From Laphamville to Rockford, Built Around a Sawmill
Smith Lapham arrived in Kent County in 1843 and helped finish a dam and sawmill on the Rogue River that William Hunter had started; Lapham then built his own mill, completed in 1844, and the settlement that grew up around it -- known as Laphamville -- was platted in 1856 by William Thornton. It was renamed Rockford after the Civil War.
Windows From a Mill-Town Growth Pattern
By 1865 the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad had extended a line north through the village, and the housing that followed grew up gradually around that Rogue River mill economy rather than in one uniform subdivision push, so original window sizes and styles vary more block to block than in a single-era suburb.
Window Replacement Project Paths in Rockford
Planning Window Replacement in Rockford
A Rockford window project benefits from knowing whether a home traces to the town's original mill-era core or its later railroad-era growth.