ROCKFORD

city, seat of Winnebago county, northern Illinois, U.S., on the Rock River. The state's second largest city, it was founded by New Englanders in 1834 and originally called Midway (as the site of a coach stop halfway between Chicago and Galena); it was renamed for the ford across the river. Waterpower supplied by a dam constructed in 1844 led to the development of Rockford as a manufacturing centre in the middle of an agricultural area. Its principal manufactures include machine tools, screw products and fasteners, hardware, farm implements, furniture, and seeds. The farm-machinery business began in the early 1850s when John Manny, a Rockford inventor, developed a reaper and mower combination. The furniture industry began with an influx of Swedish carpenters, who went there following the extension of the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad to the Rock River (1852). Camp Grant, a reception and medical centre during World Wars I and II, was converted into the Greater Rockford Airport. Rockford College was founded in 1847 as Rockford Female Seminary. Rock Valley (junior) College was opened in 1964. The Time Museum in the Clock Tower Inn houses a notable collection of antique timepieces. Sinnissippi Park Sunken Gardens is a riverfront recreational area. Inc. village, 1839; city, 1852. Pop. (1990) city, 139,426; Rockford MSA, 283,719.