Eugene Davenport

Eugene Davenport (June 20, 1856 – March 31, 1941) was an American academic and agriculturist from Michigan. Davenport studied at the undergraduate and graduate level at Michigan State Agricultural College. He taught at the school for two years, then briefly led an agricultural college in Brazil. When he returned to the U.S. he accepted he position as dean of the University of Illinois College of Agriculture. He is credited with greatly growing the institution in his 27 years and was named vice president of the university from 1920 to 1922. He retired and wrote a memoir on his farm until his death.

Biography Eugene Davenport was born on June 20, 1856, on a farm in Barry County, Michigan, near Woodland. He was the only child of George Martin and Esther (Sutton) Davenport. He attended both public and private schools. Davenport began teaching when he reached the age of eighteen. He attended the Michigan State Agricultural College, graduating in 1878. Davenport then returned to the family farm and taught at a nearby private school. He returned to college to obtain a Master of Science degree, graduating in 1884.

Davenport again returned to the college in 1888 study under William James Beal. He was named a professor of agriculture and superintendent of the college farm in 1889. He only held the position for two years before leaving to preside over an agricultural school in Piracicaba, Brazil. However, Davenport left in April 1892 to study at the Rothamsted Experimental Station in Harpenden, England. At some point he returned to the family farm near Woodland. Politically, Davenport was a Republican and he staunchly supported prohibition of alcohol and tobacco. Davenport was the only member of the Michigan Convention to Ratify the 21st Amendment (repealing prohibition) to vote against it. He was raised in the Universalist church but later became a Congregationalist. Davenport died on his farm on March 31, 1941, following kidney disease. He was buried at Woodland Memorial Park. The College of Agriculture at the University of Illinois was renamed Davenport Hall in his honor.