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Renville, Minnesota

9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Emmet Township. It lies in ZIP code area 56284. The Survey maps it on the Renville quadrangle. 1,301 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,073 feet above sea level.

Renville within Renville County

Population over time

2 figures

Renville grew from 1,287 to 1,301 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
20101,287
20201,301+14 (+1%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 9 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

In the county-history sources

7,514 words on this township

The History of Renville County, Minnesota, published 1916 names this settlement in its chapter on Emmet Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Emmet township embraces township 115, range 36. It is bounded on the north by Crooks, en the east by Troy, on the south by 'Mora and on the west by Sacred Heart. It is crossed by the C. M. & St. Paul Ry. It lias one city, Renville, located in the north western part.

Passage source: The History of Renville County, Minnesota, published 1916.

In June. 1S69, William Powers and his family, and James Daly, started overland for Renville county. With their wagon as their headquarters they camped on the northeast Quarter of section 32, in Emmet township. . while Powers and Daly drew

Passage source: The History of Renville County, Minnesota, published 1916.

The next group of settlers to arrive were the members of the David Benson party. David Benson and James Jacobson were college mates in Norway. Among their friends were Espen Hanson and Ole Quanisoe. In the spring of 1870 they set out from Dodge county, Minnesota, for Renville county. Benson and Hanson brought their families, the other two were single men. All took land in section 6 and moved into a cabin which had been erected for the Hanson family.

Passage source: The History of Renville County, Minnesota, published 1916.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Emmet Township - it names this place 6 more 6 times.

Fires near this place

1 since 2006

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Renville in 2006, burning about 17 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Equipment and vehicle use1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
30 October 2006Equipment and vehicle use17 acresLitchfield Wetland Management DistrictSACRED HEART FIRE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Renville County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Renville: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Hagen PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Renville County

Storms near this place

32 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Renville in 32 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 15 hail, 12 thunderstorm wind, 2 funnel cloud, 2 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2022Thunderstorm WindRenville$75,000Numerous trees and power lines were blown down between Renville and Olivia. Some trees fell on cars, houses, and sheds.
May 2022Thunderstorm WindRenville$25,000Several homes had roof damage and a few large trees were uprooted north of Renville.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindRenville-Storm chaser reported numerous trees down in Renville.
September 2024HailRenville-Report from Mping.
May 2023Tornado (EFU)Renville-At 1831 CST storm chaser video confirmed a weak tornado developed near 260th St in Renville County. This storm continued into Kandiyohi county towards the city of Prinsburg, MN. No injuries or damages were reported.
May 2023Tornado (EFU)Renville-At 1818 CST storm chaser video confirmed a weak tornado developed southeast of 20699 860th Street. No injuries or damages were reported.
May 2018Thunderstorm WindRenville-A large tree was blown down near Renville, Minnesota.
September 2013Thunderstorm WindRenville-Several large tree limbs were blown down in Renville. In addition, there was a measured wind gust of 48 mph at the Olivia Airport approximately 10 miles east of Renville at 753 LST.
April 2012Funnel CloudRenville-A funnel cloud was reported north of Renville.
August 2010Flash FloodRenville-Several inches of rainfall occurred between 10 PM CST to 12 Midnight CST across a large area of Renville County. A section of Highway 212 near Renville, Minnesota, was closed due to the flood waters. Some areas along Highway 212 had 10 inches of flowing water over it during the height of the storm.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindRenville-Large branches were downed.
July 2003Thunderstorm WindRenville-Several trees down in the south side of town.
May 2000Thunderstorm WindRenville-Estimated winds. Numerous power lines down.
May 2000Thunderstorm WindRenville-Estimated winds. Barn toppled.
May 2000Thunderstorm WindRenville-Estimated winds. Two barns down. Numerous trees toppled. Damage survey indicated a thunderstorm downburst occurred. The downburst swath was about 3 miles wide and 3 miles long. The downburst extended into Kandiyohi county.
October 1997Thunderstorm WindRenville-Barn blown down. Estimated windspeed.
May 2022HailRenville-no account filed
July 2022HailRenville-no account filed
September 2020HailRenville-no account filed
April 2019HailRenville-no account filed
July 2017HailRenville-no account filed
May 2014HailRenville-no account filed
April 2012Funnel CloudRenville-no account filed
June 2012Thunderstorm WindRenville-no account filed
November 2008HailRenville-no account filed
April 2006HailRenville-no account filed
July 2003HailRenville-no account filed
May 2000HailRenville-no account filed
July 2000HailRenville-no account filed
June 1999HailRenville-no account filed
June 1998HailRenville-no account filed
June 1996HailRenville-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Renville County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Danube6.1 miles9
Sacred Heart7.4 miles9
Olivia11.8 miles10
Bechyn12.0 miles11
Beaver Falls16.7 miles13
Bird Island16.8 miles10
Morton20.4 miles12
Franklin25.1 miles12

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on RenvilleAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2229289The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 649934. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.