Bettendorf is a city in Scott County, Iowa, United States. Bettendorf is the fifteenth largest city in the U.S. state of Iowa and the fourth largest city in the "Quad Cities". As of the 2010 United States Census the population grew to 33,217. Bettendorf is one of the Quad Cities, along with neighboring Davenport and the Illinois cities of Moline, East Moline and Rock Island. The Quad Cities has a population of 379,690. In 2011, Bettendorf was named America's 95th Best Town by CNNMoney.

History
Bettendorf lies in the original Wisconsin Territory, which the United States bought from the Sac and Fox Indians after defeating them in the Black Hawk War. The territory was ceded in the Black Hawk Purchase of 1832. The first European-American settlers established a village which they called Lillienthal, after an early tavern and dance hall. The village of Gilbert developed alongside Lillienthal in 1858, honoring Elias Gilbert, who platted the original site. At that time, the residents were predominantly German immigrants and worked as farmers, skilled laborers, and small business owners. The two villages eventually combined to become the town of Gilbert.
 
Circa 1900, the town gave William and Joseph Bettendorf 70 acres (280,000 m2) of riverfront land on the condition that they move their iron wagon business from Davenport to Gilbert. In 1903, the town of 440 citizens petitioned for incorporation, requesting to change the town's name to honor the brothers whose factory was a major economic influence in the early development of the city.
 
In the late 1940s, Aluminum Company of America (A.L.C.O.A.) chose Riverdale, a site adjacent to Bettendorf, for construction of the world's largest aluminum mill. The huge mill, and the attendant developments from it, created thousands of jobs and greatly increased growth in Bettendorf's population, which has continued to the present day.
 
The first modern-day riverboat casinos in the United States were launched in Bettendorf on April 1, 1991 by local businessman Bernard Goldstein. He went on to found the Isle of Capri Casinos. Goldstein and his family members also operate Alter Companies, which is a scrap metal, barge and towboat company operating on the river waterfront. The Quad Cities Waterfront Convention Center opened by the casino and hotel in 2009. It is owned by the city and operated by the Isle of Capri.

Landmarks
Figge Art Museum, Davenport, formerly the Davenport Museum of Art, designed by British architect David Chipperfield and opened in 2005. Its holdings include extensive collections of Haitian, Colonial Mexican and Midwestern art, particularly pieces by Thomas Hart Benton, Marvin Cone and Grant Wood, and personal effects from Wood's estate.
  Fred Schwengel Memorial Bridge, a four-lane steel-girder bridge on Interstate 80, crossing the Mississippi River to connect LeClaire and Rapids City. Opened in 1966.
  Government Bridge, a double-decked bridge adjacent to Locks and Dam 15, carrying motor and rail traffic between Arsenal Island and Davenport. The 1896 truss bridge, about 1,950 feet long, includes a 360-degree swing span over the twin locks. It connects to the Illinois side of the river via the Rock Island Viaduct.
  Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds, a fair and exposition venue in Davenport.
  Iowa 80 Truck Stop – The world's largest truck stop is along Interstate 80 near Walcott, Iowa, west of Davenport.
  i wireless Center – 11,000-seat arena in Moline (formerly The MARK of the Quad Cities).
  Interstate 74 Bridge, formerly known as the Iowa-Illinois Memorial Bridge, connecting Bettendorf and Moline. The twin suspension spans across the Mississippi River were built in 1935 and 1959 and adapted to carry Interstate 74 in the early 1970s. The twinned towers are a symbol of the two-state Quad-Cities community.
  John Deere Pavilion, a small museum and showcase for John Deere equipment, built adjacent to the John Deere Commons in the 1990s in downtown Moline.
  John Deere World Headquarters, designed by Eero Saarinen and completed in 1963 in Moline.
  Jumer's Casino & Hotel located in Rock Island.
  Lock and Dam No. 15, a 1,200-foot roller dam with twin locks across the Mississippi River between Arsenal Island and Davenport. The roller dam, billed as the longest of its type, maintains a pool upstream that allows river traffic to pass through the once notorious Rock Island Rapids.
  Modern Woodmen Park, formerly John O'Donnell Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinal Class A affiliate Quad Cities River Bandits, on the Davenport riverfront. With the lights of Rock Island across the Mississippi and the Centennial Bridge looming just beyond the right-field fence, the park was named by USA Today as one of 10 great places for a baseball pilgrimage.
  Old Main, completed in 1888, oldest building on the campus of Augustana College. Located on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River, its iconic and newly renovated dome will be lighted as of October 2011.
  Putnam Museum and IMAX Theater in Davenport
  Quad City Botanical Center in Rock Island.
  Quad Cities Nuclear Generating Station near Cordova, Ill., about 25 miles north of the Quad-Cities.
  Quad Cities Waterfront Convention Center, located in Bettendorf.
  RiverCenter/Adler Theatre, a convention and performing-arts complex in Davenport. The 2,400-seat Adler is the former RKO Orpheum Theater, which opened in 1931, designed by A.S. Graven of Chicago, whose projects included the Drake Hotel in Chicago and the Paramount Theater in New York City. The theater was extensively renovated and expanded in 1984–86 and 2005.
  River Music Experience, a performance, education and music-history venue in the Redstone Building, the former Petersen Harned Von Maur department store.
  Rock Island Arsenal, manufacturer of military equipment and ordnance since the 1880s, now the largest government-owned weapons manufacturing arsenal in the United States. The arsenal is located on Arsenal Island (formerly known as Rock Island) in the Mississippi River between Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island, Illinois. Fort Armstrong was built there in 1816. During the Civil War, the island held a Union prison camp for Confederate soldiers. The Federal-style home of Colonel George Davenport, built in 1833–34, the oldest extant building in the Quad-Cities, is on the north bank of the island.
  Rock Island Centennial Bridge over the Mississippi River between downtown Davenport and Rock Island, completed in 1940 to commemorate Rock Island's 100th anniversary. The five arches of the 3,853-foot through-arch bridge often are used as a symbol of the Quad-Cities.
  Rock Island County Fairgrounds in East Moline, also the site of the Quad City Speedway.
  Rock Island Auction Company from the Discovery Channel Show "Ready, Aim, Shoot"
  Vander Veer Botanical Park
  The Col Ballroom, a small arena for music concerts, in Davenport.
  The Quarter – a 90-acre (360,000 m2) site in East Moline, alongside the Mississippi River, featuring shops, restaurants, condominiums, boat docks, sports and interpretive centers, and a working lighthouse, currently under development. (Geographical coordinates: 41°31′47″N 90°26′16″W)
  Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Freight House, referred to locally as The Freight House, is an entertainment venue
 
Noteworthy companies
  Alcoa
  Cobham plc
  Deere and Company
  Genesis Health System
  Group O
  Happy Joe's
  Hungry Hobo
  KONE, Inc (formerly Montgomery Elevator)
  Lee Enterprises
  Lewis Machine and Tool Company
  Modern Woodmen of America
  Nortrax
  QCR Holdings
  Rock Island Arsenal
  Sears Seating (also known as Sears Manufacturing)
  Von Maur
  Whitey's Ice Cream
  XPAC
  YASH Technologies
 
Colleges and universities
  Augustana College – A university in Rock Island.
  Black Hawk College – Community college in Moline, with a satellite campus in Kewanee, Illinois.
  Eastern Iowa Community College District - Consisting of campuses in Bettendorf, Clinton, and Muscatine. Bettendorf's campus is known as Scott Community College.
  Hamilton Technical College – A college in Davenport.
  Kaplan University – A satellite campus in Davenport.
  La'James International College A satellite campus in Davenport and East Moline.
  Midwest Technical Institute - A satellite campus in Moline.
  Palmer Chiropractic College – Davenport, first chiropractic school in the world.
  Saint Ambrose University- A university in Davenport.
  Upper Iowa University - A satellite campus in Bettendorf.
  Western Illinois University-Quad Cities – A satellite campus in Moline was constructed along the riverfront at the former site of the 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m2) John Deere Technical Site.
 
Culture
Since 1916, the region has supported the Quad City Symphony Orchestra, which presents a year-round schedule of concerts at the Adler Theatre in Davenport and Centennial Hall in Rock Island. The Handel Oratorio Society, dating to 1880, is the second-oldest organization of its kind in the nation and presents annual performances of "Messiah" along with another major work for choir and orchestra. The Augustana Choir, founded at Rock Island's Augustana College in 1934, is one of the nation's leading collegiate choruses. Nova Singers, a professional 20-voice chorus, celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2011. Major outdoor summer music festivals include the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival and IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival. The Quad-Cities' three traditional community theaters – Playcrafters (founded in 1920, comedies and dramas) and Quad City Music Guild (1948, musicals) in Moline, and Genesius guild (1957, outdoor Shakespeare and Greek comedies and tragedies) in Rock Island – were joined in 1976 by Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, a professional dinner theater in downtown Rock Island's historic Fort Theatre. In recent years the theater scene has burgeoned, adding three small professional companies in Davenport – New Ground, Harrison Hilltop and the Curtainbox – plus a resident professional ballet company, Ballet Quad Cities. Other area community theaters included the itinerant Prenzie Players, who specialize in nontraditional productions of Shakespeare and other verse theater, the Richmond Hill Players in Geneseo, Ill., and Countryside Community Theatre in Eldridge, Iowa. St. Ambrose University in Davenport hosts the leading theater company on the collegiate scene, which also includes active programs at Augustana College, Black Hawk College in Moline and Scott Community College in Bettendorf. The city of Davenport's Junior Theatre program has been in operation since the 1950s. ComedySportz Quad Cities recently celebrated their 21st anniversary of bringing family-friendly improv comedy to the area at their new landmark home, The Establishment Theatre (formally The Rocket Theater) in The District of Rock Island. Bluebox Limited is a Bettendorf-based film production company, and many outside productions companies have filmed movies in the Quad Cities in recent years. Historic buildings and sites listed on state and the National Register of Historic Places interpret the history of people's settlement and lives in the area.

Notable people
  Chris Anthony, arena football player
  Pat Angerer, linebacker, drafted in the 2010 NFL Draft by the Indianapolis Colts
  Tavian Banks, (born 1974) NFL Football player, Big Ten Conference player of the year, first-team All-American
  Jack Fleck, (born 1921) Professional golfer who won the 1955 U.S. Open.
  Michael Grumley, (1942–1988) writer
  Robbie Lawler, (born 1982) MMA fighter
  Johnny Lujack, (born 1926) 1947 Heisman Trophy winner, member of the College Football Hall of Fame, and was an analyst for NFL on CBS
  David Nelson, (born 1993) software developer who developed the Muziic media player system
  Eric Christian Olsen, (born 1977) actor
  Robert Smallwood, writer
  Tim Sylvia, (born 1976) former Ultimate Fighting Championship Heavyweight champion