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Rockford History Overview

Rockford, Illinois, was first settled in 1834-1835 by Germanicus Kent, Thatcher Blake, and Lewis Lemon, all of whom came from Galena and established themselves on the west bank of Rock River; and Daniel Shaw Haight, who founded a settlement on the east bank. (Lemon, a slave, later bought his freedom, but stayed in the area as a truck farmer.) Halfway between Chicago and Galena, the community was briefly known as "Midway," but quickly became known as "Rockford," because of the excellent ford across the Rock River. A post office was established in 1837. The settlement was incorporated as a village in 1839, and chartered as a city in 1852. The first weekly newspaper was published in 1840 and the first successful daily newspaper appeared in 1877. Between 1890 and 1930 the city had three daily papers. Rockford Female Seminary was chartered in 1847, became Rockford College in 1892, and became fully coeducational in 1958. Best known of the College's graduates is Jane Addams (1881), founder of Chicago's Hull House and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (1930). Rockford Public Library, the second such institution in Illinois, opened to the public in August 1872.

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