Herman is an unincorporated

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 farming

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

 district in L'Anse Township

L'Anse Township, Michigan

L'Anse Township is a civil township of Baraga County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the township population was 3,926. Mount Arvon and Mount Curwood, the highest and second highest points in Michigan are located in the township....

 of Baraga County

Baraga County, Michigan

-National protected areas:* Keweenaw National Historical Park * Ottawa National Forest -Demographics:As of the 2000 census, there were 8,746 people, 3,353 households, and 2,223 families residing in the county. The population density was 10 people per square mile . There were 4,631 housing units...

 in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

. It was established in 1901 along a branch of the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway

Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway

The Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway was an American railroad serving the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and the Lake Superior shoreline of Wisconsin. It provided service from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and St. Ignace, Michigan, westward through Marquette, Michigan to Superior, Wisconsin,...

 approximately midway between Nestoria and L'Anse

L'Anse, Michigan

L'Anse is a village in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Baraga County. The population was 2,107 at the 2000 census. The village is located within L'Anse Township....

at 46°40′01"N 88°22′01"W. A post office opened January 13, 1903, and was discontinued on December 5, 1970.

The settlement was founded by Herman Keranen (born November 5, 1862 in Puolanka, Oulun Laani, Finland), who had been working in the lumber camps when he bought several 40 acres (161,874.4 m²) plots and constructed a crude log cabin. With the money he earned from lumbering, he established the largest and most productive farm in the area, which led to the community being named for him. For a number of years, the primary access to the area was via the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railroad Company. A school was built in 1903, and a post office followed in 1904. The Herman Athletic Association was organized in 1912, and a farmer's cooperative association in 1919. The area boasted at least one store and one mercantile business.

Other early residents included Matt Anderson, Gust Kontio, Erkki Kayramo, Nels Majhannu, Jacob Kuusisto, Henry Pasanen, Joseph Pekkala and Eli Korpi.