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History · Rockford

Rockford’s post office opened in 1854, and 4 of its places are on the National Register

Most of Rockford was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1935 on, and the census since 1880.

1854first post office
4on the National Register
6%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Rockford’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Rockford began

When was Rockford founded?

1854

The Rockford post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1970. Another post office, Little River (1849), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 144 in 18802020 census: 822172 years
Founding year: the first Rockford post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1970.The full story ↓

What stands out about Rockford’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Landmarks on the Register4 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Rockford’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Rockford’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewHaddox, James, dairy farm: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the National Register

4 historic places in Rockford

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
4
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
5
each building in a district counts
first listed
1989
Southern Railroad Bridge
Southern Railroad Bridge, built 1900Stephen Porter House, built 1856Thomas McCullock HouseTobler Vineyard House
BuildingsStructures
Southern Railroad BridgeBuilt 1900
All 4 listings
Stephen Porter HouseBuilding · listed 1989Thomas McCullock HouseBuilding · listed 1989Tobler Vineyard HouseBuilding · listed 1989

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

The story

How Rockford came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Rockford.

Read it all →

Rockford is named for a river ford used by early 19th-century settlers and merchants travelling between Knoxville and Maryville. As its name implies, the ford was unusually rocky, and thus preferred by travellers, as large amounts of silt and sand made much of the Little River difficult to cross. The community was called "Rocky Ford" by the early 1800s.

Since the 1900s, the community has been the site of the Rockford Manufacturing Company, a yard cordage factory, and its adjacent and hazardous low head dam, formerly used to power the factory and now poses nothing more than a dangerous feature on the Little River, having been the site of numerous fatalities.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Rockford, 1849 to 1942

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1849Post officeThe Little River post office opens
  3. 1852Post officeThe Little River post office closes
  4. 1854Post officeThe Rockford post office opens
  5. 1856BuiltStephen Porter House is built
  6. 20th century
  7. 1900BuiltSouthern Railroad Bridge is built
  8. 1935On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1942In the archiveHaddox, James, dairy farm
By decade

Rockford, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1940s3 items
Haddox, James, dairy farm1942Haddox, James, dairy farmPanoramic view1942Panoramic viewRockford Manufacturing Company1942Rockford Manufacturing Company
1950s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today1 recent
Southern-railroad-bridge-rockford-tn12010Southern-railroad-bridge-rockford-tn1
On the map

Rockford on the map, 1935 to 1979

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Rockford. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Rockford on the 1935 USGS mapRockford on the 1941 USGS mapRockford on the 1953 USGS mapRockford on the 1966 USGS mapRockford on the 1979 USGS map1935Maryville sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Rockford.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Haddox, James, dairy farm
Retake this viewHaddox, James, dairy farm, 1942

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Rockford’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Rockford, census by census

020040060080018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 856

Between 144 and 856 people in every census since 1880.

6 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Rockford’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Rockford

Nobody well known was born in Rockford itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Quentin TarantinoAmerican filmmaker and actor · b. 1963
Megan FoxAmerican actress and model · b. 1986
Christina HendricksBritish-American actress · b. 1975
Randy OrtonAmerican professional wrestler · b. 1980
J
James AgeeAmerican author, journalist, poet, screenwriter… · b. 1909
Johnny KnoxvilleAmerican stunt performer and actor · b. 1971
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Rockford’s post office has been open since 1854. Another post office, Little River, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Little River
1849–1852
Rockford
1854–today
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Little RiverLittlebrook
Gone or out of use
McCullocks Fortmilitary
1cemetery inside Rockford
Tipton

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Alcoa2 historic placesCKnoxville102 historic placesA

Questions about Rockford’s history

What year was Rockford founded?

The Rockford post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1970.

What is on the National Register in Rockford?

4 listings: 3 buildings and 1 structure. 5 historic buildings in all.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (4), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.