Prior to the city’s centennial in 1973, efforts were made by J.M. Oliver at the Clay County Courier to discover the true founder of the City of Corning. The name of Hecht City was changed to Corning in 1873, and many believed the city to be named for H. D. Corning, an official of the old St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern RR Company. Oliver contacted a representative, R.J. Maxwell from the Missouri-Pacific Railway for information in 1955. Maxwell stated that they had 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.”