Davenport, Washington

History

Prior to European settlement, the area around what would become Davenport was home to the Lower Band of the Spokane. The location was also along a popular east-west trade route, and the spring at present day Davenport was seen as an oasis and place for rest and camping along the journey.

That trail would eventually bring white settlers to the area, with prospectors passing through on their way to goldfields in Montana. Like the Spokane before them, these settlers used the springs at the present site of Davenport to collect water, rest and camp. The setting of the springs in the otherwise semi-arid region attracted some of these new arrivals to settle at the location, and in 1880 Aloysius Harry Harker became the first non-native permanent settler at the location, with John and Emma Eads Nicholls arriving soon after. The settlement was located at the springs and known as Cottonwood Springs. John C. Davenport founded a separate settlement on higher ground nearby in 1883, which was destroyed by fire the following year. Davenport's settlement relocated to Cottonwood Springs, taking Davenport's name with it. The city was made the county seat of Lincoln County on December 15, 1896, after an election that had chosen Davenport over then-seat Sprague, which had been destroyed in a fire, and Harrington.

From the History section of Davenport, Washington on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.