Irma

History of Irma

Irma was established as a farming community in 1887 under the name of Courtland. Lying 14 miles north of Merrill, it had a small population, starting with the B. W. Munro and Nicholas Jourdan families. Mr. Munro chose to build his home in 1880 where the West Irma Rock Falls Schoolhouse was located, and in 1884 another school was built in east Irma. These first pioneers depended mainly on wild game for food, but occasionally fur traders would carry in supplies to trade for furs. Mr. Munro later ran a sawmill to aid other homes in being built, and in 1887 when the railroad expanded from Merrill to Irma, other settlers arrived including Chris Kemp, W. H. Middelton, Samuel Nelson, Thomas Solomon, J. A. Johnson, Horace G. Chase, Paul Hoffman, Walter Spails, Mr. Goodyear, and Andrew Wilson. In 1900 the Irma Creamery was established by a group of dairymen and other early businesses were Major's Saloon and J. C. Horgens General Store. Swedish Lutheran Church officially organized in 1907 but had been operating in Mr. & Mrs. Hans Peterson's home since 1900.

From a descendant of Mr. Munro: She says that initials should be S.W., not B. W. (Seneca Waterman Munro). He and Nicolas Jourdan were her 2nd great grandfathers. The families came up for Iroquois County, Ill, and settled their homesteads in 1880. It was originally called the Illinois Settlement. The Munros had 7 children, and the Jourdans had 9 children. Their children Sylvester Jacob Jourdan and Laura Brown Munro married Nov. 28, 1882 and had 9 children, Nicholas Jourdan was born June 19, 1820 and died July 3, 1888 in Lincoln County. Seneca Monro is listed on the 1900 Rock Falls, Lincoln County census. He was born Nov. 20, 1832 and died in Irma March 9, 1919.

This information was taken from the Lincoln County 125th Anniversary Edition (1874-1999) booklet

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