History
The City of Rockwell is located in the southern part of Cerro Gordo County. Rockwell was founded in 1870 and formally incorporated in September of 1881. The town was named by in honor of George B. Rockwell who owned the land on which the town is now located. At the 2020 census the population of Rockwell was 1,071 residents which was made up of 408 households and 278 families.
The city has two large parks, Zeidler Park and Linn Grove. Zeidler Park is a 25-acre park formerly owned by a local business man Verle Zeidler who granted the land after his death to a trust, which maintains the park. Linn Grove Park is a 38-acre campground which is managed by the Cerro Gordo Conty Conservation Department.
Rockwell is part of the West Fork Community School District which was formed in 2008 by the merger of the Rockwell–Swaledale Community School District and the SCMT (Sheffield–Chapin–Meservey–Thornton) Community School District. Rockwell is home to the West Fork elementary school whereas the middle and high school is located in the neighboring town of Sheffield.
Rockwell got its start when the railroad came through the area. It was laid out by Rockwell and the Iowa Valley Construction Company in 1870. The original plat, however, only included the west half of the present limits. The northeast quarter of the plat, lying east of the Iowa Central track, was laid out several years later. Rockwell served as a station on the rail line.
James Howland built the town’s first house in the fall of 1870. The depot and house for the section hands were built in the same fall. The following spring the Putnam House and several dwellings were put up. Albert Bruce opened the town’s first store, and Christian Zeidler, whose name is still known in town, was the town’s first wagon maker. Soon the town also had a blacksmith shop, shoemaker, harness business, drug store, and general store.
