FERN [Iowa]. A village in Sec 32, Beaver Twp. Formerly Andersonville. Post office from March 20, 1892 to December 31, 1907. First postmaster, Emil L Pieper.
Fern had a creamery. People used to go to college to be creamery operators.
It’s easy to believe they were anxious to change the name of the town. Andersonville wasn’t a very well liked name back then.
If New York is on one end of a continuum, then Fern is about as far on the other end as you can get. I grew up near Fern. There doesn’t seem to be even a trace of it any more.
A small town near Fern (in Tama county) that still exists was called Berlin until World War II. Now it’s called Lincoln.