St. Katherine's Historic District

The historic district is a campus of 9.37 acres (3.79 ha). At the time of its nomination to the National Register, it was made up of six buildings.^[2] Two of the buildings were built as houses, Cambria Place and the Renwick Mansion. The other buildings include a large combination classroom and dormitory building, a chapel, and a combination classroom and gymnasium building. The sixth building was a modern dormitory that was not a contributing property and has subsequently been torn down. The district is located in the southeast corner of the LeClaire Reserve. The landscaped grounds are on the side of a hill overlooking a mixed residential and light industrial area along the Mississippi River to the south. To the east is the Bridge Avenue Historic District, a residential neighborhood dating from the 1870s to the 1910s. The LeClaire Reserve, which is largely made up of residential neighborhoods, is located to the north and west.

In 1883 the Rt. Rev. William Stevens Perry, the second Bishop of Iowa announced his intention to build a school for girls in Davenport. The diocese already operated Griswold College in Davenport. It was founded on the property of the former Iowa College, now known as Grinnell College after it moved to Grinnell, Iowa. The school had been founded in 1859 by the Rt. Rev. Henry Washington Lee, the first Bishop of Iowa.^[3] A high school for boys, called Kemper Hall, was created later on the campus in 1885. The school was officially closed in 1899. The college property today is the location of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral and Davenport Central High School.

St. Katharine's Hall replaced Trinity School for girls, which was located in the parish hall of the cathedral. The diocese was able to consider opening a new school for girls based on the will of Sarah Burr from New York City. She had bequeathed $30,000 for such a purpose.^[4] They chose a residence on the east side of Davenport called "Cambria Place," the former home of John L. Davies, for the location of the school that opened in 1884. Adelia Rice was the school's first principal. Its initial enrollment was 25 students.^[4] The institution was considered a "superior" church boarding school with a college preparatory curriculum. It also allowed day students from the area to enroll. The school grew quickly and an addition, called St. Mary's Hall, was built in 1885 and 1886. By its third year, there was room for 60 boarding students. While most of the students were Episcopalian, there was no such requirement for admission to the school.

The school continued to grow. In 1888 the Richardson Observatory was built. It was said to contain the finest telescope in Iowa.^[5] In 1902 the administration of the school was taken over by the Sisters of St. Mary.^[6] St. Mary's Chapel and a gymnasium were built in 1903 and the neighboring Renwick House was added to the campus in 1909. It was renamed St. Margaret's Hall.

A former teacher at St. Katharine's, Marion Crandall, was the first American woman killed in World War I. She had taught French at the school and went to work for the French Canteen. Crandall was killed by an exploding shell in France on March 27, 1918.^[7]

Major changes came to St. Katharine's in the second half of the 20th century. The school became co-educational in 1966 and discontinued accepting boarding students in 1968. With the addition of boys, the name of the school was changed to St. Katharine-St. Mark. In 1973 it moved to the Joseph F. Bettendorf House in neighboring Bettendorf, Iowa. The school amicably broke its ties with the Episcopal Church in 1980. In 2000 the name of the school changed to Rivermont Collegiate.^[8]

When the school moved to Bettendorf, the St. Katharine's property was sold and became a nursing home complex.^[9] The buildings started to fall into disrepair until they were bought in 1997 by historic property developer Chris Ales, who converted the complex into a senior living center in 2001. The facility was transformed into 38 low-income senior citizen apartments.^[10] The Renwick House was renovated by Ales for his company's headquarters, but he was forced to sell the property to Dr. Joseph Seng in 2007.^[11] It was turned into a bed and breakfast.^[9]

There is a legend in the city of Davenport that it will be spared from destruction by a tornado because of the Mass Mound.^[12] In 1835 after a period of intense storms a Jesuit missionary, the Rev. Charles Van Quickenborne, SJ, led the first Christian service in what would become the city of Davenport. He erected a crucifix made from native black walnut on a crude altar placed on top of what he called a Mass Mound. It was located on the side of the hill on what would become the St. Katharine's property.^[13] He gathered both the white settlers and the Native Americans in the region, regardless of their faith, and celebrated Mass for a week. On the last day, Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament was held and Van Quickenborne blessed the area to preserve it from storms and tornadoes.

The early settlers in Davenport considered the spot a sacred place.^[12] Rev. J.A.M. Pelamourges, the first pastor of St. Anthony's Church in Davenport regularly meditated at the site and was known to spend the night in prayer there before the cross before major decisions or when problems arose. Eventually, the crucifix fell apart and was taken away.^[14] In time lumber baron John L. Davies built his home on the property before the Diocese of Iowa bought the property for St. Katharine's.

A fire erupted at several lumber mills on July 24, 1901, in the Village of East Davenport. It destroyed 20 acres (8.1 ha) of land, 250 people were left homeless, and businesses suffered $1.25 million in losses.^[15] When the fire got to St. Katharine's the wind shifted towards the river. The Mass Mound was credited for sparing the rest of the city.^[12][15]

A shrine was erected in 1928 at the Mass Mound site to the southwest of where the main building is located.^[14] It was blessed by the Rt. Rev. Theodore N. Morrison, the third Bishop of Iowa. An altar dedicated to Saint Joseph was blessed by Dean Philbrook of Trinity Cathedral on April 29, 1931.^[13] The altar was moved to Bettendorf when St. Katharine-St. Mark's School relocated to the Bettendorf Mansion.