Memorial Hall (Rockford, Illinois)

Carved in the stone portico of the building on the west façade are the words "Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall" and the date "1902".

It is now home to the Armistice-Memorial to Peace, which is a memorial to honor Veterans and educate the community of past Armistice/Veterans Day events at its location as well as inform visitors about the County owned Civil War Statue mounted on a column from Rockford’s original Carnegie Library.

Permanente exhibits include large wall mounted bronze plaques containing the names of those from Winnebago County who fought and died in the Civil War.

Kinney, minister of the Second Congregational Church, proposed some sort of monument to honor the memory of the 2,109 soldiers and sailors from Winnebago County that served in the American Civil War.

In March 1877, John D. Jackson made an unsuccessful proposal to the Winnebago County Board seeking $25,000 for the construction of a soldier's monument.

In December of that year, Thomas G. Lawler, commander of the Garrett L. Nevius Post #1 of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), presented a petition with signatures from than 200 veterans requesting the county build a Memorial Hall.

In February 1903, a committee of five including: J.B. Whitehead, Col. Thomas L. Lawler, Amasa Hutchins, Col. Arthur E. Fisher, and William Andrews, was named to draft a letter of invitation to President Theodore Roosevelt to be present at the dedication.

[5] On June 3, 1903, a reception committee of leading citizens from Rockford and Winnebago County met Roosevelt at the train station, open carriages transported him and his party to Memorial Hall.

Roosevelt returned to Rockford two more times; once on April 6, 1912 and again on September 26, 1917, when he addressed the troops at nearby Camp Grant during World War I.

Working with the City who provided War Memorial funds which came from the sale of Camp Grant, a four-year $1.5 million restoration project began in 1988.

In 1988, a four-year, $1.5 million restoration project began in response to the parking garage attempt and the fact the building had started to deteriorate due to lack of maintenance.

In the 1980s, to help offset the costs of its upkeep, the Winnebago County Board rented the first floor offices to the Rockford Convention and Visitor's Bureau, until early 2004.