Rockford, Iowa
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Rockford Township. It lies in ZIP code area 50468. It stands on Whiskey Creek. The Survey maps it on the Rockford quadrangle. 758 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,007 feet above sea level.
On record in Rockford
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 1 record
- Rockford Milllisted 1983
Population over time
2 figuresRockford fell from 860 to 758 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 860 | |
| 2020 | 758 | -102 (-12%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 7 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1954 USGS Mason City quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1957 USGS Mason City quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Mason City quadrangle1:250000
- 1971 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Charles City quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
5 since 2009Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 5 fires within 5 miles of Rockford between 2009 and 2018, burning about 3 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
| Smoking | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 July 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 25 July 2012 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 8 June 2012 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 5 May 2018 | Smoking | 1.0 acres | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 22 April 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Iowa Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 18 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 18 workings within 5 miles of Rockford: 9 unknowns, 7 past producers, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unknown | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Andrews Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Williams Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Blum Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Jones Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Rockford Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown |
Storms near this place
24 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Rockford in 24 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 12 thunderstorm wind, 11 hail, 1 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rockford | $500,000 | no account filed |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rockford | $170,000 | At least 300 hundred trees were destroyed in Rockford. Some hay racks were blown across a farm and through a fence. The fire department estimated a 75 mph wind gust. |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rockford | $20,000 | A farm outbuilding was destroyed with debris scattered across the street and through a field west of Rockford. The fire department estimated a 75 mph wind gust. |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rockford | $20,000 | Numerous power lines were blown down across the west central section of Floyd County in the general vicinity of Rockford. |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rockford | $20,000 | The Rockford High School baseball/softball complex sustained extensive damage when a light pole was blown down on the concessions and storage buildings, bleachers were blown through or up against fencing for the fields and trees and limbs were downed. |
| September 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rockford | $1,000 | Trees were blown down west of Rockford. |
| May 2006 | Hail | Rockford | $700 | no account filed |
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rockford | $500 | Trained spotter reports several 12 inch diameter trees and limbs down. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rockford | - | Emergency management reported a tree down in the city of Rockford. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rockford | - | A 72 mph wind gust was measured just south of Rockford. |
| September 2016 | Hail | Rockford | - | Ping pong ball sized hail fell in Rockford. |
| April 2014 | Hail | Rockford | - | Golf ball sized hail was reported in Rockford. |
| May 2014 | Hail | Rockford | - | Quarter sized hail fell in Rockford. |
| August 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rockford | - | An estimated wind gust of 60 mph occurred south of Rockford. |
| September 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rockford | - | An estimated wind gust of 60 miles per hour was reported in Rockford. |
| July 2011 | Flood | Rockford | - | Flooding along the Shell Rock River occurred in Rockford from heavy rains that fell over portions of southern Minnesota and north central Iowa. |
| April 2011 | Hail | Rockford | - | Dime size hail fell in Rockford. |
| May 2017 | Hail | Rockford | - | no account filed |
| April 2010 | Hail | Rockford | - | no account filed |
| April 2009 | Hail | Rockford | - | no account filed |
| May 2002 | Hail | Rockford | - | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Hail | Rockford | - | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rockford | - | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Hail | Rockford | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rudd | 5.6 miles | 7 | |
| Aureola | 6.9 miles | 9 | |
| Nora Springs | 6.9 miles | 8 | |
| Nora Junction | 7.0 miles | 8 | |
| Marble Rock | 7.3 miles | 9 | |
| Carney (historical) | 7.5 miles | 7 | |
| Roseville | 7.9 miles | 7 | |
| Oakwood | 9.6 miles | 7 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Rockford | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1925655 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 460752. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.




