Davenport Bag and Paper Company Building
historic building located in downtown Davenport, Iowa, United States
The Davenport Bag and Paper Company Building, also known as the Peterson Bag and Paper Building, is a historic building located in downtown Davenport, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the Davenport Register of Historic Properties in 2012. In 2018 it was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and in 2019 it was included as a contributing property in the Davenport Motor Row and Industrial Historic District.
History
The building was built in 1907 for the Davenport Bag & Paper Company. The five-story building is composed of reinforced concrete blocks, and it is considered the first "fireproof" building built in the city after a 1901 fire that caused more than $1.25 million in damages and destroyed eight city blocks. The Chicago-style of architecture, which the building employs with its wide windows on the main facade, is one of the results of the technological advancements that came about after the Great Chicago Fire. The revolving door at the main entrance is rare in the Quad Cities. Davenport Bag & Paper produced paper bags, wrapping paper and flour sacks. They used the building for its entire operation, which included manufacturing and warehousing. This part of the Central Business District was home to similar facilities until World War I.
The Peterson Paper Company occupied the building by 1940.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Davenport Bag and Paper Company Building” as historic building located in downtown Davenport, Iowa, United States. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as historic building located in downtown Davenport, Iowa, United States. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q30591402. Authority coordinates are 41.521, -90.571. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2012, 2018, 2019 and 1907.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Davenport Bag and Paper Company Building”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Davenport Bag and Paper Company Building primary sources, Davenport Bag and Paper Company Building archive and Davenport research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Davenport Bag and Paper Company Building”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Davenport Bag and Paper Company Building” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.