LeClaire, Antoine, House

About this property

The Antoine LeClaire House is a historic building located on the east side of Davenport, Iowa, United States. It is a community center that was built as a private home by one of the founders of the city of Davenport. It also housed two of Davenport's Catholic bishops. The home was constructed in 1855. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, and on the Davenport Register of Historic Properties in 1992. Antoine Le Claire was an interpreter for the U.S. Government stationed at Fort Armstrong on Rock Island on the Mississippi River. In 1832 he was the interpreter for the treaty signing between the Sac (Sauk) and Meskwaki tribes and the United States after the Black Hawk War. The tribes gave Le Claire two parcels of land in Iowa, one at the top of the Rock Island Rapids and one below. The lower parcel became part of the city of Davenport, which he was instrumental in establishing in 1836. Le Claire became Davenport's first citizen. He established the first church (St. Anthony's), ferry service, steam mill, store, hotel, and foundry. His philanthropy included the establishment of two other churches, the property for the Scott County Courthouse, and Iowa College, which later became Grinnell College. There is also some indication that Le Claire was involved in the Underground Railroad. Le Claire agreed to build his first house on the location where the Black Hawk Treaty was signed. He built a small log structure on the site in 1833 after the treaty was ratified by the United States Senate. It was replaced by a small white house that became known as the Treaty House. Le Claire and his wife Marguerite lived in the modest house until 1855 when they built an Italianate mansion in the center of the Le Claire Reserve. The Reserve is one of the parcels deeded to Le Claire by the tribes and covers much of the east side of Davenport south of Locust Street. The house, and others being built by Davenport's wealthier citizens, shows the progress the city had made in the twenty years since its founding. Le Claire donated the Treaty House to the Mississippi and Missouri Railroad. It was not only Davenport's first railroad station, but the first station west of the Mississippi. The house had to be moved from its original location. With his support, the first railroad bridge had been built across the Mississippi and its location was just below his Italianate mansion. It was completed a year after the house. The first locomotive to cross the river was named the Antoine LeClaire. The steamboat Effie Afton struck the bridge and the following lawsuit became one of Abraham Lincoln's best-known cases.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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