Rockford, Ohio is the oldest town in Mercer County . In the early 1800's, Anthony Shane, a half breed French Ottawa Indian, was a scout for the army of General Anthony Wayne. As a reward for his services, Shane was given a land grant by the U.S. Government. Shanes Grant took in the area now known as the village of Rockford as well as additional land north of the St. Marys River. The St. Marys was a very important trail between Piqua and Fort Wayne, Indiana. Originally it was known by the names Second Crossing of the St. Marys, and Half Way Cross. . On June 23, 1820, Anthony Shane, who operated a trading post near the river, filed his plot to the town known as Shanesville. Shane lived in Shanesville until 1832 when he acted as a government agent, accompanying the Shawnee Indians to Kansas. On June 5, 1866, the village was incorporated and the name was changed to Shanes Crossing . Then, in 1890 the post office department decided it should have a new name. A vote was taken and the majority favored the name of Lacine, but the post office department decided that the villages name should be called Rockford, and so it was.

Rockford was the original county seat and a bustling town in its early days. It was the first town in the county to have street lights and had its own power plant, built in 1899. Underground pipes were laid to connect the power plant to village stores and churches, which was their source of heat from the steam that escaped from the dynamos . Many early businesses included a hotel, opera house, stave factory, sawmill, handle factory, airport, etc.