This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.
Had a certain steamboat threading its way down the Ohio River in the summer of 1838 had the good grace to explode rather than merely catch fast on a sandbar, Davenport might still be the capitol of Iowa.
That summer, on June 12th, Congress created the Territory of Iowa out of a large portion of Michigan Territory west of the Mississippi River. President Martin Van Buren appointed Robert Lucas of Ohio to be the first governor of the new territory. Lucas, in turn, appointed Nanced Conway, a newspaper editor from Pittsburgh, as Secretary.Both men headed for Iowa at about the same time. Governor Lucas boarded a steamboat intending to go by way of the Ohio River. Conway took a northern, overland route and arrived first, at the brand-new community of Davenport on the Mississippi.
While waiting for Governor Lucas, Conway fell in love with Davenport and its location on the Mississippi. When the Governor's boat met with a sandbar delaying his arrival even further, Conway read the fine print in his commission—fine print which specified that in the absence of the governor, the secretary should exercise executive authority.
Conway needed no further encouragement. He was one of those "fighting Irishmen" who took his work seriously. He had grown particularly fond of the rolling hills which sloped down to the Mississippi—especially the hill where the future Camp McClellan would be located during the Civil War. What a stunning front lawn for a grand domed capitol building. Conway issued a proclamation naming Davenport as the capitol of Iowa. He then divided Iowa into three judicial districts and appointed a judge to be in charge of each one. He then called a session of the Territorial Legislature.
Unfortunately, Governor Lucas had by now sailed up the Mississippi to Burlington, Iowa. When he discovered what his secretary had done, he rescinded all the proclamations, including the one establishing Davenport and its rolling hills as the capitol. He replaced it with Iowa City, as flat a place in Iowa as he could find, leaving Davenport with nothing but a question: Had it really been, if only for a few days, the first capitol of Iowa?
Rock Island Lines with Roald Tweet is underwritten by Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois.
