8131 Bridge St
Rockford, MN 55373, USA

Ames - Florida House (Stork House) - National Register of Historic Places

Statement of Significance:

The Ames/Florida House was built in 1856 by George F. Ames, one of the founders of the City of Rockford. Shortly after their arrival in the state in 1855, Ames, Joel Florida, and Guilford D. George formed a partnership to develop a mill site on the Crow River. They were successful in establishing a townsite by 1856 and had built a dam and water power mill by 1857. Later a machine shop for woodworking manufacturing was added, and by 1870 Joel's son, George, erected a woolen mill on the west side of the river. With the death of Ames in 1878, George W. Florida acquired title to all the Ames property and remodeled the lumber and flour mills. Rockford had become the industrial center of Wright County.

Ames modeled his Greek Revival style house after an example he had seen in his native Vermont, which accounts for the pronouncedly "Yankee" plan and detail. The house was purchased in 1936 from the Florida family by Mr. and Mrs. Clinton Stork, who restored it to the excellent state of preservation seen today.