Renner is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in Minnehaha County in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...

. Renner has been assigned the ZIP code of 57055. The demographics of Renner are not listed separately by the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of t ...

, but are included within those of Mapleton Township. The 2000 Census reported a total population of 2,128 for all of Mapleton Township. Renner lies just north of

Sioux Falls Sioux Falls () is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the 130th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha County and also extends into Lincoln County to the south, which continues up t ...

South Dakota Highway 115 South Dakota Highway 115 (SD 115) is a state highway in Lincoln and Minnehaha countess in South Dakota, United States, that was created from the routing of US 77, "Old 77", when its alignment was moved west to become Interstate 29 around 1980 an ...

. It lies in the valley of the

Big Sioux River The Big Sioux River is a tributary of the Missouri River in eastern South Dakota and northwestern Iowa in the United States. It flows generally southwardly for ,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataTh ...

on a line of the

Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to as the "Milwaukee Road" , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until 1986. The company experience ...

, now owned by the state of South Dakota and operated by D&I Railroad. After completing the first non-stop solo flight across the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

in May 1927,

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...

made a stop in Renner on August 27, 1927. Contemporary estimates reported that between thirty and forty thousand people came to Renner to welcome him.

History

Renner was founded in 1898, and a depot along the

Milwaukee Railroad The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to as the "Milwaukee Road" , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until 1986. The company experienced ...

was built here in 1907. The town is named after Leonard Renner, a local farmer on whose land the depot was built. One of the earliest

rural electrification Rural electrification is the process of bringing electrical power to rural and remote areas. Rural communities are suffering from colossal market failures as the national grids fall short of their demand for electricity. As of 2017, over 1 billion ...

projects in the United States was undertaken here by

Northern States Power Company Northern States Power Company () was a publicly traded S&P 500 electric and natural gas utility holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that is now a subsidiary of Xcel Energy (). History The company's founder, Henry Marison Byllesby, ha ...

in 1923, three years before a better-known project near

Red Wing, Minnesota Red Wing is a city in Goodhue County, Minnesota, United States, along the upper Mississippi River. The population was 16,547 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Goodhue County. This city is named for early 19th-century Dakota Sioux c ...

. Both projects were a success from the farmers' standpoint, but the overall cost to the company for each project versus the small revenue from each generally dissuaded the company from further attempts at rural electrification.

Renner Church

Renner Lutheran Church, founded in 1868 as Nidaros Church by Norwegian immigrants, is reportedly the oldest ELCA church in South Dakota. The church is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

as Renner Lutheran Sanctuary.

References

External links

History of Renner Lutheran ChurchGallery of photos and images about Renner
{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Minnehaha County, South Dakota Sioux Falls, South Dakota metropolitan area Unincorporated communities in South Dakota