"Davenport is home to several well-known vacation condominiums such as Solterra, ChampionsGate, Reunion and others. It appeals because it's quieter, has golf courses and luxury hotels like the Omni. We see a lot of English, Canadian and European tourists too, as they love golf. The ChampionsGate area is growing a lot and many new restaurants are springing up. This area also offers residential condominiums and attracts many investors." - Andrea Pointon.
The establishment of the area now known as Davenport was in 1838, when the U.S. military set up Fort Davenport during the Second Seminole War, about 12 miles north of the present site of Davenport. The fort was one of several built at 20-mile intervals along a trail that ran from Fort Brooke to Fort Mellon. The fort lasted only a few years.
The fort was named for Colonel William Davenport, who served as the local US commander in the war. There is no known documentary evidence to support an alternative claim that the town was named after a railroad conductor. The modern city of Davenport had its beginnings in the 1880s, when the South Florida Railroad was extended to that point.
The settlement was first known as Horse Creek, for the stream first recorded in an 1849 U.S. Army survey, which passes through the site to enter Snell Creek and eventually Lake Hatchineha in the Kissimmee River system. A post office was established on Horse Creek in 1884, and the name of the post office was changed to Davenport in 1886. Davenport was incorporated in 1915.
The South Florida Railroad opened a station half a mile north of the current town site. In 1926 it was replaced by a new station downtown. It was closed in the 1970s. From 1958 to 1986, there was a second station, the Vertagreen Railroad Station, open only for the transport of fertilizer and not for public use.
Check out our 360º aerial image of historic downtown Davenport below.
