The community was
homesteaded beginning in 1854 by
German- and
Luxembourgish-speaking Catholic settlers; including
Bavarians,
Eifelers, and
Luxembourgers. The settlers were invited to the area by
Slovenian Roman Catholic priest, missionary, and
poet Fr.
Francis Xavier Pierz, who had submitted letters and advertisements to the major German-language newspapers across the United States, like
Der Wahrheitsfreund (
The Friend of Truth), and in Europe, urging "good, pious" German Catholics to venture to the Sauk River Valley of central Minnesota. The community's name derives from two of its earliest settlers, brothers Nicholas and Theodore Jacobs. The church, known as St. James Parish, served as a focal point for the settlers of Jacobs Prairie as well as settlers in neighboring areas, including St. Nicholas, Cold Spring, and Rockville. ==References==