Rock is an unincorporated community in Delta County

Delta County, Michigan

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 38,520 people, 15,836 households, and 10,689 families residing in the county. The population density was 33 people per square mile . There were 19,223 housing units at an average density of 16 per square mile...

, Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Rock is located in Maple Ridge Township

Maple Ridge Township, Delta County, Michigan

Maple Ridge Township is a civil township of Delta County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 808 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...

 along M-35

M-35 (Michigan highway)

M-35 is a state trunkline highway in the Upper Peninsula of the US state of Michigan. Running for in a general north–south direction, it connects the cities of Menominee, Escanaba and Negaunee. The southern section of M-35 in Menominee and Delta counties carries two additional designations...

 and the Canadian National Railway

Canadian National Railway

The Canadian National Railway Company is a Canadian Class I railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. CN's slogan is "North America's Railroad"....

, 16.5 miles (26.6 km) north-northwest of Gladstone

Gladstone, Michigan

Gladstone is a city in Delta County in the U.S. state of Michigan. First settled in 1877, Gladstone's original name was Saunders Point. The population was 5,032 at the 2000 census....

. Rock has a post office

Post office

A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...

 with ZIP code

ZIP Code

ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...

 49880.

History

Rock was first settled in 1865 by Chicago and North Western Railway

Chicago and North Western Railway

The Chicago and North Western Transportation Company was a Class I railroad in the Midwest United States. It was also known as the North Western. The railroad operated more than of track as of the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states before retrenchment in the late 1970s...

workers. J.R. Steele bought land in the community from the railroad in 1866 and settled there, and George English built a store there in the same year. The community was originally called Malton Spur, and a post office called Malton operated between March 28, 1879, and April 30, 1883; Henrietta Crawford served as postmaster of this post office. The community was then renamed Maple Ridge, but changed its name again to Rock when applying for a new post office. The new name was coined by John Niequist and was derived from the rocky terrain in the area. The new post office opened on June 16, 1886, with Niequist as postmaster.