Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1856.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Jordan’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Jordan is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns, #60 of 273 in Minnesota. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Jordan’s overall grade.
Minnesota towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Minnesota town has 2.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Jordan’s 23.6 sits above most of its state (86% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 16 historic buildings outnumber those of 78% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.4 points). Two sources give 1853.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Jordan’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
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 1853, according to Wikidata. Jordan’s post office opened in 1856, and the census of 1880 counted 915 people here.
How does Jordan rank for history?
Jordan is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns, #60 of 273 in Minnesota. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Jordan?
Three places: the Foss and Wells House (listed 1980), the Jordan Brewery Ruins (1980) and the Jordan Historic District (1980).
How old are the homes in Jordan?
14% of Jordan’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.4 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1999.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (3), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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