The school district covers 109 square miles (280 km2)[citation needed] that includes the city of Davenport, where it is based, and the western Scott County communities of Blue Grass, Buffalo and Walcott in addition to a small section of Muscatine County.

City founder Antoine LeClaire loaned the new district $500 to get started.

The district also educated students 14 to 17 from its very beginning in what was called an “intermediate” school.

Other innovations the district initiated in the 19th century included adding drawing, physical education, music, and German classes to the curriculum.

[4] Davenport’s training school provided new teachers with a year of additional classes before they took the exam.

The program ended in 1924 with the advent of state teacher’s colleges and licensing standards.

[7] By 1936, the elementary school population had reached the projected number of students.

The board decided at that time to close twelve of its old elementary schools and build six new ones.

[7] The new elementary schools built at that time included Jefferson, Lincoln, Madison, McKinley, Monroe and Washington.