The Ojibwe and the French fur traders were the principal inhabitants of the region in the early 1800s.

The first post office was built in 1895 about a mile west of its present location.

Segerstrom applied with the postal department for a name for the place, choosing "Syren", Swedish for "lilac."

Presumably the postal department thought this was a misspelling, for on the granted application they put down the spelling as "Siren."

In 1912, the town center was moved nearer to the Soo Line Railroad tracks, which had been extended north through the area to Superior, Wisconsin and Duluth, Minnesota.

It is now known as the Gandy Dancer State Trail and is a popular route for hikers, bicyclists, and snowmobilers.

[11] On June 18, 2001, an F3 tornado passed through Siren, inflicting severe damage.

[12] Since then much of the town has been rebuilt with its architecture reflecting Siren's history.

The racial makeup of Siren was 725 (90.0%) white, 2 (0.2%) African-American, 33 (4.1%) American Indian or Alaska native, 3 (0.4%) Asian, 0 (0.0%) native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and 4 (0.5%) from another race; 39 (4.8%) of the residents were from two or more races.

39.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.