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The community was originally called Winneshiek. When it was incorporated, the new municipality took its name “Freeport” from the generosity of Tutty Baker, who was credited with running a “Free Port” on the Pecatonica River. The name ‘Winneshiek’ was later adopted, and is preserved to this day, by the Freeport Community Theatre Group.
In 1837, Stephenson County was formed and Freeport became its seat of government in 1838. Linked by a stagecoach with Chicago, the community grew rapidly. In 1840, a frame courthouse was erected and the first school was founded. Within two years, Freeport had two newspapers and in 1853, the two were joined by a third which published in German. By then, the community had a population of 2,000.
On August 27, 1858, the second debate between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas took place in Freeport and gave the nation direction in the following years. Although Stephen Douglas won the election and retained his U.S. Senate seat, his reply to a question on slavery alienated the South, which called it the “Freeport Heresy”, and split the Democratic Party. This enabled Abraham Lincoln to win the Presidency in 1860.
A monument to the debate was dedicated in 1903 by President Theodore Roosevelt and stands at this site. A life size statue recreating the event was dedicated in 1992. Another renowned statue, “Lincoln the Debator.” by Leonard Crunelle, is a focal point in the city’s Taylor Park. Each year there is also a reenactment of the debate, which has been shown on C-SPAN.
Freeport is known as the Pretzel City, and its public high school’s team is named the Pretzels. The nickname is a reminder of Freeport’s ethnic heritage; in the late 1850s, many Germans, both from Pennsylvania and from their European homeland, resettled in Stephenson County. They brought with them their love of pretzel snacks, and a pretzel bakery started up.
Freeport is home to the oldest Carnegie Library in Illinois and one of the first Carnegie Libraries designed by the famous Chicago architectural firm of Patton and Miller.
Before February 1893, a large square of land was purchased from the former Keller-Wittbecker farm in “East Freeport”. Some of this land had recently been subdivided and platted as the “Arcade Addition”. The Arcade Manufacturing Company had been in operation since 1885 when the previous Novelty Iron Works had gone out of business at the corner of Chicago and Jackson streets. That earlier company began as early as 1868. After the 1892 fire, the Arcade Manufacturing Company built an entirely new factory in the Arcade Addition of East Freeport, where they produced coffee mills and other metal products.
Local Freeport media include WFRL Radio (1570 AM), WFPS Radio (92.1 FM) and The Journal Standard daily newspaper.
Freeport is the county seat and largest city of Stephenson County, Illinois. The population was 25,638 at the 2010 census, and the mayor of Freeport is James Gitz, elected in 2013. Freeport is known for hosting the second Lincoln-Douglas debate of 1858, and as “Pretzel City, USA”, named after the heritage of its Germanic settlers in the 1850s, as well as the pretzel company that started as a result of their arrival. The high school’s mascot is the Pretzel to honor this unique heritage.
Freeport is located at 42�17?31?N 89�37?49?W / 42.29194�N 89.63028�W / 42.29194; -89.63028 (42.292003, -89.630377). It is located approximately 20 miles (32 km) south of the Wisconsin border, and at the center of a large agricultural area, located about 25 miles (40 km) west of Rockford.
According to the 2010 census, the city has a total area of 11.79 square miles (30.5 km2), of which 11.78 square miles (30.5 km2) (or 99.92%) is land and 0.01 square miles (0.026 km2) (or 0.08%) is water.
U.S. Route 20 is a four-lane divided highway that skirts the community’s northern edge. At Rockford, it links with Interstates 90 and 39, giving Freeport residents access to the entire Interstate system. I-90 is the major route between Chicago and Seattle. I-39 extends from Rockford to Bloomington, where it links with I-74 and I-55. From Freeport, U.S. 20 continues west to Galena, and the metropolitan area of Dubuque, Iowa.
The area code for Freeport is 815 with an overlay area code of 779 as of March 17, 2007[update].
Rockford, after its settlement in 1834 and 1835, was known colloquially as Midway. Galena resident Germanicus Kent, his associate Thatcher Blake, and his slave Lewis Lemon are credited as the original settlers of Midway along the west bank of the Rock River; in addition, Daniel Shaw Haight is credited for completing the same task along the east bank. It was established as the county seat over rivaling communities Winnebago and Roscoe in 1836. Due to the area’s proximity to a ford across the Rock River, the village of Midway was renamed Rockford in 1837 by arriving New Englanders.
Rockford was chartered as a city in 1852, following the establishment of a post office in 1837 (of which Shaw Height served in as the first postmaster) and a weekly newspaper in 1840. Growth was fueled by the charter of Rockford Female Seminary in 1847 and a connection to the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad in 1852. The New York Tribune inspired the metonym The Forest City for Rockford in 1853.
The decision of John Henry Manny to locate production of his horse-powered combine harvester in Rockford attributed to a local rise in agricultural machinery manufacturing. Swedish furniture cooperatives did the same for their respective industry. The Rockford Union Furniture Company, under John Erlander, spearheaded these cooperatives; today, Erlander’s home is a Rockford museum, demonstrating his efforts in elevating Rockford to second in furniture manufacturing in the nation, behind Grand Rapids.
In the antebellum period, Rockford shared abolitionist leanings, lending considerable support to the Free Soil Party. In 1848, 42 percent of voters in Winnebago County, which Rockford dominated as the county seat, voted for Martin Van Buren. Four years later, John P. Hale became the first presidential candidate to visit the burgeoning city, although the returns on that visit were minimal, given that he received only 28 percent of the vote. During the Civil War, one of the first Illinois regiments to be mobilized, the Zouaves, were from Rockford, which served as the site for Camp Fuller, a training site for four other infantry regiments.
The Rockford Female Seminary became the alma mater of Jane Addams in 1881. This move accompanied the Seminary’s transition into a more complete curriculum, which was represented by its renaming to Rockford College in 1892. Culture flourished with the founding of the Mendelssohn Club in 1884, which became the oldest operating music club in the United States. This was complemented by the construction of a Carnegie library in 1902, which became the first building of Rockford’s public library system. 1903 saw the dedication of the Winnebago County Veterans Memorial Hall in the presence of sitting President Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt returned to Rockford during his campaign in 1912 and later to address the soldiers at Camp Grant, a training site for World War I soldiers.
The twentieth century saw demographic changes to Rockford. An influx of Italians, Poles, Lithuanians, and African Americans replaced the previously dominant Irish and Swedes. The city was also no stranger to contemporary political issues. Electorally divided between wets and drys on the subject of prohibition, Rockford featured a coalition of labor unionists and socialists that elected numerous aldermen and carried 25 to 40 percent in mayoral elections. During World War I, an antiwar protest by the International Workers of the World led to 118 arrests. In 1920, the city was a target of the Palmer Raids. While its congressional district favored Republicans, Rockford itself continuously elected former Socialists as mayor between 1921 and 1955.
Prior to World War II, Rockford became home to Kegel Harley-Davidson, which became the oldest family-owned Harley-Davidson dealership in existence. One of its contemporary attractions, the Coronado Theatre, was opened in 1927. Notable for its atmospheric styling, the Coronado rivaled its counterparts in Chicago and was later added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Camp Grant was turned over to the Illinois National Guard. During the war, it reopened as an induction center and POW detention camp. USS Rockford, a Tacoma-class frigate named for the city, was commissioned in March 1944 and earned two service stars.
Rockford is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, the 160th most populous city in the United States, and the 112th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Winnebago County and is located on both banks of the Rock River in far northern Illinois. According to 2010 census data, the City of Rockford has a population of 152,871, with an outlying metropolitan area population of 348,360.
Settled between 1834 and 1835, Rockford was strategically positioned between Chicago and Galena and thus became suitable for industrial development. Rockford was notable for its output of heavy machinery and tools; by the twentieth century, it was the second leading center of furniture manufacturing in the nation. Its decline, emblematic of other cities in the Rust Belt, led to economic diversification into automotive, aerospace, and healthcare industries, as well as the undertaking of various tourism and downtown revitalization efforts.
Referred to as the Forest City, Rockford is known for various venues of cultural or historical significance, including Anderson Japanese Gardens, Klehm Arboretum, Tinker Swiss Cottage, the BMO Harris Bank Center, the Coronado Theatre, the Laurent House, and the Burpee Museum of Natural History. Moreover, its contributions to music are noted in the Mendelssohn Club, the oldest music club in the nation, and performers such as Phantom Regiment and Cheap Trick.
Rockford, after its settlement in 1834 and 1835, was known colloquially as Midway. Galena resident Germanicus Kent, his associate Thatcher Blake, and his slave Lewis Lemon are credited as the original settlers of Midway along the west bank of the Rock River; in addition, Daniel Shaw Haight is credited for completing the same task along the east bank. It was established as the county seat over rivaling communities Winnebago and Roscoe in 1836. Due to the area’s proximity to a ford across the Rock River, the village of Midway was renamed Rockford in 1837 by arriving New Englanders.
Rockford was chartered as a city in 1852, following the establishment of a post office in 1837 (of which Shaw Height served in as the first postmaster) and a weekly newspaper in 1840. Growth was fueled by the charter of Rockford Female Seminary in 1847 and a connection to the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad in 1852. The New York Tribune inspired the metonym The Forest City for Rockford in 1853.
The decision of John Henry Manny to locate production of his horse-powered combine harvester in Rockford attributed to a local rise in agricultural machinery manufacturing. Swedish furniture cooperatives did the same for their respective industry. The Rockford Union Furniture Company, under John Erlander, spearheaded these cooperatives; today, Erlander’s home is a Rockford museum, demonstrating his efforts in elevating Rockford to second in furniture manufacturing in the nation, behind Grand Rapids.
In the antebellum period, Rockford shared abolitionist leanings, lending considerable support to the Free Soil Party. In 1848, 42 percent of voters in Winnebago County, which Rockford dominated as the county seat, voted for Martin Van Buren. Four years later, John P. Hale became the first presidential candidate to visit the burgeoning city, although the returns on that visit were minimal, given that he received only 28 percent of the vote. During the Civil War, one of the first Illinois regiments to be mobilized, the Zouaves, were from Rockford, which served as the site for Camp Fuller, a training site for four other infantry regiments.
The Rockford Female Seminary became the alma mater of Jane Addams in 1881. This move accompanied the Seminary’s transition into a more complete curriculum, which was represented by its renaming to Rockford College in 1892. Culture flourished with the founding of the Mendelssohn Club in 1884, which became the oldest operating music club in the United States. This was complemented by the construction of a Carnegie library in 1902, which became the first building of Rockford’s public library system. 1903 saw the dedication of the Winnebago County Veterans Memorial Hall in the presence of sitting President Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt returned to Rockford during his campaign in 1912 and later to address the soldiers at Camp Grant, a training site for World War I soldiers.
The twentieth century saw demographic changes to Rockford. An influx of Italians, Poles, Lithuanians, and African Americans replaced the previously dominant Irish and Swedes. The city was also no stranger to contemporary political issues. Electorally divided between wets and drys on the subject of prohibition, Rockford featured a coalition of labor unionists and socialists that elected numerous aldermen and carried 25 to 40 percent in mayoral elections. During World War I, an antiwar protest by the International Workers of the World led to 118 arrests. In 1920, the city was a target of the Palmer Raids. While its congressional district favored Republicans, Rockford itself continuously elected former Socialists as mayor between 1921 and 1955.
Prior to World War II, Rockford became home to Kegel Harley-Davidson, which became the oldest family-owned Harley-Davidson dealership in existence. One of its contemporary attractions, the Coronado Theatre, was opened in 1927. Notable for its atmospheric styling, the Coronado rivaled its counterparts in Chicago and was later added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Camp Grant was turned over to the Illinois National Guard. During the war, it reopened as an induction center and POW detention camp. USS Rockford, a Tacoma-class frigate named for the city, was commissioned in March 1944 and earned two service stars.
In a September 1949 issue of Life Magazine, postwar Rockford was described as “nearly typical of the U.S. as any city can be.” Due to this archetypal nature, sociologists like W. Lloyd Warner warned of the necessity to “understand the realities of their system.” Heavily dependent on manufacturing and experiencing a shift in economic development toward its eastern borders, Rockford began to suffer irrevocable decline. Impetuses for this shift in economic development include the construction of the Northwest Tollway in 1958, the new campus for Rockford College in 1964, and the campus of Rock Valley College and the Chrysler Belvidere Assembly Plant in 1965 near the eastern periphery of the city rather than downtown.
Efforts to revitalize the downtown were made in the 1970s with the construction of a pedestrian mall and a ten thousand-seat multipurpose arena. The former sectioned off Rockford’s Main Street, impeding vehicle traffic, to the criticism of nearby business owners. The latter, the MetroCentre, opened in 1981 to performances by Dionne Warwick and The Rolling Stones. State grants were also consulted to reverse the trend, such as those that funded an Alexander Liberman sculpture placed at a downtown intersection in 1978. However, further decay occurred in the 1980s, such as the end of Amtrak service on the Black Hawk rail route from Chicago in 1981 and the closure of the Coronado Theatre due to declining revenues in 1984.