West Downtown Rockford Historic District

About this property

The West Downtown Rockford Historic District is a set of forty-four buildings in Rockford, Illinois, United States that reflect the downtown district of the city west of the Rock River. Of these buildings, forty-one contribute to the historical significance of the district. Rockford, Illinois was first settled in 1834 when Germanicus Kent established Kentville on the west side of the Rock River. Kent opened a blacksmith shop, bank, general store, and hotel near what is now State and Madison Streets. The first ferry across the river opened in 1836 and the first bridge was completed in 1845. Rockford quickly became an important commercial center because it sat approximately halfway between the cities of Chicago and Galena. The early 1850s saw the creation of the Rockford Waterpower District, an industrial area that took advantage of the first permanent dam on the river, and a connection to the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad. Rockford incorporated in 1852; at the time, settlement was split relatively evenly on both sides of the river (151 houses on the east, 126 houses on the west). To keep up with the growing population, local businessmen replaced wood frame buildings with more permanent brick and stone structures. The Chick House, which opened in 1857, is one of the oldest remaining buildings in the district. West side development was encouraged with the completion of the Rockford Street Railway in 1880. In the 1880s, the west side district overtook the east side as the principal commercial center of the city. John R. Porter established a successful pharmacy that stayed in business for over a hundred years. The D. J. Stewart & Company building on South Main Street hosted the Rockford Department Store until it moved into a new Romanesque Revival building in 1893. The Panic of 1893 halted downtown development for another decade. The Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall was dedicated by President Theodore Roosevelt on July 3, 1903. Daniel Burnham designed the 1905 Rockford Trust Building in the Chicago School motif. The Roaring Twenties brought great prosperity to the west side district. The Forest City National Bank Building was completed in 1923. The tallest building in Rockford, the Talcott Building, was finished in 1927. Also that year, the Coronado Theatre first opened to audiences. Porter's Corner, home of the Porter pharmacy, was rebuilt in 1929 in the Art Deco style. A two-story Art Deco building was constructed next door, once housing a J. C. Penney department store. The Great Depression and World War II stalled development in the 1930s and 1940s. S. H. Kress & Co., a five and dime, and the Times Theater were among the only developments in those decades. The Central Union Telephone Company building, originally built around 1915, replaced its faced in 1942. The construction of Interstate 90 in the 1950s, which bypassed the commercial center of Rockford, greatly harmed its chances of economic recovery. The national decline in manufacturing jobs caused the Rockford unemployment rate to skyrocket to 25.5 percent by January 1983.

Location

Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

More in Winnebago County

Historic places, battles, and census history across Winnebago County.

More historic places in Illinois

Browse all historic places in Illinois.

Conflict records

Explore 19,000+ military engagements across American history.

Illinois history

Colonial settlement, territorial period, and statehood narrative.