Editing Davenport, Florida (section)

==History==
The settlement in the area now known as Davenport was established in 1838 when the US 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 a number built at 20 mile intervals along a trail from [[Fort Brooke]] to [[Fort Mellon]].  The fort only lasted a few years.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2001/04/08/how-remote-fort-has-grown/| url-status = live| title=How Remote Fort Has Grown|newspaper= [[Orlando Sentinel]] |date= April 8, 2001 |first= Jim | last= Robison| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150515212506/http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2001-04-08/news/0104070474_1_osceola-county-davenport-fort| archive-date= May 15, 2015| access-date= February 11, 2022}}</ref>  The fort was named for Colonel William Davenport, who served as the local U.S. commander in the war.<ref name=Thompson>{{cite book|title=The Heritage Trail from Horse Creek to Davenport| first = Judith |last= Torgersen Thompson|date=2013|pages=15 and 49|isbn=978-0-615-89171-2}}</ref>  There is no known documentary evidence to support an alternative claim that the city was named for a railroad conductor.<ref name=Thompson /><ref>{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1346&dat=19600814&id=W38wAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PPoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6912,1492998&hl=en | title=First Polk Settlers Had to Build Towns, Then Name Them | work=[[Lakeland Ledger]] | date=14 August 1960 | access-date=22 April 2015 | last = Whitehead| first= Bill | pages=7–A}}</ref>

The modern city of Davenport had its start in the 1880s when the [[South Florida Railroad]] was extended to that point.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=F7lNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4PsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1480%2C120117 | title=Railroad linked frontier towns in Polk | work=Lakeland Ledger | date=Jan 16, 1985 | access-date=7 June 2015 | author=Sawyer, Martha F. | pages=3C}}</ref>  The settlement was first known as Horse Creek, for the creek first recorded on a US Army survey of 1849 which flows past the site to enter Snell Creek and eventually Lake Hatchineha in the [[Kissimmee River]] system.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Heritage Trail from Horse Creek to Davenport| first = Judith| last= Torgersen Thompson|date=2013|page=5|isbn=978-0-615-89171-2}}</ref>  A post office was established at Horse Creek in 1884, and the name of the post office was changed to Davenport in 1886.<ref name=Thompson/><ref name=PoCoDa>{{cite web | url=http://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?task=display&state=FL&county=Polk | title=Polk County | publisher= Jim Forte Postal History | access-date=7 June 2015}}</ref> Davenport was incorporated in 1915.<ref name=PoCoDa/>

The South Florida Railroad opened a station half a mile north of the present site of the city. The railroad line was acquired by the [[Plant System]] in 1893, and the [[Atlantic Coast Line Railroad]] in 1902. In 1926, it was replaced by a new station in the downtown area. It was later closed in the 1970s. From 1958 to 1986 there was a second station, the Vertagreen Railroad Station, opened only for the transportation of fertilizer and not for public use.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Heritage Trail from Horse Creek to Davenport| first = Judith |last= Torgersen Thompson|date=2013|pages=317–319|isbn=978-0-615-89171-2}}</ref>