Diocese of Davenport
diocese of the Catholic Church in the United States
The Diocese of Davenport (Latin: Diœcesis Davenportensis) is a diocese of the Catholic Church for the southeastern quarter of the state of Iowa in the United States. The bishop is Dennis Gerard Walsh. The see city for the diocese is Davenport, where Sacred Heart Cathedral is located.
Territory
The Diocese of Davenport covers the territory to the immediate west of the Mississippi River and borders on the Missouri state line on the south. It includes the following counties: Appanoose, Cedar, Clinton, Davis, Des Moines, Henry, Iowa, Jasper, Jefferson, Johnson, Keokuk, Lee, Louisa, Mahaska, Marion, Monroe, Muscatine, Poweshiek, Scott, Van Buren, Wapello and Washington
History
1800 to 1850
From the time of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 down to 1827, present-day Iowa was part of the Diocese of New Orleans. With the establishment of the Diocese of St. Louis in 1826, Iowa was transferred from New Orleans. The Society of Jesus began sending missionaries around the Mississippi Valley in the early 1830s. In 1837, the Vatican erected the Diocese of Dubuque, covering Iowa and adjoining territories.
St.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Diocese of Davenport” is diocese of the Catholic Church in the United States. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Diocese, Davenport and diocese, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “diocese of the Catholic Church in the United States” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q868331. Authority coordinates are 41.547, -90.583. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1800, 1850, 1803 and 1827.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. 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 “Diocese of Davenport”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Diocese of Davenport primary sources, Diocese of Davenport archive and Diocese 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 “Diocese of Davenport”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Diocese of Davenport” 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.