The Jackson Project

Homestead Projects – A Nationwide Plan

All across the United States during the Great Depression, the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt committed to building functional homes that were able to be paid for by hardworking Americans. Nearly 100 homestead communities were established around the country These types of homes were built during the Great Depression era under the administration of President Roosevelt. Nearly 100 homestead communities were established around the country with the goal of resettling people in rural or suburban locations and making an affordable alternative home that allowed residents to be successful in building lives and families.

Minnesota was assigned two of these communities, one in Austin, and ours in Hermantown. With a plan to create more than 50 homes, when it was completed, 84 homes were built over a two-year span in 1936 and 1937.

83 of these homes are still standing in Hermantown, with 81 of them inhabited by current residents – many still held in the families of the original owners.

For more in-depth information about this project, check out the link listed here: Jackson Homes Information

Recent events involving one of the Jackson Project homes

Hermantown has a deep connection to aviation both historically, through the impact of the airbase on the community’s growth, and geographically, with our nearby international airport and its associated industries and opportunities.

In late 2022, an airplane accident resulted in both the loss of life and the potential loss of one of the Jackson Project homes. The video below is the coverage of the incident by Fox 9 Minneapolis- St. Paul. 

Additional Jackson Project Stories

“These bricks did more than create a house, they built a community”

“Jackson Project residents celebrate 70 years”

”Jackson Homes featured in Hermantown’s new history center”

If you want to know more about these historical homes, residents who have lived in Jackson Homes will be part of a discussion at the Essentia Wellness Center on March 8, 2023. Follow this link to learn more about this unique event: Community Connection: Jackson Homes,

Thanks to everyone at the Hermantown Historial Society and History Center for all the information you have compiled about these homes! If you are interested in taking a look at all the information that the historical society has, call _ here to schedule a tour of the historic center!

 

 

 

 

This page will continue to be developed as more stories, artifacts, and bits of amazing history regarding Hermantown’s Jackson Project homes are compiled.

A comprehensive historical record of the homes and Hermantown’s full history can be viewed at the Hermantown Historical Center.