By the Closer Look Inspectors team · Facts checked October 2026 against the sources listed below · About our inspectors
A commercial property inspection helps a Jordan buyer, owner or lender understand Water Street’s brick storefronts, mostly built between 1865 and 1880, beside a creek that floods. A preliminary FEMA flood study lists commercial buildings adjacent to Sand Creek among the areas subject to flooding in Jordan.
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Commercial buildings in and around Jordan
Water Street and Broadway, 1865 to 1880
The National Register nomination for the Jordan Historic District, prepared in 1979, says the majority of its buildings were constructed between 1865 and 1880, when railroads, including the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railroad, reached Jordan and the town gave Shakopee stiff competition for the county seat designation. Among their most distinctive features is construction of local Jordan brick, a light buff brick. The nomination says the district appears virtually as it did at the turn of the century and that only three buildings were constructed after 1900.
It adds that the town was often referred to as the Hub of Scott County, and it lists a bakery, millinery shop, book and drug store, harness shop, hardware store, post office and opera house among the businesses that occupied the district. The city’s own history says that by 1880 the village had about 915 residents and two railways, with two flouring mills, two breweries and a stone quarry. Brick buildings of that age have typically seen roughly a century and a half of repairs, storefront changes and changes of use, behind facades that can look unchanged from the street.
Sand Creek and the spring ice
The nomination says Sand Creek forms a natural southern boundary to the district. A preliminary FEMA flood insurance study for Scott County says areas adjacent to Sand Creek are subject to frequent flooding, usually in spring when snowmelt combines with spring rain, and lists residential and commercial buildings adjacent to the creek among the areas subject to flooding in Jordan.
News reports show the pattern. MPR News reported in March 2011, after the National Weather Service issued a flood warning for Jordan, that the mayor said ice jams in Sand Creek, which runs through town, present the biggest threat. In June 2014, CBS Minnesota reported that a few more inches of water would mean sandbagging to protect homes and businesses in downtown Jordan. In March 2019, CBS Minnesota reported that city crews were working to remove ice jams up to 3 feet thick in some spots at Sand Creek. Spring ice and snowmelt put the focus on the base of the walls and on the grading that sends water toward or away from a building.
Bluffs, brewery caves and the industrial park
The 1979 National Register nomination for the Jordan Brewery Ruins places the complex at the foot of the bluffs overlooking the town and the Minnesota River Valley, and says caves were built into the hillside where the beer could be kept cool while it aged. The historic-district nomination also notes the large hill which rises above the town. Hill and bluff settings bring slopes, retaining walls and runoff toward the buildings below.
The City of Jordan’s website names Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative, Minger Construction and S.M. Hentges & Sons, Inc. among its largest employers and says approximately 30 acres of industrial park space are available. It adds that, in recent years, Jordan’s Historic Downtown has seen a surge in interest and investment. Industrial-park sites and 1870s brick storefronts raise very different questions.
Commercial buildings we inspect
Quick answers
Is downtown Jordan in a flood area?
FEMA’s preliminary study of Scott County names residential and commercial buildings adjacent to Sand Creek among the areas subject to flooding in Jordan, and news reports describe ice jams along Sand Creek in 2011 and 2019. Whether a specific building is affected depends on its position relative to the creek, so water history is worth asking about.
What is Jordan brick?
The Jordan Historic District nomination describes local Jordan brick as a light buff brick and names it among the most distinctive features of the district’s buildings. Brick that old can have soft mortar joints and worn faces, so the condition of masonry and mortar is a common subject.
Is there investment in downtown Jordan?
The City of Jordan’s website says that, in recent years, Jordan’s Historic Downtown has seen a surge in interest and investment. Buildings changing hands or being renovated are the ones where a clear picture of condition is most useful.
Sources
- National Park Service: National Register Nomination Form, Jordan Historic District
- City of Jordan: History
- FEMA: Flood Insurance Study, Scott County, Minnesota and Incorporated Areas (revised preliminary, July 13, 2018)
- MPR News: Residents keeping close watch for possible weekend floods in Jordan, Minn. (March 18, 2011)
- CBS Minnesota: Water Surrounds Mobile Homes In Scott County (June 19, 2014)
- CBS Minnesota: “Never Seen This Before”: Hastings, Jordan Among Minnesota Cities Battling Floods (March 18, 2019)
- National Park Service: National Register Nomination Form, Jordan Brewery Ruins
- City of Jordan: Economic Development
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Commercial property inspection in Minnesota and Iowa · Home inspection in Jordan
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