Belle Avenue: the beginning

Probably Anders/Bengta Swenson house. Belle Avenue, Davenport, Iowa. Circa 1910

About 1906/1907 the Paulson/Swenson families built a house for Anders and Bengta Swenson who were returning to Davenport, Iowa after a 10 year stay in Olivia, Texas. The house was built at 710 ½  Belle Avenue (now 1428 ½  Belle)  at the back of the lot owned by Olaf Swenson. Anders Swenson would die soon after their return to Davenport in January 1908. Bengta would remain in the house until her death in 1915.

This small house was much like the first house in which the Paulson Family lived from 1885 to about 1891 further down the street at 612 (now 1322) Belle Avenue.

           

Davenport, Iowa and it’s sister cities of Bettendorf (Iowa), Moline, and Rock Island (Illinois) were a frequent destination for the Swedish immigrants of the 1880s. Located at the junction of the Rock River and the Mississippi, the growing urban area provided a ready market for the skills of carpenters, factory workers, and other blue collar jobs. Thousands of Swedes worked for the John Deere company in Moline, while Augustana College in Rock Island (just across the river from Davenport) served as a center of both education and religion for the Swedish Americans. Many Swedish immigrants came initially to the “Quad Cities”  and then spread out from there – mainly to the north and west, but some also to the south – some back to the eastern cities.

As for the Paulson/Swenson families: The Paulsons moved quickly to Davenport from their original American home in Racine Wisconsin where they had arrived from Sweden in late 1882/early 1883.  Paul Paulson appears in the Davenport city directory in 1884 living at 2003 Summit (now E 13^th street) in East Davenport.

In April 1885, the 612 Belle Avenue property - Lot #27 of “Whitaker’s First Addition” was purchased by the family and a house built. The Paulsons would live there for the next 7-8 years. About 1891/92 the property was transferred to Elina Paulson’s brother, Nils Swenson, and occupied by the Habdera family. The Habdera family would continue to occupy the house at 612 Belle for many years. In 1907, their niece, Frances Emmendorfer, would marry Nils Swenson’s son, Arvid.

Soon after the Paulson family's arrival on Belle Avenue, Elina Paulson’s brothers, Nils and Olaf Swenson, and her parents Anders and Bengta Swenson also came to live on the block.  And like the Paulsons they would live first in small houses on the most southern part of Belle and then move “up the block” to newer and larger houses.

Identifiers:

Negative #:  Paulson044.  1200 ppi tiff downsized to 400 ppi jpeg for this post.

Place: 710 ½ Belle Ave. (Now 1428 ½ Belle), Davenport Iowa.  (Unverified.)

612 Belle Avenue.  (Now 1322 Belle Ave), Davenport, Iowa. 

Both of these houses are still standing and occupied.

People:  For more on Anders and Bengta Swenson, see: Cast of Characters: Swensons...

Date: The house was built circa 1906/1907. The photo was probably taken circa 1910.