Rockford is an
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
in
Redding Township,
Jackson County,
Indiana
Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...
.
History
Rockford was named for the "rocky ford" of the East Fork of the
White River where easier crossing was permitted by a rock river bottom.
The village is approximately 1 mile west of
Tipton Island along the
White River. The area was first settled in about 1813 by James Reno, who was the grandfather of the infamous
Reno Gang
The Reno Gang, also known as the Reno Brothers Gang and The Jackson Thieves, were a group of criminals that operated in the Midwestern United States during and just after the American Civil War. Though short-lived, the gang carried out the first ...
.
The small community was known as New Rockford and Old Rockford in the 1840s.
In 1852, the terminus of the north-south
Jeffersonville, Madison and Indianapolis Railroad
The Jeffersonville, Madison and Indianapolis Railroad (JM&I) was formed in 1866 as a merger between the Indianapolis and Madison Railroad and the Jeffersonville Railroad.
Genealogy
The JM&I predecessors were as follows:
*Jeffersonville, Madison ...
was in Rockford.
It was known as a pork packing center and had several established businesses such as a
grist mill
A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...
, post office,
Masonic Lodge
A Masonic lodge (also called Freemasons' lodge, or private lodge or constituent lodge) is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry.
It is also a commonly used term for a building where Freemasons meet and hold their meetings. Every new l ...
and a newspaper.
The last newspaper, the ''Rockford Herald'', was printed by Dr Jasper Monroe in 1857. He was persuaded to move to nearby
Seymour, Indiana
Seymour is a city in Jackson Township, Jackson County, Indiana, Jackson and Redding Township, Jackson County, Indiana, Redding Townships, Jackson County, Indiana, United States, located 62 miles south of Indianapolis, and 55 miles north of Louisvi ...
by the town's founder,
Meedy Shields, where he published under the name ''Seymour Times''.
1
Meedy Shields, through skillful maneuvering, succeeded in getting a new east-west rail stop of the
Ohio and Mississippi Railroad two miles south of Rockford, which spelled eventual economic doom.
Most original structures were burned out in the 1860s and much of the unkept property was owned by the Reno family.
[''The Masked Halters'' by Edwin J Boley 1977, rare - out of print]
References
Further reading
See wiki's
Reno Gang
The Reno Gang, also known as the Reno Brothers Gang and The Jackson Thieves, were a group of criminals that operated in the Midwestern United States during and just after the American Civil War. Though short-lived, the gang carried out the first ...
page for external links which describe the eventual demise and criminal activity in and around Rockford in the 1860s.
External links
History of Jackson Masonic Lodge 146
Geography
Rockford is located at .
{{authority control
Unincorporated communities in Jackson County, Indiana
Unincorporated communities in Indiana