The Henry Lischer House is a historic building located in the Hamburg Historic District in

Davenport, Iowa Davenport is a city in and the county seat of Scott County, Iowa, United States. Located along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state, it is the largest of the Quad Cities, a metropolitan area with a population of 384,324 and a ...

, United States. The district was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1983. The house was individually listed on the Davenport Register of Historic Properties in 1993. (Click on "Historic Preservation Commission" and then click on "Davenport Register of Historic Properties and Local Landmarks.")

Henry Lischer

The home is associated with Henry Lischer, the owner and publisher of one of Davenport's German-language newspapers, ''Der Demokrat''. The paper was founded by Theodor Gülich in November 1851. Lischer and his partner, Theodor Olshausen, bought the paper in 1856. Both were German immigrants who became newspapermen in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

.Svendsen, 8-1 At its inception the paper was aligned with the political philosophy, and financial support, of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

. However, it was a “free paper” that was not beholden to party doctrines and supported the right of freedom and human rights. It began to support the positions of the Republican Party. It was opposed to slavery and printed a supportive obituary to abolitionist

John Brown John Brown most often refers to: *John Brown (abolitionist) (1800–1859), American who led an anti-slavery raid in Harpers Ferry, Virginia in 1859 John Brown or Johnny Brown may also refer to: Academia * John Brown (educator) (1763–1842), Ir ...

. Lischer and Olshausen left Davenport in 1860 to return to St. Louis where they took over the ''Westliche Post''. The new owners of ''Der Demokrat'' experienced financial problems as a result of their radical views and the economic downturn as a result of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. Lischer, who still had a financial interest in the paper, returned to Davenport and became its sole owner for the next 40 years. After the Civil War, editorials in the paper fought the prohibition of alcohol, which was supported by the Republican Party. Even after the state of Iowa successfully passed prohibition laws in 1882, Scott County remained defiant with the support of the paper. Lischer's sons continued their father's work after his death.

House

The

Italian Villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Typology and distribution Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas ...

style house was designed by Davenport architect W.L. Carroll. Contracts for construction were let in 1868 to Frank Kurk as the contractor and Frank Noe for the

brickwork Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called '' courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall. Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by s ...

. It sits high on a bluff above the street. In 1874 Lischer and his son-in-law and next door neighbor Frederick G. Clausen built the stone wall and the staircases that led from the sidewalk to their respective residences.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lischer, Henry, House Houses completed in 1870 Italianate architecture in Iowa Houses in Davenport, Iowa Davenport Register of Historic Properties Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Davenport, Iowa Historic district contributing properties in Iowa