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This historical marker has two sides, we are looking at the Renner Field side that states: In the mid-1920s a prominent Sioux Falls aviator and former U.S. Army pilot, Harold W. Tennant, began providing flight instruction and air taxi service on a 118 acre field, owned by George Renner, one-quarter mile southwest of here.
The first full-scale flight facility for Sioux Falls, Dakota Airlines, was established here on December 27, 1927. Nellie Willhite, South Dakota's first licensed aviatrix, received flight instruction and soloed at this field. While test-flying a new Kari-Keen monoplane. Tennant and a companion died in a tragic crash nearby on September 8, 1928.
Dakota Airlines was dissolved February 2, 1931, when Renner Air Service was established. By then the airport included two large hangars, which faced west parallel to the railroad tracks, a small hangar with an office at the north entrance, a Standard Oil gasoline pump with a 1,000 gallon tank, a prominent wind sock and designated landing areas maintained for year-round flying. Several open cockpit biplanes were used for flight instruction and a five-passenger Ryan monoplane provided transport service. Air shows and airplane races were staged periodically at the field. Flight operations were discontinued here in January of 1935.
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