The water supply was a pump in the hotel square. In 1884 bonds were issued to construct a city waterworks, thought to be one of the earlier system in the state. The first schoolhouse was built in 1872. The following year a larger school was needed, and there were two additions made prior to the construction of a brick building in 1888. The Scandinavian Lutheran Church was organized in 1872, the Methodist in 1874, the Catholic Church in 1879, and the Congregational Church in 1880.
Today there are four local and two rural congregations.
In 1909 the village had become a Second Class City. While Wisner never had an overnight boom in population, it has enjoyed a near-constant level of about 1,350 since 1930. The Wisner school system completed a new junior-senior high school in 1969, and a fine arts theater in 1982. The athletic complex includes a lighted football field and an asphalt track. Wisner has an active downtown business center.