Return to Tenney: A Town No More
Tenney was featured in several regional newspapers in summer of 2011, when the town’s residents voted to dissolve and shed their status as an incorporated town. Although the sign at the edge of town read “Population 6,” by the time the vote was taken, there were only three residents left, and they voted 2 to 1 to dissolve. We visited the town to take photographs shortly thereafter.
We returned to Tenney exactly 364 days later and it was immediately apparent that Tenney had not only dissolved its legal status as a town, it was quickly losing its physical status as a town.
The former school and church, which both stood onsite in 2011, were both gone, leaving only one large building onsite (above), and several vacant houses and trailer homes. There appeared to be perhaps one or two inhabited homes, and the grain business in Tenney was still quite active.
Even the sign declaring Tenney a town with a population of 6 had been removed from the roadside.
A story like Tenney’s happens on occasion. A shrinking town votes to dissolve for any number of reasons… taxes, practical matters and whatnot. Fifty years from now, who will remember the town called Tenney, Minnesota?
Photos by Troy Larson and Terry Hinnenkamp, copyright © 2012 Sonic Tremor Media
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