Very little is known on the early days of the town, but it is believed that a man known as Samuel Jay Davis built the first general store in 1859. The neighboring village of Davis bears his name. Up until the present day the economy of the town is centered around agriculture. Mainly wheat and corn. Unlike many other small towns in the state, it is not located near a body of water or a railroad. This is why the town's population remained steady for over 150 years.
Passages that mention Rock City, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Stephenson County, Illinois1910 · page 389Read the page →
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Epleyanna is a small settlement on the road between Rock City and Davis. It scarcely deserves the title of village, f6r there is no general store, and there never has been a post-office. There is a mill which was built in 1837, and, with many improvements and changes, is still standing. It is a stone structure, three stories in height, and is turned by the current of Rock Run.
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The History of Stephenson County, Illinois1880 · page 492Read the page →
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On the 10th of January, 1859, George Raymer executed a contract with T. S. Wilcoxon and William Peterson for the transfer of the southwest corner of the northeast quarter of Section 29, containing 50 acres for town purposes, which was the first move made toward founding Rock City. During the same year, the town was surveyed and platted, 180 lots being laid out, fronting on Jackson, Washington, Main, Congress, Clay, Center and Market streets and Jefi'erson avenue, which commanded prices ranging from $10 to $50 each, when the town began to build up, immediately upon the completion of the railroad. In the
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Rock City, 1840 to 1932
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (9), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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