Rockton, Illinois

City: Rockton

County: Winnebago

State: Illinois

Lat/Long: 42.4500, -89.0667

Rockton is located nine miles north of Rockford, Illinois on the Rock River. White settlers first arrived at the location of what would become Rockton in 1835 and the town was laid out five years later. The town was known by variants of Pecatonica, which received a U.S. Post Office in December 1838. In 1847, the Illinois General Assembly officially changed the name to Rockton.

Edward Callary, Place Names of Illinois (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2009), 301; James N. Adams, comp., Illinois Place Names (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Society, 1989), 491; Charles A. Church, Past and Present of the City of Rockford and Winnebago County, Illinois (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1905), 10; “An Act in Relation to the Town of Pecatonic, in the County of Winnebago, and Change the Name Thereof to Rockton,” 26 February 1847, Private and Special Laws of Illinois (1847), 206.