The outline of the six-mile square that would become the town of Rock was first surveyed in the summer of 1851 by a crew working for the U.S. government. That fall another crew marked all the section corners of the six mile squares, walking through the woods and wading the swamps, measuring with chain and compass. When done, the deputy surveyor filed this general description:
Passages that mention Rock, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of Rock County, Wisconsin1879 · page 526Read the page →
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" If the opinion of speculators and large realestate operators from the East is entitled to consideration and respect, the town of Rock stands number one, if not more, in regard to superior locations and natural advantages for building up cities and villages ; for surely no town in the county has figured so largely in that department as the town of Rock. Its corner and water lots have made no small figure in Wall street ; its lithographed city plats have been honored with a conspicuous place in all the great land-agency ofiices of the country. At one time, this town could boast of four cities and villages — ' Wisconsin City,' ' Koshkonong City,' ' Rockport,' ' Monterey ' and ' Afton.' Rockport was laid out by Thomas Holmes in December, 1835,
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The history of Rock County, Wisconsin1879 · page 616Read the page →
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The first bridge over Rock River was constructed in 1845, where the present bridge now is on Bridge street, by a corporation as a toll-bridge. This bridge was afterward douated to the village upon the condition that it should be kept in good repair and maintained a free bridge at the general expense.
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The town of Van Buren was platted into sixty-one blocks, that part in Dane county containing blocks No. 1 to 40 inclusive, and that part in Rock county blocks 41 to 61 inclusive. In comparison with this and other similar places we will state that the original plat of the village of Janesville, our county seat, platted on May 14, 1840, contained but fifty-nine blocks. Van Buren was laid out upon both sides of Badfish creek, and upon each side of the creek a wide space was reserved for "hydraulic purposes,"
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The Afton group lies in section 28 of the town of Rock, at the west end of the bridge across Rock river, upon land owned by W. J. Miller. We first learned of these mounds some sixteen years ago from a young man Avho said he had dug into a mound near the bridge and that there was "nothing in it." In January, 1893, with H. L. Skavlem, the writer made an examination of the village site on section 19 in the town of Rock, and we then crossed the hill to hunt up the young man's mound. The ground
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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, 1889 to 1984
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 Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
