Jerome County, Idaho

Jerome County is a county in the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 Census the county had a population of 24,237. The county seat and largest city is Jerome. The county was created by the Idaho Legislature on February 8, 1919, by a partition of Lincoln County. It was named after either Jerome Hill, a developer of the North Side Irrigation Project, his son-in-law Jerome Kuhn, or his grandson Jerome Kuhn, Jr. Jerome County is part of the Twin Falls, ID Micropolitan Statistical Area. The Minidoka Relocation Camp, one of ten Japanese American internment camps set up during World War II, was located in Hunt of Jerome County, north west of Eden. Jerome county's settlements are among Idaho's youngest. While Jerome County was located quite close to the Oregon Trail and subsequent stagecoach lines, it was also divided from them by the deep Snake River Canyon. The depth of the canyon also eliminated the possibility of drawing water for farming operations. Together, those factors made the area unattractive to early Idahoans looking to settle during the territorial and early statehood era. Construction of the railroad across Idaho in the 1880s also bypassed the Jerome area with the route being run north of the present center of Jerome City. A ferry commenced operation at Shoshone Falls on April 15, 1884, facilitating travel between the railroad and settlements south of the Snake River. The Schodde settlement on Jerome County's western border north of Milner was established as the Schoddie Precinct under Lincoln County with a 1900 census population of 24. Completion of the Milner Dam and associated Northside Canal in 1905 brought a water supply to the north side of the Snake River that also brought farmers to the region. Eden and Hazelton were settled starting in 1905. Settlement at Jerome commenced September 30, 1907 and the Idaho Southern Railway reached Jerome on December 28, 1908. By the 1910 Census, Jerome Village contained 970 residents having been incorporated in 1909.