Jenner, also known as Jenner-by-the-Sea, is a small coastal town and
census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
(CDP) in
Sonoma County
Sonoma County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 488,863. Its seat of government and largest city is Santa Rosa.
Sonoma County comprises the Santa Rosa-Petaluma ...
,
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, United States, with a population of 122 per the
2020 Census.
It is located on the
Pacific coast
Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean.
Geography Americas North America
Countries on the western side of North America have a Pacific coast as their western or south-western border. One of th ...
near the mouth of the
Russian River.
State Route 1 runs through the town and
State Route 116 runs nearby, along the Russian River. Immediately south of Jenner is
Goat Rock Beach, a unit within the
Sonoma Coast State Beach. Directly north, the
Jenner Headlands Preserve offers scenic overlooks of the Jenner Estuary and surrounding areas.
History
Historically, Jenner was part of the
Rancho Muniz. The town’s namesake, Dr. Elijah K. Jenner, was a dentist and inventor from Vermont. When his son Charles K. was born in 1846, the family was living in Wisconsin. Elijah came west in 1850 and sought his fortune in the California goldfields. Working as a miner, he designed a pump that could raise water high. His patent application included a model pump made of pure gold, which is the only golden model that the Patent Office has ever received.
Jenner’s family joined him in 1852. Traveling by ship from the Great Lakes to Panama, it crossed the Isthmus and sailed up the Pacific Coast. By 1854, the Jenners had settled near the mouth of the Russian River and built a house in what became known as Jenner Gulch, the site of the town. Charles K. Jenner would go on to be a prominent attorney in early Seattle, arguing several cases in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Stillwater Cove Regional Park, located north of Jenner, features picnic facilities, beach access, and a historic
one-room school
One-room schoolhouses, or One-room schools, have been commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, and Spa ...
house.
Jenner received media attention in 2004 after the bodies of Lindsay Cutshall and Jason S. Allen were discovered on Fish Head Beach just north of town. The incident became known as the
Jenner, California double-murder of 2004.
Geography
According to the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the CDP covers an area of 2.4 square miles (6.2 km
2), 2.1 square miles (5.5 km
2) of it land, and 0.3 square miles (0.7 km
2) of it (12.00%) water.
Demographics
2020
The
2020 United States census reported that Jenner had a population of 122. The population density was . The racial makeup of Jenner was 94 (77.0%)
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 1 (0.8%)
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0 (0.0%)
Native American, 7 (5.7%)
Asian, 0 (0.0%)
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 2 (1.6%) from
other races, and 18 (14.8%) from two or more races.
Hispanic or Latino of any race were 14 persons (11.5%).
The whole population lived in households. There were 80 households, out of which 6 (7.5%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 27 (33.8%) were married-couple households, 6 (7.5%) were
cohabiting
Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not legally married live together as a couple. They are often involved in a romantic or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. Such arrangements have become incr ...
couple households, 25 (31.3%) had a female householder with no partner present, and 22 (27.5%) had a male householder with no partner present. 29 households (36.2%) were one person, and 18 (22.5%) were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 1.52.
[ There were 42 ]families
Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...
(52.5% of all households).
The age distribution was 5 people (4.1%) under the age of 18, 1 person (0.8%) aged 18 to 24, 19 people (15.6%) aged 25 to 44, 42 people (34.4%) aged 45 to 64, and 55 people (45.1%) who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 63.8years. There were 58 males and 64 females.[
There were 161 housing units at an average density of , of which 80 (49.7%) were occupied. Of these, 63 (78.8%) were owner-occupied, and 17 (21.3%) were occupied by renters.][
]
Languages
As of Census 2000, figures for Jenner's zip code showed that of the primary languages spoken in Jenner 94% spoke English while 6% did not; of those, 2% spoke French, 2% spoke Spanish, 1% spoke German, 1% spoke Urdu
Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...
, and less than 1% spoke a Native American language.[MLA Date Center]
, access date July 31, 2008
Climate
Jenner experiences a cool summer Mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...
(Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
''Csb'') typical of coastal areas of California. The wet season, typified by heavy rainfall, is from October to May. Summers are often overcast, the sun blocked by marine layer
A marine layer is an air mass that develops over the surface of a large body of water, such as an ocean or large lake, in the presence of a Inversion (meteorology), temperature inversion. The inversion itself is usually initiated by the cooling ...
clouds that keep it cool, humid, and often drizzly in the night and morning hours.
Education
The school districts are Monte Rio Union Elementary School District and West Sonoma County Union High School District.[ ]
Text list
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References
External links
Jenner, California
{{Authority control
Populated coastal places in California
Census-designated places in Sonoma County, California
Census-designated places in California