Rensselaer is a city located along the Iroquois River in Marion Township, Jasper County, Indiana, United States. The population was 5,885 at the 2013 census. The city is the county seat of Jasper County. Rensselaer is home to Saint Joseph's College.GeographyRensselaer is located at . U.S. Route 231 and Indiana State Road 114 intersect in the downtown area. The Iroquois River flows through the south part of the city.According to the 2010 census, Rensselaer has a total area of 3.86sqmi, of which 3.8sqmi is land and 0.06sqmi is water.HistoryThis settlement, first platted on June 12, 1839, was originally named Newton and was established at the rapids of the Iroquois River. By 1844, it had been renamed to Rensselaer after James Van Rensselaer, a merchant from Utica, New York, who came to the area after his business failed in the Panic of 1837. He took over the land from Joseph D. Yeoman, who had established a farm some years earlier and had begun to plan the village.St. Joseph Indian Normal School was established in 1888 by St. Katherine Drexel, an heiress from Philadelphia, who donated $50,000 for the education of Catholic American Indian boys. The school trained 60 Indian Boys annually until 1896. The school was operated by the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions.
