“Mennonite Settler” – Designed and Sculpted by Max Nixon. Dedicated in 1942. Located in Newton’s Athletic Park. Many of the area’s early Euro-American settlers were German-speaking Mennonite Christians who emigrated from southern Russia (today’s Ukraine). Arriving in 1874, they saw the devastation of drought and the aftermath of a grasshopper invasion. In spite of this, they started farming, using imported Turkey Red hard winter wheat seed since it had been successful in Russia and was found to be adaptable to the Kansas climate. Photo credit: Ronald Dietzel. Feb 17, 2017.