City of Rockford

Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, United States. Located in the far northern part of the state on the banks of the Rock River, Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County (a small portion of the city is located in Ogle County). The largest city in Illinois outside of the Chicago metropolitan area, Rockford is the 5th most populous city in the state and the 171st most populous in the United States. In the 2020 census, Rockford had a population of 148655 anchoring the Greater Rockford Metropolitan Area with a population of 348360.

Rockford traces its roots to 1834, as the combined settlements of Midway were founded on both banks of the Rock River. On the west bank, Germanicus Kent and Thatcher Blake (with his slave Lewis Lemon) founded Kentville; the east bank was settled by Daniel Shaw Haight. With the location of the Rock River equidistant between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River, the combined settlement derived the name “Midway”. In 1836, Winnebago County was created (from both Jo Daviess and LaSalle counties), with Midway named as its county seat, as it was “halfway between Galena and Chicago on a line of four-horse coaches.”