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Rockford, Minnesota

15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1909 and the latest in 1991. It stands in Rockford City. It lies in ZIP code area 55373. It stands on North Fork Crow River. The Survey maps it on the Rockford quadrangle. 4,500 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 915 feet above sea level.

Rockford within Wright County

Population over time

2 figures

Rockford grew from 159 to 4,500 between 1880 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
1880159
20204,500

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 15 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

7,277 words on this township

History of Wright County, Minnesota Volume II, published 1915 has no passage naming this settlement, which was common for smaller places. Its township is covered in full.

The chapter on Rockford City covers the township.

Read the chapter on Rockford City - 7,277 words.

Fires near this place

6 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 6 fires within 5 miles of Rockford between 2000 and 2015, burning about 149 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
Railroad operations and maintenance4
Debris and open burning1
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1

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
21 May 2015Debris and open burning50 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
26 March 2007Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
26 March 2007Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
26 March 2007Railroad operations and maintenance87 acresMinnesota Department of Natural ResourcesLAKE SARAH
26 March 2007Railroad operations and maintenance3.2 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
21 October 2000Missing data/not specified/undetermined8.0 acresMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Wright County

Mines and quarries near this place

4 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Rockford: 4 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Granite. 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
Delano Granite Works PlantGraniteProducer
Bursch Pit and MillSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Giese Pit and MillSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Hanover PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Wright County

Storms near this place

15 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Rockford in 15 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 10 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 funnel cloud, 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2025FloodRockford-Localized roadway flooding occurred in the NW side of Rockford.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindRockford-There were numerous trees blown down across the city of Rockford. Some of the trees were snapped off at the base.
June 2014Thunderstorm WindRockford-A large tree was blown down southeast of Rockford.
August 2023HailRockford-no account filed
April 2021HailRockford-no account filed
July 2019HailRockford-no account filed
July 2019HailRockford-no account filed
July 2019HailRockford-no account filed
September 2017HailRockford-no account filed
September 2016HailRockford-no account filed
September 2016HailRockford-no account filed
May 1996HailRockford-no account filed
May 1996Funnel CloudRockford-no account filed
July 1996Thunderstorm WindRockford-no account filed
July 1995HailRockford-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Wright 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
Rockford Riverview Estates0.5 miles15
Delano4.3 miles12
Hanover5.9 miles15
Buffalo Manor East8.9 miles12
Bufflao Manor8.9 miles12
Saint Michael9.2 miles15
Buffalo9.4 miles12
Montrose9.5 miles12

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 RockfordAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2032638The 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 650206. 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.