# Jordan, Minnesota *City in Scott County, Minnesota, and the place name of the 1983–84 Scott County child-abuse cases.* Jordan is a city in Scott County, [[Minnesota]]. The 2020 census counted 6,656 residents.[^1] The city grew from a sawmill settlement begun in 1853 and became an incorporated city in 1891.[^1] The place name is also attached to the Scott County child-abuse cases of 1983–84, which a Minnesota Legal History Project paper revisits.[^2] The city's Wikipedia article records that several adults in the county were accused of sexually abusing children and that one of them, James Rud, was convicted.[^1] The State's own account of the investigations is the *Report on Scott County Investigations*, issued by Attorney General [[Hubert H. Humphrey III]] on February 12, 1985.[^1] The project's at-issue record carries five entries that name Jordan. One states that on October 5, 1983, a Jordan police investigator saw roughly twelve video cassettes in a suspect's trailer and did not seize them. The entry states that they were gone the next morning.[^3] Another states that [[guardians ad litem]] in the Jordan cases were co-defendants with the prosecutor and obtained immunity.[^4] A third states that a 205-page congressional report on Minnesota fraud contains no reference to Jordan.[^5] ## What Thomas A. Holmes ordered a sawmill built at the site on November 27, 1853. The mill gave the settlement its first name, Holmes Mill.[^1] His brother William Holmes began platting a townsite the next year. By 1855 he had surveyed and recorded it as Jordan City, named for the Jordan River in Palestine. A post office and several businesses followed in 1855 and 1856.[^1] S. A. Hooper, J. H. Gardner and R. W. Thomas surveyed a rival settlement nearby, Brentwood, in 1860. An act of the legislature merged the two into the village of Jordan in 1872.[^1] The village had 915 residents by 1880 and was incorporated as a city in 1891. Its breweries operated until prohibition shut them in 1919.[^1] Before American settlement, the area was home to Inyan Ceyaka Otunwe, a Wahpeton [[Dakota]] summer agricultural village. MNopedia places it "near present-day Jordan on the [[Minnesota River]]".[^6] Burial mounds there evidence occupation as early as 100 CE.[^6] The village's leaders included Mazamani (Walking Iron), a Medicine Lodge leader who died of smallpox in 1838, and Wanaksante (Rebounding Iron) and Kinyan (Red Eagle).[^6] They also included Mazamani II, a signatory of the 1851 [[Treaty of Traverse des Sioux]].[^6] Jean Baptiste Faribault of the North West Fur Company "began trading at the village in 1802".[^6] Wikipedia dates the accusations against several Scott County adults to 1985 and records a single conviction, that of James Rud.[^1] The title of the Minnesota Legal History Project paper dates the cases to 1983–84.[^2] The at-issue record places the trailer episode on October 5, 1983.[^3] The State's account of its own handling of the cases is the Attorney General's report of February 12, 1985.[^1] The pack does not set out that report's findings. The outcome it does document is that one of the several adults accused was convicted.[^1] The at-issue record treats the description "Jordan was a witch hunt" as a contested scholarly claim rather than a consensus. It notes that one book argues moral panic, that another argues the panic account is itself a distortion, and that the leading law review article on Jordan divides the case by phase.[^7] The record treats the Attorney General's finding as uncontested on the ground that the State made that finding about itself.[^7] The cases are the subject of the song *Jordan, Minnesota* by the Chicago noise rock band Big Black, on its 1986 album *Atomizer*.[^1] The city's amateur baseball team, the Jordan Brewers, won state titles in 1986, 1994, 2004 and 2019.[^1] The Post #3 Jordan Legion team won the State Tournament each year from 2005 through 2008.[^1] The Jordan High School football team won the state championship in 1983.[^1] ## When - c. 100 CE: burial mounds at Inyan Ceyaka Otunwe evidence occupation from about this date.[^6] - 1802: Jean Baptiste Faribault begins trading at the village.[^6] - 1838: Mazamani (Walking Iron) dies of smallpox.[^6] - 1851: Mazamani II signs the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux.[^6] - November 27, 1853: Thomas A. Holmes orders the sawmill built.[^1] - 1855: William Holmes records the townsite as Jordan City.[^1] - 1860: Brentwood is surveyed.[^1] - 1872: A legislative act consolidates Jordan City and Brentwood into the village of Jordan.[^1] - 1891: Jordan is incorporated as a city.[^1] - 1919: Prohibition closes the breweries.[^1] - October 5, 1983: According to the at-issue record, the investigator sees the cassettes and does not seize them. He finds them gone the following morning.[^3] - February 12, 1985: Attorney General Hubert H. Humphrey III issues the *Report on Scott County Investigations*.[^1] - 1985: Several Scott County adults are accused, according to Wikipedia. One is convicted.[^1] ## Where Jordan lies in Scott County, Minnesota.[^1] The [[United States Census Bureau]] gives the city's area as 3.31 square miles, of which 0.02 square miles is water.[^1] U.S. Highway 169 and State Highways 21 and 282 serve the city.[^1] The people who designed its street layout also founded neighboring Belle Plaine.[^1] The Inyan Ceyaka Otunwe village site lies near the city on the Minnesota River.[^6] The at-issue record lists Jordan with the Scott County places [[Shakopee]], [[Savage]], [[Prior Lake]], Belle Plaine and New Prague among the terms it searched in a congressional fraud report.[^5] ## How many - Population: 6,656 at the 2020 census, with a median age of 34.1. The figure was 5,470 at the 2010 census.[^1] - Households and housing: 2,279 households in 2020, of which 44.6% had children under 18. There were 2,355 housing units, of which 3.2% were vacant.[^1] - Population in 1880: 915.[^1] - Accused and convicted: several adults were accused and one was convicted.[^1] - Material not seized: roughly twelve video cassettes and a large box of suspected pornographic material, according to the at-issue record.[^3] - Congressional report: 205 pages, nine search terms, zero hits, according to the at-issue record.[^5] - Continuing education for guardians ad litem: fifteen hours a year, according to the at-issue record.[^4] - Claims retired from the at-issue file: three.[^8] ## In the at-issue record The five entries are the project's own records. Each is keyed to a federal "anchor" document. The underlying sources the entries name (lrl.mn.gov, revisor.mn.gov, mn.gov, oversight.house.gov, sahanjournal.com, docs.rwu.edu, nationalchildrensalliance.org, pbs.org) are not among this article's citable URLs, so the entries are attributed rather than stated as settled. - **AI-Scott-015.** The entry states that on October 5, 1983, a Jordan police investigator saw roughly twelve video cassettes and a large box of suspected pornographic material in a suspect's trailer. It states that he was ordered out and did not seize them. When he returned the next morning, they were gone. The entry's source is a report on the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library domain.[^3] - **AI-Scott-036.** The entry states that guardians ad litem in Minnesota need not be licensed professionals. It states that the qualification permits a degree in a child-related discipline "or an equivalent combination of training, education or experience," plus background checks and fifteen hours of annual continuing education. It further states that in Jordan the guardians were co-defendants with the prosecutor and obtained immunity.[^4] - **AI-Scott-021.** The entry states that a full-text search of a 205-page congressional report on Minnesota fraud found no hits. The search used nine terms: Scott County, Shakopee, Savage, Prior Lake, Jordan, Belle Plaine, New Prague, [[Empire Cuisine]] and Shamsia Hopes. The entry also states that trial testimony put the Empire Cuisine storefront at $25 million.[^5] - **AI-Scott-070.** The entry records three claims that were retired because the sources did not support them. The first was that Jordan was the first case in the national sequence. The second was that the [[Children's Advocacy Center]] model originated in Minnesota; the entry states it originated in Alabama. The third was that the [[Minneapolis interview center]] was founded in response to the Jordan cases; the entry states that no source establishes this.[^8] - **AI-Scott-071.** The entry states that the witch-hunt characterization of Jordan is contested in the scholarship. It builds instead on the Attorney General's finding, which the State made about itself.[^7] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia, *Jordan, Minnesota* (revision 1377395854, retrieved 2026-10-27) — establishes the city's location, census figures, settlement history, geography and recreation; the accusations against several Scott County adults and the single conviction; and, in an explanatory note, the Attorney General's *Report on Scott County Investigations* (Feb. 12, 1985). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan,_Minnesota [^2]: Minnesota Legal History Project, *Sex Ring: Revisiting the Jordan, Minnesota Child Abuse Cases of 1983-84* (Olson; date not given in pack) — establishes the existence of a paper revisiting the Jordan cases, which its title dates to 1983–84. http://www.minnesotalegalhistoryproject.org/assets/Olson%20Sex%20Ring2.pdf [^3]: The White House, *Restoring Integrity to America's Financial System* (May 2026) — the federal anchor document for project at-issue entry AI-Scott-015 (Matrix 1.3). The entry's underlying source is a report on lrl.mn.gov that is not among the pack's citable URLs. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/05/restoring-integrity-to-americas-financial-system/ [^4]: The White House, *Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos* (March 2025) — the federal anchor document for at-issue entry AI-Scott-036 (Matrix 3.15). The entry's underlying sources are a statute and record on revisor.mn.gov and mn.gov that are not among the citable URLs. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/stopping-waste-fraud-and-abuse-by-eliminating-information-silos/ [^5]: The White House, *Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos* (March 2025) — the federal anchor document for at-issue entry AI-Scott-021 (Matrix 4.4). The entry's underlying sources are on oversight.house.gov and sahanjournal.com, which are not among the citable URLs. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/stopping-waste-fraud-and-abuse-by-eliminating-information-silos/ [^6]: Minnesota Historical Society, *MNopedia: Inyan Ceyaka Otunwe* (date not given in pack) — establishes the Wahpeton Dakota village near present-day Jordan, its occupation from about 100 CE, its leaders, and Faribault's trading there from 1802. https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/place/inyan-ceyaka-otunwe [^7]: The White House, *Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos* (March 2025) — the federal anchor document for at-issue entry AI-Scott-071 (dossier §XI). The entry's underlying sources are a law review article on docs.rwu.edu and a report on lrl.mn.gov, which are not among the citable URLs. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/stopping-waste-fraud-and-abuse-by-eliminating-information-silos/ [^8]: The White House, *Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos* (March 2025) — the federal anchor document for at-issue entry AI-Scott-070 (Matrix 3.1–3.3). The entry's underlying sources are on nationalchildrensalliance.org and pbs.org, which are not among the citable URLs. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/stopping-waste-fraud-and-abuse-by-eliminating-information-silos/