Editing Corn, Oklahoma (section)

===Founding and early years===
The town of Corn, or '''Korn'''—as it was spelled at that time—was originally settled by [[Germans from Russia|German-speaking Russian]] [[Mennonite]]s.<ref name="korn"/>  Around the time of the Cheyenne-Arapaho [[Land Run of 1892]], [[Mennonite]] missionary John J. Kliewer, who was stationed at nearby Shelly Indian Mission, invited fellow Mennonites from [[Kansas]] to homestead lands left unclaimed by [[Cheyenne]]s and [[Arapaho]]s. Sixteen Mennonite families staked homestead claims in 1892. By 1893, forty families had settled in the area.<ref name="ML">{{cite web|last1=Kroeker|first1=Marvin E.|title=Natives and Settlers: The Mennonite Invasion of Indian Territory|url=https://ml.bethelks.edu/issue/vol-61-no-2/article/natives-and-settlers-the-mennonite-invasion-of-ind/|website=Mennonite Life|publisher=mennonite-life@bethelks.edu|accessdate=May 17, 2016|location=Vol. 61 No. 2|date=June 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611153704/https://ml.bethelks.edu/issue/vol-61-no-2/article/natives-and-settlers-the-mennonite-invasion-of-ind/|archive-date=June 11, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="CornMarker">{{cite web|title=Korn to Corn - Corn, Oklahoma|url=http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM81AN_Korn_to_Corn_Corn_Oklahoma|website=waymarking.com| publisher=Groundspeak, Inc.|accessdate=May 10, 2016}}</ref>

These Mennonite homesteaders brought with them a particular variety of [[winter wheat]] known as "Turkey Red", which grew particularly well in the western Oklahoma soil.<ref name=GAMEO-Farming>{{cite web|last1=Fretz|first1=J Winfield|title=Farming Among Mennonites in North America|url=http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Farming_Among_Mennonites_in_North_America|website=Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online|publisher=GAMEO|accessdate=January 26, 2016|date=1956}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Turkey Hard Red Winter Wheat|url=http://heritageseeds.org/seed-profiles/turkey-hard-red-winter-wheat/|website=Heritage Seed Co.|publisher=Heritage Seed Co.|accessdate=January 26, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201231416/http://heritageseeds.org/seed-profiles/turkey-hard-red-winter-wheat/|archive-date=February 1, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1894, Peter Bergman donated part of his land to establish a place of worship. A rough Mennonite church was then built; a dugout with a low sloping roof and sides made of sod. Church benches were made from local [[Populus deltoides|Cottonwood trees]].<ref name=GAMEO-Corn>{{cite web|author1=Hege, Henry|title=Corn (Oklahoma, USA)|url=http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Corn_%28Oklahoma,_USA%29|website=Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online|publisher=GAMEO|accessdate=May 10, 2016|date=1953}}</ref>  Between 1893 and 1920, a total of eight Mennonite churches were established within an eight-mile radius of the town.<ref name="ML"/>  To mark its centennial year, Corn received a historical marker from the state honoring both its agricultural and Mennonite heritage.<ref name="CornMarker"/>

On April 27, 1896, the Korn post office was established in a rural home, two and one-fourth miles north of the present-day town. Shortly thereafter, the post office was moved three miles north of the original site to a store owned by James Kendall. When Kendall's planned townsite failed to develop at the location, the post office was once again moved in 1903 to the present day site of the town of Corn, finding its new home in the merchandise store of George B. Flaming.<ref name="korn"/>

World War I brought down harassment both from vigilantes and the Washita County [[Council of National Defense|Council of Defense]] upon many of the Germans and Mennonites that lived in and around Corn. This was due to the combination of their German heritage and their particular Mennonite/[[Anabaptists|Anabaptist]] theological convictions, which dictated their [[Conscientious objector|conscientious objection]] to participation in warfare.<ref name="wash">{{cite web|last1=O'Dell|first1=Larry|title=Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Washita County|url=http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=WA035|website=The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture|publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society|accessdate=January 23, 2016}}</ref>  Not only did the town Americanize its name from ''Korn'' to ''Corn'' during this time, but the nearby Cordell Christian College closed and a German-language newspaper, the {{Lang|de|Oklahoma Vorwärts}}, ceased operation after threats from the [[Knights of Liberty (vigilante group)|Knights of Liberty]].<ref name="wash"/><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bilger |first=Edda |date=Spring 1976 |title=The 'Oklahoma Vorwärts': The Voice of German-Americans in Oklahoma During World War I |url=https://archive.org/details/chroniclesofokla5419okla/ |journal=[[The Chronicles of Oklahoma]] |volume=LIV |issue=I |pages=258–259 |access-date=February 18, 2024 |via=[[Archive.org]]}}</ref>