Likely named for John Dryden Davenport (1893-1965), a politically connected L.A. physician who briefly owned land here in 1927, when construction began on Davenport Road. There were a few references in 1926-1927 newspapers to a “Dr. Davenport” having a ranch here, and articles through the 1950s mentioned Dr. J.D. Davenport and family visiting Bert and May Hasket, who were definitely locals (see Haskett Road). Since the Southland’s only Dr. J.D. Davenport at that time was John Dryden Davenport, I think it’s a match. The Chicago native, who preferred “J. Dryden” over “John”, married Mabel Zeller Duerst (1892-1979) in 1916; the couple often visited Mabel’s mom and stepdad in Redlands before moving to Los Angeles in 1920 and rearing two children. (Later residing in Beverly Hills and Pacific Palisades, they also kept a summer home in Mississippi, where the doctor died.) Davenport bought 40 acres in or near Agua Dulce by 1926. Reports indicated that his ranch house burned to the ground that September and that a replacement was nearly completed a month later. He sold the ranch in September 1927, just after Davenport Road was named.
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