Renli looks to preserve Lincoln County history through new organization

History enthusiast and 30 year civil war reenactor, Dave Renli is looking for community support for a Lincoln County Historical Society.

Dave Renli first began learning of the history of Lincoln County while listening to stories from loved ones. 

“My family is from Lincoln County, and I always heard stories of the olden days that fascinated me and have always stuck with me through my life,” Renli said.

Renli’s passion for history grew as he began his professional career as a fire inspector when his career brought him to FEMA’s National Emergency Training Center in Emmetsburg, Maryland. 

“I worked as a fire inspector, which led me to Maryland for courses at a National Fire Academy. The next thing I knew, they were contacting me to teach for them, an opportunity I knew I couldn’t turn down, so for a few weeks at a time, I would fly to Maryland to teach, fly back home to work, and then be gone again to teach new recruits. It was pretty easy to fall in love with history when you are in Maryland and can stand on actual battlefields where history was made,” he recalled.

Standing on the battlefields brought Renli in touch with a group of local reenactors who gathered to recreate the battles that were fought there. 

“I met so many great people who have gotten me interested in reenactments. A group of us can even be seen in the movie “Gettysburg” where we had roles as Civil War characters,” Renli said.

Taking what he learned in Maryland, Renli has been hosting Civil War reenactments in Canton since 2022. 

“We started the Civil War reenactment in Canton because of all the Civil War veterans who were homesteaders in Lincoln County. In the beginning, I don’t think people realized just how many Civil War homesteaders we have here in Lincoln County, but the 90 buried just in Canton’s Forrest Hill, shows that there were many,” he said.

Finding partners to support the reenactment was the first task Renli needed to complete. 

“I made contacts at the Canton Chamber who were more than enthusiastic about the idea of a Civil War reenactment. I was put in contact with John and Lori Lems who had property on the edge of town and were more than gracious in letting us use the land. It goes to show that if you are doing something that is worthwhile, you can fund the interest of good people to support you,” Renli said.

Since 2022 the Civil War reenactment has grown, bringing groups of people from across the country. 

“The first year we started in Canton, we had 90 reenactors, this year, we are projecting around 200 from Missouri, Arkansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Colorado, and Wyoming,” he said.

With the addition of the reenactors from across the country, Renli believes that the local economy will see a boost of revenue from the tourists. 

“There are so many places that tourists are able to visit in each community. All the great bars, restaurants, parks, and hotels will be getting use, and I would expect that people who drive from two hours away may consider staying the night because of the fun events,” he said. 

The gathering draws crowds eager to learn and witness history. 

“The Civil War reenactment is about teaching our history to the community, not through a book, but by letting them see the sights, sounds, and smells of what it might have really been like to live through that time period,” Renli said.

Through his research into the Civil War, Renli has learned the history of the area and those who helped incorporate it.                

“The Homestead Act of 1862 gave soldiers 80 acres of land, which they had to improve upon by clearing timber, planting acres of crops, or taking care of farm animals, and after five years, the land was deeded to the soldiers. Tea, Lennox, Harrisburg, Beresford, Canton, and Hudson were at least in part homesteaded by civil war soldiers who became the fabric of a lot of governance in the area,” he said.

As Renli began to prepare for the 2026 Civil War Reenactment, he noticed many of the homesteaders were part of Lincoln County’s history.

 “There was a civil war vet in Lennox that was part of the territorial congress that went for statehood. When you look back, you realize this area didn’t start to develop until the civil war. German immigrants came to Lennox and Norwegians to Canton, a lot of them because of homesteading,” he said.

With untold stories in every town, Renli is proposing a Lincoln County Historical Society, a place to share the stories of those that came before us. 

“I know each town has a historical society individually, but I want to look into broadening our vision. What I have found traveling around the country is there are a lot more stories to tell than the public recognizes, and if we don’t tell these stories and document them, we lose them for the next generation,” Renli said.

The Lincoln County Historical Society has been registered by the state as a non-profit, but in order to make the next steps of becoming a 501(c)3, bylaws and a constitution need to be written, so Renli is looking for a team to help. 

“Right now, we are looking for a person from Lennox, Harrisburg, and all the surrounding communities to serve on a board to talk about moving forward to being this history of the county to the public,” he said.

Reaching out to the public for their support, Renli is hoping to find the right team. 

“I hope we can find members of the community who want to be apart of this, so I have reached out to city hall’s and asked them to reach out to those who may be interested as my goal is to meet in March to have a formative meeting and start looking at bylaws and start the process to become a non-profit organization,” Renli said.

A unified historical society would help bring awareness of events to more communities. 

“We want to make sure each town knows when there is an event going on, and if there is a representative from each town, we can all collaborate to let everyone know and get attendance up at every event,” he said.

Hoping to share the stories of buildings and community members, Renli hopes to learn more about the history of each community. 

“The current way we get our information about the history of our county is by reading articles in our local newspapers, and while that’s great, a visual representation teaches you so much more and sometimes can have a longer lasting impact than what you read,” he said.

Renli plans to have quarterly informational meetings. 

“Preserving artifacts is done so well in each of the local towns, I don’t want to take away from what they are doing. I’d like to have presentations and travel from town to town and having a series people can follow along with, and entice them to follow from location to location to learn more than they knew possible,” Renli said.