Henning, MN

Henning is an Otter Tail County city on East Battle Lake, with Minnesota Highways 108 and 210 through the community and Highway 29 nearby. It incorporated in 1887 and was named for John O. Henning, a druggist from Hudson, Wisconsin. The 2020 census counted 854 residents. The lake gives Henning a waterside setting, while the highways connect it with the surrounding farm and lake country.

Railroad history is central to the town's story. The Northern Pacific reached Henning in 1882, and the Soo Line followed in 1902, making the city a meeting point for two lines. After the 1977 merger that created Burlington Northern, only the Soo Line remained. That shift is part of Henning's character: a place shaped first by rail connections, then by the slower pattern of lake life, local roads, and county-town services. East Battle Lake and the old railroad routes still provide the clearest clues to how the city came together, even as daily life has settled into a steadier rhythm.