Rockingham Township is a former

civil township A civil township is a widely used unit of local government in the United States that is subordinate to a county, most often in the northern and midwestern parts of the country. The term town is used in New England, New York, and Wisconsin to ref ...

in Iowa which was laid out in 1836 in

Section Section, Sectioning or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sign ...

8 of

Scott County, Iowa Scott County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 174,669, making it the third-most populous county in Iowa. The county seat is Davenport. Scott County is included in the Davenport– Moline ...

, United States, about four miles below the business section of Davenport. The first government surveyors of 1837 note the existence of a town named Rockingham. It was a rival of its eastern neighbor, Davenport, for several years and contested for the county seat. The of the Township were annexed by, and became a part of, the City of Davenport on January 22, 1958.

History

The voters of Scott County were responsible for choosing the county seat in the election of 1838. The newly incorporated city of Rockingham, along with neighboring Davenport, were the competitors. After Davenport had seemingly won, cries of fraud were raised following the election, so another election was held in August. This time Davenport, Rockingham and Winfield (Scott) were the competitors. Davenport, however, offered more land, buildings and cash donations than the other two towns and eventually won by default. The Rockingham Post Office was opened March 11, 1837 and discontinued December 16, 1847 (the same year that the town itself ceased to exist).

County seat dilemma

In 1837, shortly after Scott County was formed Rockingham, and rival neighbor Davenport both campaigned to become the county seat. As stated by the

Iowa Territory The Territory of Iowa was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1838, until December 28, 1846, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Iowa. The remaind ...

, the city with the most votes at the February 1838 election, would become the county seat.Svendsen, p. 19 On the eve of the election, Davenporters secured the temporary service of

Dubuque Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a r ...

laborers so that they could vote in the election. Davenport won the election. Rockingham supporters however, did not like this. They protested the elections to the territorial Governor. The Governor of the territory refused to certify the results of the election. A second election was scheduled for the following August. To avoid another import of voters, the Governor set a sixty-day residency requirement. Both cities proved to be corrupt as the second election drew near. Davenport, was again the victor, by only two votes. A third election was set by the Territorial Legislature for the summer of 1840. As the August election drew nearer, Rockinghamers grew tired of the county seat cause.

Antoine LeClaire Antoine Le Claire (also "LeClaire"; December 15, 1797 – September 25, 1861) was a US Army interpreter, landowner in Scott County, Iowa, and Rock Island County, Illinois, businessman, philanthropist and principal founder of Davenport, Iowa. ...

's $3,000 contribution, and the efforts of other Davenporters were difficult to challenge. Davenport easily won the third election. To ensure the question of county seat would not arise again, Davenport built the first county courthouse.

Interesting information

Rockingham Township may have been annexed, but it is possible that a road in Southwest Davenport (the area where the former township once was) carries its name to this day: Rockingham Road.

Geography

The former Township was located in what is now the far Southwestern portion of Davenport, in the "corner" of Interstate 280 and the Rock River.

Demographics

Notes

Book References

* Huebinger, Melchior. Atlas of Scott County, Iowa. Davenport, Iowa: Huebinger Pub. Co, 1919. Print. * Huebinger, Melchior. Atlas of Scott County, Iowa: Containing Also Maps of the Three Cities Davenport, Rock Island, and Moline, Rock Island Arsenal, Rock Island Rapids and the Hennepin Canal. Davenport, Iowa: Huebinger Pub. Co, 1894. Print. *Svendsen, Marlys, "Davenport A Pictorial History", (1987) G. Bradley Publishing, INC,