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Rockford is a mid-sized city located on both banks of the Rock River in the far north of Illinois, and is often referred to as "The Forest City". Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County, Illinois, USA; the city has 150,115 residents, while the metro area has 339,178 residents as of the 2000 census and is the third largest city in Illinois, though it was the second largest city during the latter part of the 20th century. The current mayor is Lawrence J. Morrissey, an independent elected to a four year term in April 2005.
Geography
ClimateDue to its location in the midwest, Rockford's climate contains four clearly defined seasons. Summers are usually very warm with the high temperature in July, the hottest month, being 83°F (28°C). The winter months can bring bitterly cold air masses from Canada. The average high temperature in January, the coldest month, is 27°F (-3°C). June is Rockford's wettest month while February is the driest. During a typical year, Rockford receives 36.3in (922mm) of precipitation. Rockford and surrounding areas are prone to violent thunderstorms during the months of March, April, May, and June. On April 21, 1967, the neighboring town of Belvidere was struck by a violent F4 tornado, in which thirteen were killed and hundreds more injured at Belvidere's High School. Other severe weather events, such as hail and strong winds are common in these storms. On July 5, 2003 at around two o'clock in the morning, microbursts caused major damage on both the east and west sides of Rockford. Approximately 70,000 people were without power, with many on the west side suffering in the heat for weeks. It took months for the damage to be completely cleared, but because the storm struck so early in the morning there were no injuries or fatalities. However, these sometimes violent storms bring the majority of summer rainfall. Severe flooding on September 4, 2006 led to portions of Rockford being declared disaster areas. The city is also prone to severe snowstorms in winter, and blizzards are frequent winter occurrences. On January 13, 1979 over 9 inches (.23m) of snow fell on Rockford in just a few hours during one of the strongest blizzards in the city's history. The city averages approximately 36 inches (.92m) of snowfall in a normal winter, but greater amounts are common. The snowiest winter in the history of the city was the winter of 1978-1979, when 75 inches (1.91m) of snow fell.
DemographicsImage:Rockford City Hall.jpg Rockford City Hall
In the city the population was spread out with 26.7% under the age of 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 29.7% from 25 to 44, 20.4% from 45 to 64, and 14.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 93.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.9 males. The median income for a household in the city was $37,667, and the median income for a family was $45,465. Males had a median income of $37,098 versus $25,421 for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,781. 14.0% of the population and 10.5% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 19.6% of those under the age of 18 and 8.0% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line. Rockford surpassed Peoria as Illinois' second largest city in the late 1950s, and held onto that position for nearly half a century before being dislodged by a special census being held in Aurora in 2003. Note that Rockford was not recounted at the same time so this is not a true ranking. HistoryRockford was first settled in 1834-1835 by Germanicus Kent, Thatcher Blake, and Lewis Lemon, who 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 newspapers. 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 (RFS Class of 1881), the founder of Chicago's Hull House and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931. Rockford Public Library, the second such institution in Illinois, first opened to the public in August 1872; the library's first dedicated building, a Carnegie library, was completed by 1902. Although Rockford was a sleepy country village up until the 1850s, the city is now the seat of Winnebago County. In 1851, the Rockford Water Power Company was organized and in 1852 the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad reached the city. These two events, which brought inexpensive power and inexpensive transportation to the area, changed Rockford forever. By 1860 Rockford had become a significant, growing industrial center, noted for production of the John H. Manny reaper and other agricultural machinery. By the 1880s a furniture industry was begun, using the talents of Swedish craftsmen and capitalists, and by the first half of the 20th century Rockford was the second largest furniture-manufacturing center in the United States. Many of the furniture companies were cooperatives, reflecting a different business approach from that of the old Yankee entrepreneur, with laborers and craftsmen holding significant power. The agricultural implement industry was already in decline by the First World War, and the furniture industry was severely damaged by the Great Depression and the Second World War. By the end of the 1960s both were extinct in the city. Rockford's 20th Century industry revolved around machine tools, heavy machinery, automotive, aerospace, fastener and cabinet hardware products, and packaging devices and concepts. The city's industrial background has produced many important and interesting inventions, among them the Nelson knitting machine, airbrush, electric brake, electric garage door opener, dollar bill changer, and electronic dartboard. Some defunct Rockford concerns of historical interest are: Air Brush Manufacturing Company, Free Sewing Machine Company, Haddorff Piano Company, Hanson Clock Company, Hess & Hopkins Leather Company, Norse Pottery Company, Rockford Brewing Company, Rockford Silver Plate Company, and Rockford Watch Company. Rockford has been known as a town that makes toys. The Testors Company still makes model kits and paint and glue supplies for these kits. The Nylint company produced heavy duty metal scale toys of construction equipment, such as dump trucks, from 1946 to about 2001, when they went out of business. Tootsie toys, headquartered in Chicago, had a satellite factory in Rockford, where small single piece die cast cars where made for many years. The industrial industry in Rockford has been led by Sundstrand Corporation which was the merger of Rockford Tool Company and the Rockford Milling Machine Company in the early 20th century. Sundstrand manufactured many industrial, aviation, and aerospace products and still does to this day now currently known as Hamilton Sundstrand when it was acquired by United Technologies in 1999. The USS Rockford, a Tacoma class frigate named for the city, was commissioned in March 1944 and earned two service stars during World War II. Camp Grant, a training depot used during World Wars I and II, was torn down in 1947 and became the site of the Chicago/Rockford International Airport by late 1954, and of Seth B. Atwood Park in 1956. Machesney airport, located north of the city, originally a private airport starting in 1927, was later used by the army air corps during World War II, later was a municipal airport and is now no longer an airport but home to the Machesney Park mall. During the early to late 1940s the Rockford Peaches (of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League) were one of the first all-female baseball teams in the world. They played their home games at Beyer Stadium which was razed several years ago. A placard displays where the stadium once stood, along with additional historical information. Although the 1992 motion picture "A League of Their Own" features the Rockford Peaches, all of the characters playing on the team were fictional. The team, however, did lose the league championship in 1943 as depicted in the film. The Peaches won the league championship in 1945, 1948, 1949, and 1950. Image:RockfordCoronadoTheater.jpg Coronado Theater Rockford was well known for its Elm trees, this being the reason for its nickname the Forest City. But in the mid 1950s an epidemic of Dutch Elm disease more or less wiped out the population of Elm trees. However, Rockford is still heavily lined with trees. Of note are the parks and boulevard street layouts in certain parts of the city. Neighborhood parks and wide common grassy/forested areas forming boulevards are found in the older parts of the city. Many of the parks were part of the street layout put down in the late 1890s, early 1900s when subdivisions of that era were created. These parks typically were an entire city block, or in some cases larger. They would typically have a bowery, and sometimes a cement-lined pool. The boulevards tend to be in slightly newer subdivisions built in the 1920s. The 1960s saw expansion of the manufacturing segment in the area. Near the outskirts of Rockford in Belvidere, a Chrysler car factory was built in 1965 [1] which initially assembled the Chrysler Newport and other large cars and now produces the Dodge Calibre and similar cars. Sundstrand, now Hamilton Sundstrand, a division of United Technologies [2] also expanded during this time period making aircraft parts. In 1975, Rockford, which had previously had few murders, was scene of an intensive search to located a newspaper delivery boy, Joseph Didier, the son of a city alderman, who was reported missing following a struggle outside a home on his newspaper route. The boy was found unclothes and dead the following week. Robert Lower, a man who had previous been arrested for sexually related crimes, was found guilty and has been in prison for over 30 years. [3] Starting as early as the 1990s Rockford has had the ignominious honour of being listed at times as one America's worst cities by the Rand McNally corporation and Money magazine, sometimes being ranked one of the top ten worst cities.[4] This may have been due to the lack of jobs and high number of outdated or closed factories. Crime on the west side of town was endemic, with huge areas of old established neighborhoods in extreme blight. The homicide rate in these areas was quite high. Many houses were vacant with no one wishing to buy them. The city government has developed many programs to attempt to address these problems and has seen some success. In 2005 Rockford received top honors in the America in Bloom contest with the award being 4 Blooms Tidiness. In early 2007 the city of Rockford city council voted to end the 90 year old vehicle sticker program. [5] The vehicle sticker was a way of raising tax revenue and it required Rockford residents to display, every year, a new sticker/decal on the inside of registered vehicle windshields. [6] The last sticker, required through the end of 2007, will depict artwork from Rockford's hometown celebrity rock group Cheap Trick, from their latest album called Rockford. Over the years the Rockford police conducted periodic and random road blocks searching for vehicles not displaying the sticker. This was especially an irritant to people from neighboring communities caught in the road block, who had to provide proof that they were not Rockford residents. This was a problem because previously many cities and towns in Illinois required a town window sticker but more municipalities were ending their program leading to a substantial number of cars not displaying a city sticker. Becoming a Transportation CenterImage:Chicago Rockford International Airport.jpg Chicago/Rockford International Airport Main Terminal The airport is home to United Parcel Service's second largest air-hub. The Chicago/Rockford International Airport is presently ranked as the twenty-third largest cargo airport in the nation when measured by land weight.[citation needed] Rockford is at the intersection of Interstate 90 (Northwest Tollway), U.S. Highway 20, and Interstate 39. In 2006 the Illinois Tollway is revamping all toll-collection by incorporating the method of Open Road Tolling using the I-Pass System. This is expected to reduce delays on the highway between Rockford and Chicago.[citation needed] Passenger rail service is planned for expansion in Illinois and Rockford will likely become a destination. In 2006 governmental leaders proposed extending Metra train service from the western Chicago suburbs to Rockford.[citation needed] Additional passenger service is being considered via Amtrak through the Blackhawk Area Rail Coalition. While service (via Amtrak's Black Hawk) was cut in 1981, trains could begin carrying passengers in and out of Rockford as soon as 2010. Rockford is served by several different freight railroad lines, such as Union Pacific, Canadian National, and the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern. Rochelle, a community of 10,000, 25 miles south of Rockford is home to Union Pacific Railroad’s Global III Intermodal Facility. The complex is one of the largest intermodal facilities in the world. Construction on the state-of-the-art facility was completed in 2003 in Rochelle due to the close proximity to interstate highways and rail routes. Looking into the FutureThe Rockford economy has suffered since the decline of the manufacturing industry in the late 1980s. Once a national leader in manufacturing and industry, the focus of the local economy has been forced to change. Many of the "family-owned" companies that once inhabited Rockford were bought out by larger companies, the larger companies then relocated the products being made to lower wage parts of the United States or sent them overseas altogether. The city's new focus relies on high-technology businesses, tourism generated by outstanding museums and a great park system, and the westward growth of the Chicago metropolitan area. As of 2006, studies are being conducted to determine the benefits of passenger train traffic, future commercial airline service, and highway infrastructure upgrades. When the Northwest Tollway was constructed in the 1950s, many commercial businesses relocated from the city's center to the new thoroughfare six miles east. As a result, the downtown area is not the bustling center of commerce expected from a city of its size. The commercial center of Rockford is currently on East State Street, and more recently, Perryville Road, which boast closer proximity to the highway. As of 2006, new commercial and residential development is taking place in the downtown area. The city is also considering plans for a Convention Center, Casino, and Riverwalk. The Main Street Corridor (Illinois Route 2) is also expected to be redeveloped. Construction from the downtown area, south to US Highway 20 is expected to begin in 2007. Plans for 2007 also mark a major renovation of the MetroCentre in downtown Rockford.[citation needed] Rockford School SystemPost-secondaryRockford, Illinois is the site of Judson College, Northern Illinois University - Rockford, Rockford Business College, Rockford College, Rock Valley College, the University of Illinois College of Medicine Rockford, and Rockford Masters Commission. Rockford College is best known for graduating Jane Addams, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931 for her efforts to promote international peace and justice. Laura Jane Addams (1860 - 1935) entered what was then Rockford Female Seminary in 1877 and became the first graduate to receive a B.A. degree from the newly accredited baccalaureate institution in 1882 (the school was renamed Rockford College in 1892).
Public School District 205The Rockford Public School District covers about 170 square miles and serves over 27,000 students. It is the third largest school district in the state, with 40 elementary schools, six middle schools, and four high schools, which are Thomas Jefferson High School, Rockford, Illinois, Guilford High School (Illinois), East, and Rockford Auburn High School. Points of interestImage:RockfordSymbol.jpg Symbol. Rockford's best known public scuplture, created by Alexander Liberman (1912 - 1999). The Rockford area is known as an outdoor destination, especially in the non-winter months. Numerous forest preserves surround the Kishwaukee River valley, five miles southeast of the downtown area. Rock Cut State Park is located within the county to the northeast. Both the Rockford Park District and Winnebago County Forest Preserve District own and operate numerous golf courses as well. In fact, Golf Magazine called Aldeen Golf Club one of 50 excellent national golf courses one can play for under $50. Aldeen was ranked #38 in the nation in 2004. Rockford's Anderson Japanese Gardens has been ranked the top Japanese garden in North America. The garden was designed by Hoichi Kurisu. The Klehm Arboretum and Botanic Garden is also a popular attraction. The facility contains 150 acres of rare trees and shrubs. Burpee Museum of Natural History, located just north of downtown, is home to Jane the Rockford T-Rex.* The Discovery Center Museum contains a large and well-respected interactive children's science exhibit. The Rockford Art Museum completes the entire museum campus. Another point of interest is the Coronado Theatre, an ornately decorated vaudeville movie theater located in Downtown Rockford. The theatre was completely restored in 1999. The tallest building in Rockford is the former Faust Hotel. It was built in 1929 and has many art deco features. It has a tower several stories above the rest of the building, topping off at 15 stories (186 ft.) The Hotel Faust was the center of social life and visits by V.I.P.s for decades. The 'Faust' building is now used as apartments for the elderly. To get an idea of what life was like in Rockford in the 19th Century, take a tour of [Tinker Swiss Cottage Museum[2], a preserved "cottage" built in 1865, with exterior elements of a Swiss Chalet with some style borrowed from Victorian. The swing foot bridge, no longer extent, ran from the cottage crossing the Kent creek bluffs and was a popular place to visit for many years. Mendelssohn Performing Arts Center is the oldest continuous community music organization in the United States. It exists to provide quality music for all people of the northern Illinois region through live performances by local and world-renowned artists. Midway Village and Museum Center is a picturesque turn-of-the-century Victorian village featuring twenty-six historic structures and heritage gardens. Its grounds include a 55,000 sq. ft. Museum Center that offers five exhibition galleries of Rockford's unique and ethnic history, a collection of antique and handcrafted doll houses in the Old Doll House and a working replica of a water powered machine shop at its Severin Lake entrance. Sister citiesBrovary, Ukraine - Since 1995 Changzhou, China - Since 1999 Borgholm, Sweden - Since 2002 Ferentino, Italy - Since 2006 MiscellaneousSports Teams
Notable Rockfordians
Media
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