Editing Hesston, Kansas (section)

===20th century===
In 1909, the [[Mennonite Church USA|Mennonite Church]] founded the [[Hesston College]], because many of the early settlers were [[Mennonite]] farmers.

In 1947, [[Lyle Yost]] and Adin Holdemann founded the farm equipment company '''Hesston Manufacturing Company'''.<ref name="Eagle20120406"/> In 1991, [[AGCO Corporation]] purchased the company. In 1960, John Regier founded the lawn mower company '''Excel Industries'''.<ref name="ExcelHistory"/>

In 1981, the [[Dyck Arboretum of the Plains]] was founded at the [[Hesston College]].

On March 13, 1990, a large portion of Hesston was damaged by an [[F5 tornado]] during a [[March 1990 Central US tornado outbreak#The Hesston and Goessel Tornado Family|tornado outbreak]]. A total of 226 homes and 21 businesses were destroyed, and several were swept completely from their foundations. 20 farms were torn apart in rural areas outside of Hesston. Light debris from Hesston was found {{convert|115|mi|km|}} away in [[Nebraska]]. One person died and 59 people were injured. After passing through Hesston, the tornado increased to an "extreme F5" near the city of [[Goessel, Kansas|Goessel]]. The severity of the damage left behind by this tornado led some meteorologists to believe that the Goessel tornado was among the strongest ever documented at that time.<ref>{{cite book|author=Thomas P. Grazulis|title=Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991|date=July 1993|publisher=The Tornado Project of Environmental Films|location=St. Johnsbury, Vermont|isbn=1-879362-03-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Michael Smith|date=April 20, 1990|title=Kansas twister might be the strongest ever recorded|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1906&dat=19900410&id=b_4fAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Bv8EAAAAIBAJ&pg=5148,4487056|newspaper=Fort Scott Tribune|location=unknown|publisher=Fort Scott Tribune|access-date=November 6, 2013}}</ref>