Rockford is a city in
Kent County in the U.S. state of
Michigan. The population was 5,719 at the
2010 census.
Located along the
Rogue River, the city is part of the
Grand Rapids metropolitan area and is about north of the city of
Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...
.
History
The area was first settled by Marlin Hunter, who settled along the
Rogue River in 1842. By 1845, several other families arrived and settled the community under the name Laphamville, and the community received a post office under that name. The community was
platted in 1865 and incorporated as a village in 1866. At that time, the community's name changed to Rockford. The community was originally based around the lumber industry but was soon supported by a shoe factory and tannery at the turn of the century. The village incorporated as a city in 1935.
Wolverine World Wide has major operations in the city for over 100 years. In modern times, its former tannery site used
Scotchgard
Scotchgard is a 3M brand of products, a stain and durable water repellent applied to fabric, furniture, and carpets to protect them from stains. Scotchgard products typically rely on organofluorine chemicals as the main active ingredient along ...
chemicals to waterproof shoes, which contaminated local areas with the active ingredients at the time of
PFOA and
PFOS
Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) (conjugate base perfluorooctanesulfonate) is a chemical compound having an eight-carbon fluorocarbon chain and a sulfonic acid functional group and thus a perfluorosulfonic acid. It is an anthropogenic (man ...
.
The downtown area hosts a summer farmer's market on Saturday. The city also hosts a Fall Harvest Festival. Start of Summer Celebration is a community organization annually held in early June at the beginning of summertime.
Geography
According to the
Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, is land and (2.13%) is water.
White Pine Trail State Park
Fred Meijer White Pine Trail State Park is a long linear state park in the U.S. state of Michigan.
The trail extends from northern Grand Rapids to Cadillac, and it lies on the path graded for the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad (later absor ...
runs through the downtown area of Rockford, next to the Rogue River and the Rockford Dam.
Indian Trails
Indian Trails, Inc. is an inter-city bus company based in Owosso, Michigan, with offices in Romulus (in Metro Detroit) and Kalamazoo.
History
Indian Trails was founded in 1910 in Owosso as the Phillips-Taylor Livery Service, whose main busi ...
provides daily intercity bus service between
Grand Rapids, Michigan and
St. Ignace.
Education
Rockford is served by the
Rockford Public Schools. The city is served by the
Kent District Library. Rockford Christian School, a campus of
Grand Rapids Christian Schools, is in Rockford. In 2021, a Rockford High School student presented a 137-page report describing a culture of
racism present at Rockford Public Schools in an effort to find solutions for the problem, with multiple students describing experiences of racism in the school district.
The acting superintendent of Rockford Public Schools described the report as "more confusing than enlightening" and that society as a whole had issues with racism.
Demographics
2010 census
As of the
census of 2010, there were 5,719 people, 2,201 households, and 1,537 families living in the city. The
population density was . There were 2,302 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 95.0%
White, 0.7%
African American, 0.5%
Native American, 1.2%
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 0.1%
Pacific Islander, 0.7% from
other races, and 2.0% from two or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
of any race were 3.7% of the population.
There were 2,201 households, of which 42.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.7% were
married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...
living together, 13.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.5% had a male householder with no wife present, and 30.2% were non-families. 26.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.58 and the average family size was 3.16.
The median age in the city was 33.7 years. 30.9% of residents were under the age of 18; 7% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 27.8% were from 25 to 44; 23.6% were from 45 to 64; and 10.7% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 47.4% male and 52.6% female.
The median income for a household in the city was $53,113, and the median income for a family was $71,700. Males had a median income of $62,015 versus $33,325 for females. The per capita income for the city was $28,632. About 10.5% of families and 11.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.5% of those under age 18 and 7.2% of those age 65 or over.
2000 census
As of the
census of 2000, there were 4,626 people, 1,741 households, and 1,255 families living in the city. The
population density was 1,544.2 per square mile (595.4/km
2). There were 1,796 housing units at an average density of 599.5 per square mile (231.1/km
2). The racial makeup of the city was 96.20%
White, 0.61%
African American, 0.39%
Native American, 0.91%
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 0.02%
Pacific Islander, 0.63% from
other races, and 1.25% from two or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
of any race were 1.51% of the population.
There were 1,741 households, out of which 45.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.1% were
married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...
living together, 14.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.9% were non-families. 25.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.65 and the average family size was 3.21.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 33.9% under the age of 18, 7.1% from 18 to 24, 33.0% from 25 to 44, 17.1% from 45 to 64, and 9.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.9 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $50,562, and the median income for a family was $55,954. Males had a median income of $45,847 versus $28,024 for females. The
per capita income for the city was $19,906. About 8.4% of families and 8.1% of the population were below the
poverty line, including 10.7% of those under age 18 and 12.9% of those age 65 or over.
Notable people
*
Brent Bookwalter, cyclist and participant in
2010 Tour de France
The 2010 Tour de France was the 97th edition of the Tour de France cycle race, one of cycling's Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours. It started on with an 8.9 km prologue time trial in Rotterdam, the first start in the Netherlands since 1996 ...
*
Andrew Britton
Andrew Paul Britton (January 6, 1981 – March 18, 2008) was a British-born spy novelist who immigrated to the United States with his family at age seven. He published his first novel at age 23, his books were translated for international sales ...
, author
*
Parker Ehinger
Parker Ehinger (born December 30, 1992) is an American football guard who is a free agent. He played college football at the University of Cincinnati. He was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the fourth round of the 2016 NFL Draft.
Early ye ...
, lineman for NFL's
Kansas City Chiefs
*
Jason Hartmann
Jason Hartmann (born March 23, 1981) is an NCAA coach and a former American long-distance runner who specializes in marathon races. He won the Twin Cities Marathon in 2009. He was the top American finisher at the 2010 Chicago Marathon and was ...
, distance runner, 4th-place finisher in
2012 Boston Marathon
The 2012 Boston Marathon took place in Boston, Massachusetts on Monday April 16, 2012. It was the 116th edition of the mass-participation marathon. Organized by the Boston Athletic Association, it was the first of the World Marathon Majors seri ...
*
Adam Kieft
Adam Kieft (born August 21, 1982) is a former American football offensive lineman for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL). Kieft attended Rockford High School in Rockford, Michigan. He was selected with the 17th pick of ...
, lineman with NFL's
Cincinnati Bengals
The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...
*
Julia A. Moore
Julia Ann Moore (née Julia Ann Davis; December 1, 1847 – June 5, 1920) was an American poetaster. Like Scotland's William McGonagall, she is best known for writing notoriously bad poetry.
Biography
Young Julia grew up on her family's Mi ...
, poet
*
Dathan Ritzenhein, Olympic distance runner, former American 5k record holder
*
John C. Sjogren
John Carleton Sjogren was a soldier in the United States Army who received the Medal of Honor in World War II during the campaign to recapture the Philippines from Japanese forces in 1945. Against superior numbers, Sjogren was able to kill 43 enem ...
, Army soldier and
Medal of Honor recipient in
World War II
*
Joe Staley
Joseph Andrew Staley (born August 30, 1984) is an American former American football, football offensive tackle who played his entire career for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Central ...
, left tackle for
San Francisco 49ers
*
Dick York, actor, best known for playing Darrin Stephens on 1960s sitcom ''
Bewitched
''Bewitched'' is an American fantasy sitcom television series that originally aired for eight seasons on ABC from September 17, 1964, to March 25, 1972. It is about a witch who marries an ordinary mortal man and vows to lead the life of a typic ...
''
*
Ginger Zee, meteorologist for
ABC News and ''
Good Morning America
''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...
''
References
External links
Rockford official website''History and directory of Kent County, Michigan'' Dillenback & Leavitt. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Daily eagle steam printing house, 1870. pp. 25+.
{{Authority control
Cities in Kent County, Michigan
Grand Rapids metropolitan area
1842 establishments in Michigan
Populated places established in 1842