at nominal prices. Desirable business and residence property, needing only proper improvement to make it profitable, can be secured at reasonable rates. In real estate investments, as in trade and commerce, the future of the city is not to be lost sight of. A future of growth and prosperity must bring the investor sure profits in a rise in values. Trade. Davenport has a large trade in proportion to its population. Its position as a trade center has fostered and established this line of business. Re- liable commercial reports show that the city has a great annually-increasing wholesale trade. The jobbers during the past year handled goods to the amount of more than $7,000,000. The city’s superior location and transportation facilities have made it possible to do this volume of business easily and suc- cessfully. The principal lines represented by Davenport’s wholesale houses are: Groceries, Dry Goods, Hardware, Drugs, Crockery, Butter and Eggs, Packing House Products, Clothing, Woolen Goods, Furniture, Mixed Paints, Teas, Coffee, Spices, Boots and Shoes. Manufactures. A city whose manufacturing interests have grown up as those of Davenport have is certainly on a safe foundation as a manufacturing center. The success that has attended them in the past goes far to prove the advantages which the city offers the manufacturer as a location for his factory. The location is good for collecting raw material and for distributing manufactured products. The value of the output last year was something over $8,000,000.00; while the number of hands employed was nearly Four Thousand. CRYSTAL ICE AND COLD STORAGE WORKS. DAVENPORT, IOWA. 13 14 BUSINESS ADVANTAGES OF The bulk of the manufacturing is in staple articles such as flour, lumber, vinegar, syrups, canned goods, threshing machines, agricultural implements, cutlery, crackers, artistic woodwork, etc., which are distributed over the entire country. It is certain that the city is unequalled in the number and variety of its small manufactures. Some of these useful and valuable pro- ducts are : Agricultural Implements Flour Refrigerators Artificial Stone Files Rubber Stamps Awnings Fire Apparatus Sash, Doors and Blinds Bags Furs Scales Bank and Office Fixtures Furniture Scissors Barrels Gloves Shingles Baskets Glucose Shoes Beer Hats Shears Blank Books Hair Goods Shirts Boats and Barges Harness Show Cases Boxes Horse Collars Sleighs Boilers Iron Fences Sleigh Runners Brick Ladders Slippers Broom 8 Lath Soap Brushes Leather Spices Bungs Lumber Stairs Candy Macaroni Stair Builder’s Supplies Canned Goods Machinery Steam Engines Carpets Malt Stencils Carpet Looms Match Boxes Stove Polish Carriages Mattresses Straw Goods Castings (Iron and Brass) Mixed Paints Syrups Ceylon Tea Monuments Tents Cheese Mustard Tobacco Churns Overalls Threshing Machines Cigars Pants Trunks and Valises Cigar Boxes Paste Vermicelli Cigar Makers’ Supplies Paper Bags Vinegar Cloaks Patterns and Models Wagons Clothing Pickles Wagon Axels (in one piece) Cordage Pianos Wheels (Metallic) Crackers Piano Trucks Washing Machines Cultivators Plating Window Shades Electrical Equipments Plows Wine Electrotypes and Engravings Pork Wood Mantels Feed Pumps Wooden Shoes Flavoring Extracts Reed Furniture Woolen Goods DAVENPORT SYRUP REFINERY. 16 Syrup Refinery. BUSINESS ADVANTAGES OF Syrup Davenport has the largest glucose manu- Refinery. facturing establishment in the west, if not in the whole country. These works employ regularly many hundred men. Its business amounts to almost a Million Dollars annually. They furnish a ready and con- venient market for nearly 6,000 bushels of corn daily, or more than a million and a half bushels annually. The benefit of this refinery to Davenport and the surrounding farming country, in furnishing a good market for corn needs only to be mentioned. This plant in its original cost, its annual extensions, and general improvements represents a capital of nearly Half a Million Dollars. ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. DAVENPORT, IOWA. 17 Lumber. Davenport annually manufactures vast quantities of lumber. Four large saw mills are in operation all season, giving employment to a Thousand hands who receive something more than $300,000.00 in wages. The amount invested in these mills is about $700,000.00. They cut 80,000,000 feet of lumber each year, and 2,500,000 lath and shingles. Davenport capital and enterprise are bringing from the great hard-wood forests of the south, immense supplies of material for the construction of farm machinery, builders’ special supplies, and decorative wood-work. Business. Davenport’s percentage of failures in bus- iness is the smallest of any city in the United States. The commercial agencies report that the aver- age percentage of failures in the whole country last year was .0085. In Iowa it was .0052. This city has not had a business failure for many years. This speaks well and eloquently for any community, and shows that methods of prudence and sagacity prevail in establishing business on a bed-rock of security. Water Works. Davenport has, without any exception, the most complete system of Water- Works, both for fire protection and for sanitary purposes, of any city in the west. The system comprehends a magnificent plant, the product of the best engineering skill, and costing a round mil- lion dollars. The works were planned and built by ex-Mayor Michael Donahue, and are owned by a private corporation of Davenport citizens, and have no bonded debt — a fact that bears its own business moral. The supply of pure and wholesome water is taken from the 18 BUSINESS ADVANTAGES OF Mississippi river by direct pumping from a conduit extending under the bed of the river about seven hundred feet to the chan- nel, where the water runs over solid rock for many miles. Being free from contamination of any sort, its purity is assured. PUMPING STATION No. 2. Reservoir. The works comprise two pumping stations of superior construc- tion, a reservoir with a capacity of 5,000,000 gallons, thirty - three miles of cast-iron pipe water-mains fiom four to sixteen inches in diameter, and 304 public and 15 private fire hydrants. DAVENPORT, IOWA. 19 The consumption is over 3,000,000 gallons daily. The filter- plant recently added to these works is a model of complete machinery. The actual capacity of these filters is over 7,500,- 000 gallons per 24 hours. This is double the size of any other filter plant now in use. It is the most expensive as well as the largest mechanical filter plant in the world. This grand im- provement, due to the enterprise and public spirit of the owners who determined to supply the best and purest water in the world, cost $125,000.00. During the past year more than five miles of mains were laid, and fifty-one new fire hydrants were set. The system is without a blemish — our pride and protection. Davenport also has five artesian wells, whose supply of pure water is ample. Three of them at the glucose works flow 2,000 gallons per minute. Railroad Davenport has fine railroad facilities. It is the Facilities. distributing center of the four great divisions of the great Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway, with scores of daily trains; of two divisions of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, and of one division of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railway. The Chi- cago, Burlington & Quincy Railway, and the Rock Island & Peopia Railway are also tributaries to Davenport, and have local freight and passenger offices in the city. These lines with their numerous branches and affiliated roads extend over the en- tire surrounding country, and give assurance of excellent facili- ties for the transportation of our abundant commodities. Other railroads and additional bridges are enterprises which have passed the preliminary stages of survey and discussion. They are grand promises of the city’s welfare and advancement which the future will develop and complete . 20 BUSINESS ADVANTAGES OF Street Davenport possesses one of the most ex- Railways. tensive and best equipped electric railway systems in the Mississippi Valley. Rapid transit is afforded to all parts of the city and quick service puts all of the city parks and pleasure resorts within easy access. The system comprises 18 miles of trackage, most of which is double track, and 30 trains are operated daily on the various lines. GOVERNMENT BRIDGE. Over Mississippi. The Thomson-Houston system machines are used exclusively by the Street Car Company and the management has spared no expense in adopting the latest improvements for the benefits of the service. The tracks are kept clear from snow during the winter by an electric snow sweeper and the pavements well wet down daily DAVENPORT, IOWA. 21 during the heated and dusty summer months by electric street sprinklers operated on the street railway tracks. The Street Car Company also owns and operates the street railway line running over the government bridge, onto Rock SAINT KATHARINE’S HALL. Island, and thence over the wagon bridge to the City of Rock Island ; bringing the business centres of Davenport and Rock Island within twenty minutes ride of each other. The bridge line carries the workmen and many visitors daily to the government arsenal on Rock Island opposite the City of Davenport. 22 BUSINESS ADVANTAGES OF Freights. The railroads report 70,000 incoming and outgoing freight cars handled during the past year, making our railroad traffic for the year exceed 680,000 tons. There was brought to and shipped from this city as river freight about 20,000 tons, making a total of 700,000 tons of freight handled annually by our transportation companies. Freight cars to the number of 187,000 crossed the river at this point during the past year. Churches. Davenport is the seat of the Episcopal and Roman Catholic sees. Has twenty- eight churches. Fine edifices have recently been erected by the Christian and Baptist churches. The Roman Catholic denomi- nation has completed the erection of a handsome cathedral at a cost of upwards of $100,000.00. Public A fine building, costing $13,000.00, is Library. dedicated to public library uses. It con- tains nearly 13,000 standard books, to- gether with the leading magazines and reviews. A free reading room has been comfortably fitted up and is abundantly supplied with all the standard periodicals. Fire The Davenport fire department is a paid Department, department, well organized and completely equipped. Every essential to a satisfac- tory outfit is supplied. An electric fire alarm with stations in every part of the city makes the location of a fire known in- stantly. So efficient is the service, and fully adequate the water supply, that a conflagration has not imperiled the city since the establishment of the present system. BRADY STREET Looking North From Second. 24 BUSINESS ADVANTAGES OF Academy Davenport's Academy of Natural Sciences of Sciences. is an institution that has won fame and world -wide celebrity. It ranks fourth among institutions of its kind in the United States, and has re- ceived recognition and honorable mention from the best foreign scientific societies for its publications. The academy’s collec- WATER WORKS. Pumping Station No. i. tion of Mound relics is large and very valuable, embracing rare specimens, such as tablets and elephant pipes — mute memorials of a people whose monument is a grave without a name. Its library contains thousands of rare books, scientific treatises, valuable pamphlets and autograph letters. TRI-CITY PACKING & PROVISION CO’S WORKS. DAVENPORT, IOWA. 25 26 BUSINESS ADVANTAGES OF Charitable Davenport is princely in its charities. Institutions. The Clarissa C. Cook Home for aged women, the Fejervary Home for worthy men, and the Industrial Home which is the headquarters for the Ladies’ Aid Society, have elegant, commodious buildings. The Associated Charities is a 11011 -sectarian, or rather a union of all charitable societies. It is safely within bounds to say that no city more efficiently and systematically cares for its worthy poor and unfortunate citizens. Banks. Davenport has four national and four savings banks, all showing careful man- agement and resultant prosperity. Banking institutions are the heart of a city, and their extent and condition tell accurately the amount and success of the city’s business, the condition of its laboring class and its prospective development. The follow- ing are the correct amounts 011 deposit in Davenport banks as shown by semi-annual statements for 1893: German Savings, - - $4,483,786.50 Davenport Savings, - 2,098,224.04 Scott County Savings, - 1,508,099.72 Farmers’ and Mechanics’ Savings, - 223,122.90 Citizens National, - 841,873.83 First National, - 466,193.19 Davenport National, 306,331.23 Iowa National, - 261,790.90 $10,189,422.31 DAVENPORT, IOWA. 27 LIBRARY BUILDING 28 BUSINESS ADVANTAGES OF Post Office. The business of a Post Office is a very fair and reliable index of the growth and progress of a city. These figures which are official, merit at- tention and consideration: YEAR. GROSS RECEIPTS. TOTAL EXPENSES. NET GAIN. ! 1870 . . $ 24,224.00 $ 8,589.00 $ 15,635.00 1871 . . 24,170.00 9,400.00 14,770.00 1872 . . 26,455.00 9,962.00 16,493.00 1873 . . 28,480.00 9,945.00 18,535.00 1874 . . 30,137.00 11,004.00 19 133.00 1875 . . 29,634.00 10,866 00 18,768.00 1876 . . 31,486.00 10,890.00 20,596.00 1877 . . 30,165.00 9,093.00 21,072.00 1878 . . 27,684.00 8,792.00 18,892.00 1879 . . 28,735.00 8,864.00 19,871.00 1880 . . 32,723.00 8.905.00 23,818.00 1881 . . 31,890.00 8,998.00 22,892.00 1882 . . 37,714.00 16,149.00 21,565.00 1883 . . 39,651 00 17,237.00 22,414.00 1884 . . 38,575.00 17,267.00 21,308.00 1885 . . 36,811,00 17,421.00 19,390.00 1886 . . 37,699.00 17,026.00 20,673.00 1887 . . 40,159.00 17,449.00 22,710.00 1888 . . 39,425.00 19. 143.00 20,282.00 1889 . . 46,191.00 19,711.00 26,480.00 1890 . . 52,519.00 19,837.00 32,682.00 1891 . . 56,791.00 24,932.00 31,859.00 1892 . . 60,426.00 24,744.00 35,682.00 Total Amt. 1831,744.00 $326,224.00 $505,520.00 The total amount of money order transactions for the year of 1893 was $1,218,451.96. EAGLE MANUFACTURING COMPANY’S WORKS. DAVENPORT, IOWA. 29 30 BUSINESS ADVANTAGES OF Water Ways. Great as are Davenport’s water lines of transportation, the possibilities of the future are still greater. The Illinois and Mississippi Canal to connect the great interior water line with the Great Lakes, is a great national work now well under way. The present appro- priation of a million dollars for this grand improvement will construct enough of this water-way to bring the coal of Illinois to our market and thus aid our manufacturers with cheap fuel. The future great benefit of this splendid water-way, when com- pleted, must bring extraordinary development to Davenport. To give an accurate knowledge of the city of Davenport and of all branches of its commercial and manuacfturing interests would require a multiplicity of details. This would mean a publication beyond reasonable limits. The foregoing general description, we trust, will give a correct idea of what Daven- port really is, as a place of residence and as a field for business enterprise and the investment of capital. That it is at this time a metropolis of trade; that its business is increasing year by year, and that its march of improvement is onward, are facts that cannot be questioned. The same general opportunities that made Davenport pros- perous in the past are present to-day, aiding an increase of trade and wealth. Besting securely on the solid foundation of a trade constantly increasing, Davenport offers to the new-comer and investor advantages of a certain and substantial nature. Persons desiring any further information relative to Daven- port are cordially invited to apply to the secretary of the Davenport Business Men’s Association. GAS WORKS. DAVENPORT, IOWA. 31 LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS