Thursday July 18th 1907 citizens of Rockford lined up along the railroad tracks leading up to and after the new iron railroad bridge that was just completed. Men and women waved handkerchiefs while kids scurried to get a closer look at the bellowing steam engine as it brought the first passengers through Rockford. Plot maps of 1898 show the railroad not passing through Rockford, but going through Greenwood which was halfway between Rockford and Delano. Sometime between 1900 and 1906 the railroad started moving their tracks north to Rockford. Pictured is the depot which ideally would have been placed in Wright county but due to the high embankment was located just east of town.
Rockford Town School 1922
Kevin
Would you elaborate on how green wood was in between Rockford and Delano? I’m very intrigued by the information above. Where exactly would the rail line be located?
The community was settled first in 1855 not unlike the rest of Hennepin County and was organized as Greenwood Township in 1858. The township took its name from the town of Greenwood in the southwest corner of the township along the Crow River. The town of Greenwood was soon superseded as a trading center by Rockford and Greenwood died as a town. So at that time there was not a town of Greenwood but only a Township called Greenwood. There was another area down by Lake Minnetonka called Greenwood that incorporated in 1956, they were a city and used the name of Greenwood. Later in 1958 when the old Greenwood Township was incorporated as a fourth class city, it could not use the name of Greenwood anymore, so the name was changed to Greenfield. I will post a map later today as well.