Located in Polk County, FL. the city of Davenport is near Lakeland, Kissimmee and major attractions in Central Florida.
Overview:
Although the city of Davenport only covers about 3.4 square miles of Polk County in Florida, it is perhaps the fastest growing city in Polk County. Located along the I4 corridor in between Lakeland and Kissimmee, Davenport was established in 1838 after the United States Military built Fort Davenport (named after Colonel William Davenport), which was a part of a stretch of forts built every 20 miles from Fort Brooke to Fort Mellon during the Second Seminole War. Fort Davenport didn’t last very long and the Davenport area stayed desolate until around 40 years later. Davenport, at this point in time referred to as Horse Creek, became a part of the South Florida Railroad and a post office was built, later named the Davenport Post Office in 1886. The city built two new railroad stations, one in Downtown Davenport which was closed in the 1970s, and the other station, known as the Vertagreen Railroad Station, was used strictly for the transportation of fertilizer but was also closed in 1986.
According to the 2010 US Census, Davenport was the residence of just under 3,000 citizens. Don’t let these small numbers fool you, in the past decade Davenport has experienced explosive growth due to the addition of several massive distribution centers and vacation home developments. Some of these distribution centers include Amazon Distribution Center, Walmart Distribution Center, and Best-Buy Distribution Center. Davenport used to be the home to the Circus World amusement park and “Boardwalk and Baseball”, a Kansas City Royals minor league baseball and spring training facility. Circus World went out of business in 1990 and Boardwalk and Baseball turned into Posner Park shopping center when the Kansas City Royals moved their spring training facility to Arizona in 2003.
The median age of residents in Davenport is 46 years old and the median family income is $41,000. The future job growth rate is expected to be around 37%.
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