Jordan

History

The community began on November 27, 1853, when Thomas A. Holmes ordered the construction of a sawmill. This establishment gave Jordan its first name, Holmes Mill. A year after the mill's founding, Thomas's brother William Holmes moved to the site and began platting a settlement. By 1855, he surveyed and recorded his settlement as Jordan City, after the Jordan River in Palestine. Jordan City accumulated some success in 1855 and 1856 with the addition of a post office and a handful of businesses. In 1860, the neighboring settlement of Brentwood was surveyed by S. A. Hooper, J. H. Gardner and R. W. Thomas. The two settlements competed until a legislative action consolidated them into the village of Jordan in 1872. The consolidation only helped the settlement and by 1880 the population had boomed to 915 along with a boom in businesses in the village. A few of these businesses were breweries, which became especially successful until prohibition in 1919 temporarily caused their closure. Jordan was incorporated as a city in 1891.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of ; is land and is water. U.S. Highway 169 and State Highways 21 and 282 are three of the main routes in the community. The architects and civil engineers known for designing the layout of Jordan's streets also founded the neighboring town of Belle Plaine.

Race & ethnicity