On The Centennial Trail…

Although the Centennial of Corning and Clay County (nee Clayton) was still 18 years away, the celebration of 20 years of library service in Corning, in 1955, prompted J. M. Oliver, Jr. to contact the Missouri-Pacific Railway for information on the founding of our town, The two letters of April 6 and May 2,1955, give the barest facts on the beginning of Corning history.
Efforts to find any trace of H. D. Corning had hit only cold trails. A legend that he returned to Corning in 1883 when Jay Gould came through Corning enroute to meet paramour at the Iron Mountain and Cotton Belt crossing to found the new county seat of Greene County, Paragould, cannot be verified. City Directories of the 70s, in St. Louis, Little Rock and Memphis failed to turn up H. D. Corning or any citizen bearing that name. How unfortunate for us that he failed to heed Longfellow's admonition to leave footprints on the sands of time!
Research in the 60s located Erastus Corning II, grandson of Erastus I, a railroad tycoon who helped build railroads West of the Mississippi. Although the degree of kinship is not clear, H. D. was a member of that clan. Erastus II, Lord Mayor of Albany, N. Y., has been invited to visit Corning and be speaker at the Centennial 4th of July Picnic and Homecoming. He has accepted the honor and will be here on that date. The Chamber of Commerce is now finalizing with him plans for the visit.

St. Louis 3, Mo.
6 April 1955

Mr. J. M. Oliver, Jr.
Oliver and Company
Corning, Arkansas

Your letter of recent date addressed to Mr. Guy A. Thompson has been referred to this department.
We have very little information available regarding the founding of Corning; however, we do know that the city was named for H. D. Corning, an engineer employed by the construction firm of Mandeville and Allen - which built the railroad through that section of Arkansas.
The right of way through the site of Corning (it did not become a town until 1877) was built in late 1872 as part of the main line of the Cairo and Fulton Railroad, which had been incorporated under an act of the legislature of Arkansas on January 12, 1853, to construct a railroad from a point opposite the mouth of the Ohio River to the Texas boundary line near Fulton. Due to lack of funds the railroad never advanced beyond the planning stage until 1871, when Thomas Allen of St. Louis, who was president of the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad, obtained control of the Cairo and Fulton and commenced building the right of way from Little Rock north to connect with the St. Louis and Iron Mountain at the Missouri -Arkansas state line. The track was of five-foot gauge (later changed to 4'8 ½") and laid with 56-pound rail which had been manufactured in England and Belgium.
The first passenger train service was inaugurated between St. Louis and Little Rock on February 5,1873. A change of trains had to be made at the White River crossing and the actual terminus at Little Rock was on the north bank of the Arkansas River, as neither stream had yet been spanned by railroad bridges. The bridge across the White River was completed on February 10, 1873, and the Baring Cross Bridge at Little Rock was completed on December 22nd of that same year. Both were placed in service immediately upon completion.
On May 4, 1874, the Cairo and Fulton Railroad and the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad were merged into one corporation under the name of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad Company, with Thomas Allen as president. The Iron Mountain was always closely associated with the Missouri Pacific Railway and after Jay Gould obtained control of both roads in the early '80s it was made a subsidiary of the latter. In 1917 both roads were consolidated to form the present Missouri Pacific Railroad Company, better known as the Missouri Pacific Lines.
Trusting that this information will be of some assistance, I am

Sincerely yours, 
R. J. Maxwell, 
Director Publicity Advertising .

St. Louis 3, Mo.
2 May 1955

Mr. J. M. Oliver, Jr.
Oliver and Company
Corning, Arkansas

Dear Mr. Oliver:
I regret that we have been unable to uncover any further information regarding H. D. Corning. In fact it is practically impossible to find any mention of Corning or Clay County in any of the various histories of Arkansas, I have also checked the journals of the old Arkansas Historical Association and the present Arkansas Historical Commission to no avail.
May I suggest that, if you have not already done so, you check with the Clay County Courier. That paper dates back to 1873 and may have a file of copies back to its founding which would furnish a clue. Or the Arkansas Historical Commission may have some information in its many unpublished manuscripts and reports. The National Archives in Washington, D. C., is an excellent source for finding historical data on persons and places; however, it will not perform any of the research work in its enormous collection itself, but will send you the names of researchers in the Washington area who will undertake the project on a fee basis.

Sincerely yours, 
R, J. Maxwell, 
Director Publicity Advertising.