Editing Rockford, Illinois (section)

===Settlement and development===
[[File:Rockford Il Memorial Hall2.jpg|thumb|[[Winnebago County War Memorial]]]]
[[File:Rockford 1880-1899.jpg|thumb|Rockford Station, circa 1890]]

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".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rockford|title=Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster|access-date=July 4, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/506337/Rockford|title=Rockford - Illinois, United States|access-date=July 4, 2016}}</ref> In 1836, Winnebago County was created (from both [[Jo Daviess County, Illinois|Jo Daviess]] and [[LaSalle County, Illinois|LaSalle]] counties), with Midway named as its county seat, as it was "halfway between Galena and Chicago on a line of four-horse coaches."<ref>{{cite book |last=Addams |first=J. |year=2004 |title=My friend Julia Lathrop |location=New York |publisher=MacMillan}}</ref>

In 1837, the village of Midway was renamed Rockford, highlighting a rocky [[Ford (crossing)|river ford]] across the Rock River in the village.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gorockford.com/includes/media/docs/Rockford-Fact-Sheet.pdf|title=All About Rockford, Illinois|last=Bridget|first=French|website=Rockford Area Convention & Visitors Bureau|access-date=June 27, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904110947/http://www.gorockford.com/includes/media/docs/Rockford-Fact-Sheet.pdf|archive-date=September 4, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the same year, Rockford established its first post office, with Daniel Shaw Haight as the first postmaster. In 1840, the first weekly newspaper began circulation. In 1847, Rockford Female Seminary  – today [[Rockford University]] – was founded. On January 3, 1852, Rockford was officially chartered as a city;<ref name="ilarch"/><ref>{{cite news |title=The History and Statistics of American Water-Works |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nMlBAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA6 |access-date=March 16, 2021 |work=Engineering News-record |date=January 7, 1882}}</ref> a year later the long-running "Forest City" nickname first appeared, used by the ''[[New-York Tribune|New York Tribune]]''. Also in 1852, the [[Galena and Chicago Union Railroad]] connected Rockford to Chicago by railroad.

At the time of its founding, many of the village's residents were transplants from the [[Northeastern United States]] and [[upstate New York]].<ref>{{cite book |title=History of Rockford and Winnebago County, Illinois: From the First Settlement in 1834 to the Civil War |page= 253}}</ref> Descended from English Puritans, the Midway/Rockford population was similar to much of the rest of northern Illinois and nearly all of Wisconsin during the mid-19th century. After the [[Black Hawk War]], additional immigrants moved to northern Illinois; during the 1830s and 1840s, Rockford and Winnebago County were considered a cultural extension of New England.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Expansion of New England: The Spread of New England Settlement and Institutions to the Mississippi River, 1620-1865 |author=Lois imball Mathews |pages=210–212}}</ref>

During the antebellum period, Rockford shared abolitionist leanings, lending considerable support to the [[Free Soil Party]] and the later [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]]. In 1848, 42 percent of voters in Winnebago County (where Rockford dominated as the county seat) voted for [[Martin Van Buren]]. In 1852, Free Soil candidate [[John P. Hale]] became the first presidential candidate to visit Rockford, although he would only receive 28 percent of the vote. In 1860, [[Abraham Lincoln]] won 3,985 votes in Winnebago County to the 817 votes of [[Stephen A. Douglas]].<ref>{{cite book |title=History of Rockford and Winnebago County, Illinois: From the First Settlement in 1834 to the Civil War |page=379}}</ref>

The 1850s brought industry that would change Rockford forever. In 1853, inventor [[John Henry Manny]] moved to Rockford to produce horse-drawn mechanical [[reaper]]s for farmers and transport the finished products by rail. Chicago implement manufacturer [[Cyrus McCormick]] (whose company became [[International Harvester]]) took Manny to court after he produced nearly 6,000 machines; Manny would prevail on both judgement and an appeal. Along with the production of agricultural machines, Swedish furniture cooperatives established the city as a manufacturing base. The Rockford Union Furniture Company, under [[John Erlander]], spearheaded these cooperatives. Today, Erlander's home is a Rockford museum that shows his efforts in elevating Rockford to second in furniture manufacturing in the United States, behind [[Grand Rapids, Michigan|Grand Rapids]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Lundin |first=Jon W. |title=Rockford, An Illustrated History |publisher=Windsor Publications |year=1989 |page=8}}
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During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], one of the first Illinois regiments to be mobilized, the Zouaves, were from Rockford. The city also served as the site for Camp Fuller, a training site for four other infantry regiments.
[[File:11TH_ILLINOIS_INFANTRY_OF_COMPANY_D_FLAG.png|thumb|Digital remake of the flag Carried by the Zouaves during the Civil War<ref>{{Cite web |title=EXTRAORDINARY SILK FLAG, COMMISSIONED BY OR PRESENTED TO THE ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS "WIDE AWAKES," |url=https://jeffbridgman.com/inventory/abraham-lincoln-silk-flag-rockford-illinois-wide-awakes-1860-o5073.html |access-date=2024-12-21 |website=jeffbridgman.com}}</ref>]]
In 1884, Rockford established its first city-wide public school district, constructing [[Rockford Central High School]] in 1885; following the construction of the high school, the district began construction of brick multi-story multigrade school buildings across the city.

The Rockford Female Seminary became the alma mater of [[Jane Addams]] in 1881. The move accompanied the Seminary's transition into a more complete curriculum, which was represented by its renaming to Rockford College in 1892. Culture flourished with the founding of the Mendelssohn Club in 1884, which became the oldest operating music club in the United States. It was complemented by the construction of a [[Carnegie library]] in 1902, which became the first building of Rockford's public library system. 1903 saw the dedication of the [[Winnebago County War Memorial|Winnebago County Veterans Memorial Hall]] in the presence of sitting President [[Theodore Roosevelt]]. Roosevelt returned to Rockford during his [[1912 U.S. Presidential election|campaign in 1912]] and again to address the soldiers at [[Camp Grant (Illinois)|Camp Grant]], a training site for [[World War I]] soldiers.