BlockBefore

Rockton, Illinois

19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1918 and the latest in 1993. It stands in Rockton Township. It lies in ZIP code area 61072. It stands on Pecatonica River. The Survey maps it on the South Beloit quadrangle. 7,863 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 738 feet above sea level.

Rockton within Winnebago County

On record in Rockton

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 3 records

Population over time

2 figures

Rockton grew from 7,685 to 7,863 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.

YearPeople Change
20107,685
20207,863+178 (+2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 19 printed sheets

Matched 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.

In the county-history sources

22,442 words on this township

The History of Winnebago County, Illinois : Its Past and Present, Containing ... a Biographical Directory of Its Citizens, War Record of Its Volunteers in the Late Rebellion, General and Local Statistics ... History of the Northwest, History of Illinois ... Etc, published 1877 names this settlement in its chapter on Rockton Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Thatcher Blake, Ephraim Sumner, Charles "Works, Phineas Churchill, Thomas Lake, and Ephraim Wjmian are living in Kockford, or its immediate vicinity. Thomas B. Talcott, Isaac Adams of Rockton, and A. C. Gleason live at Cherry Yalley; Simon P. Doty, at Belvidere; Harlyn Sliattuck, at Shattuck's Grove, Boone County (P. O. Belvidere); H. M. Wattles (at last authentic account, one year ago), in Minnesota; W. R. Wheeler, Colorado Springs, Colorado; P. M. Waller, Charles City, Iowa; Israel Morrill, Minnesota; David Caswell, Iowa.

Passage source: The History of Winnebago County, Illinois : Its Past and Present, Containing ... a Biographical Directory of Its Citizens, War Record of Its Volunteers in the Late Rebellion, General and Local Statistics ... History of the Northwest, History of Illinois ... Etc, published 1877.

Rock River included townships 28 and 29, range 11, east of the fourth jDrincipal meridian, and the north half of township 45, range 1, and all of township 46, ranges 1, 2 and 3, east of the tliird principal meridian, now the towns of Shirland, Harrison, Ilockton, Roscoe, the north half of Owen and Harlem, in Winnebago County, and the town of Manchester in Boone County, a strip of territory 24 miles long and from 6 to 12 in width, and covering 6 townships of land. Immense as it was, it only polled 20 votes at the Presidential election, in November, 1836.

Passage source: The History of Winnebago County, Illinois : Its Past and Present, Containing ... a Biographical Directory of Its Citizens, War Record of Its Volunteers in the Late Rebellion, General and Local Statistics ... History of the Northwest, History of Illinois ... Etc, published 1877.

When Latimer concluded his remarks, the son-in-law of Campbell moved that sentence of death be passed upon the two prisoners. The motion was submitted to the crowd. Death-like silence prevailed, and the prisoners, although calm and motionless, turned deathly pale. When at last the silence was broken, tho vote was almost unanimous in favor of immediate execution, and the men were told to prepare to die. The old man was the first to speak, and turning to a bj-stancler he said: "If you are goinc; to slioot me down, for God's sake take this rope from my neck, for it is choking me." Campbell's son-in-law untied it. One hour was given them for ])rayer, and two ministers who were present prayed with the condemned men, to one of whom it is said William Driscoll confessed that he had murdered no less than six men with his own hand. He prayed for forgiveness and became quite penitent. The old man was determined, and held out to the very end without uttering the simple prayer, "God have mercy on my soul."

Passage source: The History of Winnebago County, Illinois : Its Past and Present, Containing ... a Biographical Directory of Its Citizens, War Record of Its Volunteers in the Late Rebellion, General and Local Statistics ... History of the Northwest, History of Illinois ... Etc, published 1877.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Rockton Township - it names this place 18 more 18 times.

Fires near this place

16 since 2018

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 16 fires within 5 miles of Rockton between 2018 and 2020, burning about 12 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 1 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/undetermined10
Smoking4
Arson/incendiarism1
Natural1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
5 July 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources201883
26 July 2018Smoking1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources183149
4 June 2018Smokingunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources182327
20 June 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources201732
18 June 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources182542
28 May 2018Smokingunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources182208
18 May 2018Smokingunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resources182040
5 April 2018Arson/incendiarism1.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resources181387

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Winnebago County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 18 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 18 workings within 5 miles of Rockton: 14 past producers, 3 producers, 1 plant. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Can-Tex Industries Aggregate PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Durgon PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Ellis PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
General Dynamics PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Illinois Wisconsin Sand & GravelSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Kelley Pit & MillSand and Gravel, ConstructionPlant
Manley PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Turtle PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Black QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
E. Sharp QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer

Every working recorded in Winnebago County

Storms near this place

25 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Rockton in 25 storm reports between 1996 and 2026: 13 thunderstorm wind, 7 hail, 2 flash flood, 2 funnel cloud. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2014Thunderstorm WindRockton$25,000A garage collapsed due to severe winds.
June 2007Thunderstorm WindRockton$20,000Trees and power lines were blown down. Siding blown off a house. A deck was damaged from a grill that was blown over and a hard top cover was blown off a pool.
July 2008Thunderstorm WindRockton$5,000Patio furniture and a barbeque grill were blown around and damaged. Wind damage was reported to siding and gutters of a few houses.
May 2013Thunderstorm WindRockton$1,000Power lines were blown down and utility poles were leaning over. Shredded tree branches were reported near Hononegah Road.
June 2007Thunderstorm WindRockton$1,000Tree limbs and powerlines were blown down at North Main Street and Route 2 and at 35th Street and Old Gate Road.
July 2025Funnel CloudRockton-A funnel cloud was reported near Rockton moving to the northeast.
August 2025Flash FloodRockton-Flash flooding impacted portions of far northeast Winnebago County, specifically in the vicinity of Rockton. Street flooding was reported near Rockton Rd and Dorr Rd with floodwater reaching into yards. Street flooding was also reported via mPing along I-39 south of McCurry Rd. A private weather station on the east side of Rockton recorded 4.5 of rainfall. Two others nearby recorded closer to 3.5.
May 2024Thunderstorm WindRockton-Tree damage was reported west of Rockton.
August 2021Thunderstorm WindRockton-A photo shared on social media showed a large tree limb blown down.
July 2021Funnel CloudRockton-Several high based funnel clouds were observed from Route 2 near Rockton.
November 2020HailRockton-A photo of vinyl siding of a home showed damaged by wind driven hail. The hail size was estimated.
November 2020Thunderstorm WindRockton-Wind gusts were estimated to 70 mph.
April 2011HailRockton-Penny to nickel size hail was reported in Rockton.
August 2011Thunderstorm WindRockton-Several trees were blown down.
June 2007Flash FloodRockton-Several roads closed with up to 3 feet of standing water.
May 2005HailRockton-Hail ranging from the size of nickels to golfballs fell across far northeast Winnebago County.
May 2003Tornado (F0)Rockton-A tornado touched down west of Rockton near the bend in the Rock River and continued southeast, and lifted northwest of Roscoe. A gas station near 151 and Elevator Road had damage to glass and a wall. No other damage was reported.
September 2001Thunderstorm WindRockton-One tree blown down.
July 1999Thunderstorm WindRockton-Trees and utility poles were blown down by 60mph wind gusts. A mobile home was blown across Illinois Route 251.
April 2026HailRockton-no account filed
April 2023HailRockton-no account filed
March 2006HailRockton-no account filed
July 2003HailRockton-no account filed
July 2003Thunderstorm WindRockton-no account filed
April 1996Thunderstorm WindRockton-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Winnebago County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
South Bluff Homes2.6 miles19
Northgate Estates2.9 miles19
Riverdale3.2 miles19
Morehaven3.2 miles19
South Beloit3.4 miles19
Roscoe4.3 miles19
Phil-Aire Estates5.0 miles19
Hutchins Park5.1 miles19

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 RocktonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2339403The 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 416854. 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.