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History · Corning

Corning’s post office opened in 1868, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Its Register listing is the St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church and Parochial School. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1916 on, and the census since 1880.

1868first post office

1on the National Register

0.0%homes built before 1940

1old photo or paper

1famous people

Add an old photo Share a memory

From Corning’s archive · credits on each photo

Quick answers

How Corning began

When was Corning founded?

1868

The Corning post office opened in 1868, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 221 in 18802020 census: 3158 years

Founding year: the first Corning post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Corning’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 269 in 1940; 3 people lived here in 2020.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Corning’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Corning’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2 Retake an old viewSt. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

People over time

Corning, census by census

Peaked at 269 in 1940; 3 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Corning’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Corning came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Corning.

Read it all →

Corning was laid out in the fall of 1868 on main line of the railroad between Kansas City, Missouri and Council Bluffs, Iowa (the line remains active). A post office called Corning was in operation from 1868 to 1964, but changed its name to Corning Rural Station and continued until 1995. The plat for the town was filed on May 24, 1879.

From 1882 to 1980, a spur located southeast of town owned by the Burlington operated between Corning and Clarinda, Iowa initially under the name of the Tarkio Valley Railroad.

The village's St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Corning in 1917

Passages that mention Corning, cut from the printed page as they were published.

became by purchase the owner of the store. By this time the encroachments of the river threatening the entire destruction of the place, most of the inhabitants left, taking with them their buildings, some of which now stand in the town of Corning. Grab, however, strong in the faith, hung on till al… — **History of Holt County, Missouri**1917 · page 289Read the page →
Read the text
became by purchase the owner of the store. By this time the encroachments of the river threatening the entire destruction of the place, most of the inhabitants left, taking with them their buildings, some of which now stand in the town of Corning. Grab, however, strong in the faith, hung on till almost the last moment, and finally, in the fall of 1868, moved eastward to a more enduring location.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

and honored member and colaborator of the Smithsonian Institute of Washington, D. C., and observer in the employ of the United States Signal Service. Mr. Martin was one of the earliest settlers of the town of Corning, having settled there in the month of October, 1868. The site of the town, which i… — **History of Holt County, Missouri**1917 · page 290Read the page →
Read the text
and honored member and colaborator of the Smithsonian Institute of Washington, D. C., and observer in the employ of the United States Signal Service. Mr. Martin was one of the earliest settlers of the town of Corning, having settled there in the month of October, 1868. The site of the town, which is in the bottom, about two miles westward of the bluff, is 893 feet above the level of the sea. It is 51 miles from St. Joseph, and 77 miles from Council Bluffs. During the period of the flood of 1881, Corning
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Corning, 1868 to 1984

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

19th century
1868Post officeThe Corning post office opens
1886Born hereKid Speer is born here
20th century
1940CensusPopulation peaks at 269
1964Post officeThe Corning post office closes
1984On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey

By decade

Corning, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date

Date?St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church

Today3 recent

2026BNSFrailwayAtCorningMO

2020Corning, MO

2004MOMap-doton-Corning

On the map

Corning on the map in 1984

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Corning.

1984Corning sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Corning.

Every building

Corning, building by building, 1916

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.

Corning fire insurance map, 1916, sheet 1

1916Sheet 1 of 1

Sheets

BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Retake this viewSt. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Corning’s page.

Retake this view · +15

On the National Register

1 historic place in Corning

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

2008

St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church and Paro…

Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Gothic Revival1

One-Room Schoolhouse1

St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church and Parochial SchoolGothic Revival

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Corning had its own post office from 1868 to 1964.

Corning

1868–1964

18601940today

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Corning’s history

What year was Corning founded?

The Corning post office opened in 1868, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Corning?

One place: the St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church and Parochial School (listed 2008).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

Start a conversation

Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (4), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

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