How Did Rockford Get That Name?

Cities across the map have acquired unofficial names over the course of time. As we know, Las Vegas is affectionately known as Sin City, New York owns The Big Apple, and a pile of cities are called Queen City including all of Regina, Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal. No one, though, seems to have the moniker that the Rockford IceHogs use for their alternate jersey as seen to the left. Those jerseys are known as the "Screw City" jerseys, amd that's a heckuva name for any city to have. Let's find out the explanation of how Rockford, Illinois became known as wildly-named "Screw City".

According to a David Mulcahey article found on The Baffler, Rockford featured a thriving furniture-manufacturing industry in the late 19th century that resisted the industrialization that was happening in other industries. In his article, Mulcahey writes,

"By 1893 there were twenty-six major furniture factories in the city, twenty-one of which were cooperatives owned by large groups of workers who had pooled their money together. These business ventures were easily started and often quick to expand, but they survived financial panics and recessions only with great difficulty."

Clearly, Rockford was being built on home furnishings with "twenty-six major furniture factories in the city," but that also gave rise to another industry. Mulcahey writes,

"Adding to Rockford's high concentration of skilled labor was the parallel development of the tool-making industry. Although the pioneer tool-making factories remained large and dominant, the same pattern of cooperative ventures seen in the furniture industry broadened the playing field and bolstered the city’s prosperity for most of the twentieth century."

None of this seems to have any sort of explanation for how Rockford was nicknamed "Screw City", but Mulcahey identifies one more industry that came about after 1945 thanks to the two industries that were already successful in the city. Mulcahey writes,

"Fastener manufacture, another industry that had been established locally to supply the furniture makers, grew and prospered with the postwar housing boom to such an extent that Rockfordians styled their city the 'Screw Capital of the World.'"

The citizens of Rockford were the ones who nicknamed the city, and it appears that Rockford continued to be a prominent player in the fastener industry as the IceHogs noted on their site that "the city was ranked as the fifth largest manufacturer of fasteners in the nation" in the 1960s. Clearly, the city relies on its industries to drive its economy, so Rockford's nickname seems securely fastened to the city!

And that brings us to today as the Rockford IceHogs have announced that the black Screw City jerseys will be worn in seven AHL contests this season once again after debuting them last season! Frankly, there's nothing spectacular about these jerseys whatsoever aside from the "R" logo with the screw grooves on the vertical straight portion of the "R", so I'm not really a fan. Again, they'll only be worn seven times, and those games include:

• Friday, October 17 vs Texas Stars
• Saturday, November 15 vs Manitoba Moose
• Friday, November 28 vs Milwaukee Admirals
• Wednesday, December 31 vs Chicago Wolves
• Sunday, January 18 vs Chicago Wolves
• Friday, February 6 vs Iowa Wild
• Froday April 10 vs Iowa Wild

I'm not sure why the Wolves and the Wild get two games against the Screw City IceHogs, but that's the schedule published by the IceHogs. I would have loved to have seen the IceHogs wearing them against San Diego Gulls on February 21 or 22, especially on the 21st for Drew Commesso Bobblehead Night, but I'm not in charge of the schedule.

Again, this jersey is just too monochrome. For a town that's also called "Forest City" and a flag that's emerald green, you wonder why they wouldn't do a jersey in green to represent the city a little more with the Screw City logo on the front, but I guess it was easier just to acquire black jerseys or something. Of course, if they added a pop of colour like they did back in 2022, this jersey would be elevated in a big way. For now, however, we're stuck with these black jerseys that really do nothing to promote Rockford's fastener industry, Rockford's hockey team, or the city of Rockford itself.

Enjoy the seven games in these jerseys, Rockford fans, because there's not much about which one should be excited with these jerseys. Especially when you realize they could be so much more.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!