Davenport receives $3 million grant for MLK park

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) - Davenport officials have received a $3 million state grant for a Martin Luther King Jr. park.

The Iowa Economic Development Authority grant will boost efforts for the $6 million project, which commemorates a speech King gave downtown after receiving an award from the Diocese of Davenport nearly 50 years ago. It also celebrates a former strip of local businesses where jazz musician Louis Armstrong is believed to have performed.

Officials said Friday the grant will allow them to begin local fundraising to complete the project.

The Quad-City Times reports (http://bit.ly/1ujIx8f ) the award will also help fund a housing project on the proposed site that take up about two-thirds of the allotted space. The park will take up the rest.

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Information from: Quad-City Times, http://www.qctimes.com