Welcome to Menno, South Dakota

Menno is a community-oriented town with a wide range of businesses to suit your needs.  Menno has the environment to enhance quality living:  good education facilities, several churches, many social organizations and activities, and a general atmosphere that makes Menno "The Place To Be."

Menno owes its beginnings to the railroad industry.  A railroad line was necessary to transport livestock and grain to market.  In 1879, the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad began laying tracks through the area.  The commerce the railroad brought to the area resulted in the towns of Menno and Freeman being laid out.  Its first local census showed 22 people living in Menno, mostly because of the rail line.

Most of the early settlers in the Menno area were Germans from Russia.  Immigrants from the Kassel and Crimea area of the Black Sea made the Menno area their home.  They scratched out a living from the land and lived in sod houses.  They went through the emigration process to escape oppression and having their young men forced to serve in the Russian armed forces.  When you visit Menno today, you will find that a majority of its citizens are descendants of these early Germans from Russia who are proud of their heritage and continue to celebrate it.