Corn Oklahoma’s Lightening Jobber Press standing inside a barn

This Fall, we were contacted by the Mayor of Corn, Oklahoma, a small town with a population of about 500. Corn has an interesting history which the town is proud to celebrate. The town was officially founded in 1903, settled by German-Russian Mennonite families. Today it is a typical midwestern farming community located some 84 miles west of Oklahoma City. Recently one of the townsfolk donated a largely intact late 1800’s Lightning Jobber platen press. Two years ago we restored a Lightening Jobber that had been donated to the Red Onion, and was purchased by a letterpress printer in this area. The town intends to clean up their press and display it along with other artifacts from their history.
From the size we’ve determined that it is a 10 x 15 Model Jobber press. At one time there were quite a few of these presses around, but now they are rare. If you have a 15 inch dia ink disk with a 1 3/4 in stud or know of one that can be purchased please email us at the Red Onion Press. We love to be able to help bring these old treasures back to life.