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Jerome 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
Hillsdale County Hillsdale County is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 45,746. The county seat is Hillsdale. Hillsdale County is the only county in Michigan to border both Indiana and Ohio. Due to an a ...
in the U.S. state of
Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
. The community is located within Somerset Township. As an unincorporated community, Jerome has no legal autonomy of its own but does have its own post office with the 49249 ZIP Code.


Geography

Jerome is a small community located in northeastern
Hillsdale County Hillsdale County is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 45,746. The county seat is Hillsdale. Hillsdale County is the only county in Michigan to border both Indiana and Ohio. Due to an a ...
in southeast Michigan. Located within Somerset Township, the community sits at an elevation of . The community is located about south of the county line with Jackson County. Jerome is not served by any major highways, although U.S. Route 12 (East Chicago Road) is about to the north. The nearest airport is the privately-owned
general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...
Davis Field to the south. Other nearby unincorporated communities include
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
to the northwest, Somerset Center and the census-designated place of Lake LeAnn to the northeast, and Wheatland to the southeast. The village of North Adams is to the southwest. Goose Lake is a lake located just north of the center of the community. The lake is connected to numerous other lakes in the area by Goose Creek, which is part of the
River Raisin The River Raisin (, 'River of Sturgeon') is a river in southeast Michigan, United States, that flows in a generally easterly direction through Ice age, glacial sediments before emptying into Lake Erie. The River Raisin drainage basin covers app ...
watershed. The Kathe & Cali Memorial County Park is located along the lake. The Bundy Hill Offroad Park is located just north of Jerome and is promoted as the largest privately owned
off-road vehicle An off-road vehicle (ORV), also known as an off-highway vehicle (OHV), overland vehicle or adventure vehicle, is a type of transportation specifically engineered to navigate unpaved roads and surfaces. These include trails, forest roads, and ...
park in southeast Michigan. Jerome has its own post office located in the center of the community at 8650 North Jerome Road. The post office uses the 49249 ZIP Code, which serves a much larger area. The ZIP Code serves the western portion of Somerset Township, as well as smaller portions of Adams Township, Moscow Township, and Wheatland Township. A small portion of Liberty Township in Jackson County to the north also uses the Jerome 49249 ZIP Code. The community is served by North Adams-Jerome Schools to the southwest in Adams Township.


History

The Detroit, Hillsdale and Indiana Railroad branch of the Fort Wayne, Jackson and Saginaw Railroad began building rail lines through the forested area in western Somerset Township in 1869. The area was sparsely developed but was quickly settled in anticipation of the newfound railway. A train depot was built, and this allowed for the selling of land for a potential new community. A new community was officially
plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Survey System, Public Lands Surveys to ...
ted by landowner Jerome Smith on April 18, 1871, who named the community after himself. On the same date, the community also received a post office named Jerome, and Smith himself served as the first postmaster while also working as an agent for the railroad. The post office has remained in continuous operation. The train depot was also named Jerome and soon became part of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway. Jerome developed rapidly and appeared along the railway on an 1872 map of Somerset Township. Jerome developed as a farming and mercantile community, using the new railway to ship its grain and other products. Along with the train depot and post office, numerous businesses began operating in Jerome. By 1879, the community grew to include a boarding house, four general stores, meat market, two millineries, shoeshop, blacksmith, copper manufacturer, physician, schoolhouse, hotel,
Independent Order of Odd Fellows The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) is a non-political, non-sectarian international fraternal order of Odd Fellowship. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Wildey in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Evolving from the Odd Fellows, Order ...
hall, and a
congregational church Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice congregational government. Each congregation independently a ...
. In the early 1890s, the Detroit, Toledo & Milwaukee Railroad also built a line through the area but did not build a train depot in Jerome. The two rail lines crossed each other here but did not have an interchange at this point, although access and services to the Detroit, Toledo & Milwaukee Railroad may have been available in Jerome. The two rail lines appear running through Jerome on an 1894 map of Somerset Township. The Jerome Creamery Company was established in 1899 and used the railways to transport its products as far north as Pontiac. In 1906, a large brick schoolhouse was built along Harrison Street, and it served as the sole building for Jerome Public Schools. The school originally served all grades as an independent school district until it consolidated with the school district in North Adams to form North Adams-Jerome Schools in the early 1950s. When the districts merged, the schoolhouse in Jerome was converted into an elementary school, and students went to North Adams to continue their education after fifth grade. The Jerome Public Schools building closed by the end of the 1960s, and the building now serves as a community center and public park. Both railway lines running through the community were also disestablished and eventually removed entirely, and Jerome is no longer served by any railroads.


References

{{Hillsdale County, Michigan Unincorporated communities in Hillsdale County, Michigan Unincorporated communities in Michigan Populated places established in 1871 1871 establishments in Michigan