Renault is a community in Renault Precinct in the southern part of Monroe County, where G Road, Kaskaskia Road, and South Fork Road meet. It was originally known as Glasgow City, named for James Glangon, who laid out the community in 1860. Its population in 1883 was 150, with 28 homes and several businesses. On February 16, 1896, Renault was incorporated as a village, and the first mayor, S. E. Douglas, took office two days later. Renault later lost its status as a village, and several attempts to reincorporate it failed, including one as late as the 1980s. The first business in Renault was a frame store built on Main Street in the north part of the community by Stamen Keagy; after a few years, John Glenn took it over, and later Frank Brickey did. Other early businessmen included John M. Burkhardt, a threshing machine operator who also operated a saloon in Renault; T.W. Iles, a farmer and threshing machine operator; George Washington Franklin, who ran the Franklin and Bostwich General Merchandise Store; and Jacob Meyer, Frank Burk and his brothers, and Andrew Sale. George W. Dashner, William Hess, and Peter Studt were blacksmiths, John Agelstein and Anton Stagel manufactured wagons, and Harmon K. Tilkemeyer was a shoemaker. At one time there were two general stores, one operated by Abraham B. Sale and the other by Dr. Jesse Chewning, whose store included a drug department. In 1868, James G. Elliff built a steam flouring mill in Renault and later sold it to Simon Sale. A school opened in Renault in 1905, and a second school opened in 1925; George Franklin and Anita Sale were the first teachers, and when Renault School District #18 closed in 1957, the teachers were Jane Bessen and Oscar Rehmer. The school and its contents were sold at auction in 1958, and a new school was built and opened in Renault that same year, with Helen Simpson and Alberta Rosenberg as additional teachers. Through its history, Renault has had three churches: Holy Cross Lutheran Church, organized about 1853; Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, organized in 1879; and Renault Assembly of God Church, organized in 1942.