Rockville, Minnesota
8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Rockville City. It lies in ZIP code area 56369. It stands on Mill Creek. The Survey maps it on the Rockville quadrangle. 2,382 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,076 feet above sea level.
On record in Rockville
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
Clark and McCormack Quarry and Houselisted 1982
Population over time
2 figuresRockville fell from 2,448 to 2,382 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 | 2,448 | |
| 2020 | 2,382 | -66 (-3%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 8 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.
- 1953 USGS Saint Cloud quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Saint Cloud quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Saint Cloud quadrangle1:250000
- 1967 USGS Rockville quadrangle1:24000
- 1986 USGS Litchfield quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
In the county-history sources
1,051 words on this townshipHistory of Stearns County, Minnesota, published 1915 names this settlement in its chapter on Rockville City. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.
Rockville lies in the southeastern portion of the county, and embraces township 123 north, range 29 west. It has an area of 23,040 acres. The surface is undulating. Sauk River flows in a northeasterly direction across the northwest portion of the town, to the west of which lies a strip of prairie.. Mill Creek enters the township from the south, and joins Sauk River at the village of Rockville. In the center of the township, and along Mill Creek, the primary, or granitic, formation appears in place, and from this fact, the town derives its name. There are a large number of lakes in this town the largest of which is Grand Lake, a beautiful sheet of water, lying in the southern portion of the township. The next in size is Pleasant Lake, lying in the northeast corner.
Passage source: History of Stearns County, Minnesota, published 1915.
The territory embraced in this town was a part of Maine Prairie until 1860, when Rockville was organized, and the first election held at the residence of M. Hansen, Sr.., on June 25. The first officers elected were: Supervisors, M. Hansen, Sr. (chairman), Nicholas Kirsch and John Harren; clerk, D. H. Spicer; assessor, William Decker; and justice of the peace, A. Smith.
Passage source: History of Stearns County, Minnesota, published 1915.
Rockville Village. - In the year 1856 a village site was surveyed and platted by H. C. Waite and D. H. Spicer, near the junction of Mill Creek and the Sauk River. The plat was named Rockville. Mr. Waite soon afterward disposed of his interest to Mr. Spicer who subsequently leased the water power to Newt N. Smith. About 1860 Mr. Smith built the first mill on the Mill Creek in the village of Rockville. This mill was later remodeled by Orlando Tenney, but burned down soon after. Nick Carding bought the waterpower site from Orlando Tenney and erected the present mill.
Passage source: History of Stearns County, Minnesota, published 1915.
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 Rockville City - it names this place 5 more 5 times.
Mines and quarries near this place
8 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Rockville: 8 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Granite, 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stommes Stearns County Sand & Grave | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Cold Spring Crushing Plant | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Rockville Shop | Granite, Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Crystal Gray Quarry | Granite | Producer | ||
| Diamond Pink Quarry | Granite | Producer | ||
| Opalescent Quarry | Granite | Producer | ||
| Rockville Quarry No 1 | Granite | Producer | ||
| Rockville Quarry No 2 | Granite | Producer |
Storms near this place
15 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Rockville in 15 storm reports between 1998 and 2024: 10 hail, 4 thunderstorm wind, 1 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rockville | - | Trees down in Rockville. |
| July 2016 | Funnel Cloud | Rockville | - | This funnel was from the same storm that produced the Litchfield, Watkins, and rural Watkins tornadoes. Numerous storm chasers, spotters and law enforcement officers were watching the funnel, with no indication that it touched down. |
| July 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rockville | - | Several dozen trees were downed from a storm that would soon produce a tornado in Waite Park. |
| July 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rockville | - | Trees were downed at Grand Lake. |
| May 2014 | Hail | Rockville | - | no account filed |
| June 2009 | Hail | Rockville | - | no account filed |
| July 2008 | Hail | Rockville | - | no account filed |
| July 2008 | Hail | Rockville | - | no account filed |
| May 2008 | Hail | Rockville | - | no account filed |
| September 2005 | Hail | Rockville | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Hail | Rockville | - | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rockville | - | no account filed |
| July 1999 | Hail | Rockville | - | no account filed |
| July 1999 | Hail | Rockville | - | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Hail | Rockville | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jacobs Prairie | 3.0 miles | 9 | |
| Pleasant Lake | 3.4 miles | 8 | |
| Cold Spring | 4.8 miles | 9 | |
| Marty | 5.0 miles | 8 | |
| Luxemburg | 5.2 miles | 10 | |
| Saint Joseph | 6.5 miles | 12 | |
| Saint Augusta | 7.6 miles | 10 | |
| Saint Nicholas | 8.1 miles | 9 |
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 Rockville | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q962337 | 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 650208. 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.
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.




