Residents vote to graduate from the village designation to the status of city. First mayor of Rockford is Willard Wheeler. Cornerstone for the first building, Middle Hall, is laid on the Rockford College campus, just south of the city's downtown core. It is pulled by a Pioneer engine. First Swedish settlers arrive by train to make their permanent homes in Rockford.
City is divided into five wards.
14 persons die in July and are buried in one long row of graves in Cedar Bluff Cemetary. Rockford Register, predecessor of today's Rockford Register Star is founded. James L. Loop takes office in 1856 as the fourth Rockford mayor. Gen. Curtis Fuller, who selected the location. General Grant visits Rockford on his return to Galena.