Ireland is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Madison Township, Dubois County, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

History

The town was founded on land purchased from the United States government by John Stewart, a native of

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, on December 23, 1816. The earliest settlers, most being Protestant, came from Virginia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. These early settlers lived in the Irish Settlement, the area that is now the northern Madison Township. The town was once intended to be called American City, but changed to Ireland when the name was not approved by the post office department. The town was laid out by John Stewart's son James, and four others. The first town map is dated May 20, 1865, but had been a small village many years before that. The Ireland post office has been in operation since 1853. Ireland's school system was absorbed by Greater Jasper Consolidated Schools in 1970, with the middle school being torn down in 1989. The current Ireland Elementary School was built in 1990 on the site of the old middle school. Ireland Church

On the night of February 28, 2017, an EF2

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...

associated with the February 28, 2017, tornado outbreak struck Ireland. Several homes were destroyed, however no injuries were reported.

Religion

Ireland is home of St. Mary's Church, a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church.

Geography

Ireland is located 4 miles west of downtown

Jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. The common red color is due to ...

on State Road 56 in the northeast portion of Madison Township. On the western edge of the town lies the Alder Creek, a tributary of the Patoka River. Besides the valley caused by the Alder Creek, the area around Ireland is a mostly flat plain that can stretch for miles at certain points.

Demographics

The

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

delineated Ireland as a

census designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

in the 2022

American Community Survey The American Community Survey (ACS) is an annual demographics survey program conducted by the United States Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the United States census, decennial census ...

Education

Madison Township is in Greater Jasper Consolidated Schools. Previously Ireland had its own high school, known as Madison Township High School. The school colors were green and white, and the mascot was the "spuds" (meaning potatoes). A new building was being built circa 1948. In 1970 the school merged into Jasper High School.

References

External links

* * {{authority control Irish-American culture in Indiana Unincorporated communities in Dubois County, Indiana Unincorporated communities in Indiana Jasper, Indiana micropolitan area 1816 establishments in Indiana Populated places established in 1816