The Ozark Land and Lumber Collection (M 4) in Meyer Library’s Special Collections and Archives provides information about the timber industry in Missouri through the records of John H. Hahn.  Hahn began his career with the Hershey Land and Lumber Company in Muscatine, Iowa; but in 1895, Hershey consolidated with the Ozark Lumber Company and formed the Ozark Land and Lumber Company with saw mills, lumber yards, railroads, and a company store in Shannon County, Missouri.  Hahn was sent to Missouri and served as manager of the company.  The company ceased yellow pine logging operations in 1912 and reincorporated in 1915 as a real estate corporation with properties in Carter, Oregon, and Shannon counties.  In 1923, Ozark Land and Lumber sold 103,297 acres of cut-over land to T.J. Moss Tie Company for tie timber.  Hahn reorganized the company, serving as its president, and opened a yard in Springfield, Missouri, while retaining the mill and store in Winona.  Hahn’s only child, Golda M. Hahn, continued the business after her father’s death in 1947.

Hahn’s personal role in business with other lumber companies, forestry, and land management provides further insight into Missouri’s timber industry and environmental history.  Correspondence and business records in the collection also concern companies such as Missouri Land and Mining Company, Cordz-Fisher Lumber, Moss Tie and Timber, and the Current River Land and Cattle Company, and agencies such as the Department of Agriculture-Forest Service.

This large collection contains a variety of formats, such as maps, deeds, correspondence, ledgers, photographs, postcards, magazines, and newspapers.  Dates range from the 1840s to the 1960s, with the majority falling between the 1890s and 1940s. See the finding aid for a complete list of material.