Jenner, California
Jenner, also known as Jenner-by-the-Sea, is a small coastal town and census-designated place in Sonoma County, California, United States, with a population of 122 per the 2020 Census. It is located on the Pacific coast 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 schoolhouse.
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 CDP covers an area of 2.4 square miles, 2.1 square miles of it land, and 0.3 square miles of it water.Demographics
Jenner first appeared as a census designated place in the 2010 U.S. census.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 White, 1 African American, 0 Native American, 7 Asian, 0 Pacific Islander, 2 from other races, and 18 from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 14 persons.The whole population lived in households. There were 80 households, out of which 6 had children under the age of 18 living in them, 27 were married-couple households, 6 were cohabiting couple households, 25 had a female householder with no partner present, and 22 had a male householder with no partner present. 29 households were one person, and 18 were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 1.52. There were 42 families.
The age distribution was 5 people under the age of 18, 1 person aged 18 to 24, 19 people aged 25 to 44, 42 people aged 45 to 64, and 55 people 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 were occupied. Of these, 63 were owner-occupied, and 17 were occupied by renters.