Taken from a pamphlet produced in the early 1970’s.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE FIRST 25 YEARS:
Hahn Inc. has its beginnings in a farm workshop. The year was 1947, Lloyd Hahn has discovered that 2,4-D would kill weeds in corn. He applied the chemical with a tractor mounted sprayer made of old pipe and a washing machine motor. His success led to the sales that year of a dozen similar sprayers to farmer neighbors.
In 1948 his brother, Jack Hahn, joined him and they moved the fledgling operation to Evansville at 315 N. 9th Ave. and started selling sprayers to dealers throughout the midwest.
1949 saw the introduction of the first Hi-Boy, a high clearance machine for spraying corn too tall for conventional tractor equipment. In 1955, Hahn Inc. entered another field. Garden tillers became a new product line for the company. Within four years the Hahn Pow-R-Boy Tiller was an outstanding success in a highly competitive field.
In 1961 Hahn acquired the Eclipse Lawn Mower Company. Eclipse was a well known established company with dealers throughout the United States. This acquisition led to the development of a full line of outdoor power equipment including a snow blower which was acquired in 1965 by the purchase of the Gardex Corporation.
On Feb. 19, 1969 Hahn merged with Kearney-National Inc. a New York based Corporation. However, in December 1971 Lloyd and Jack announced they had purchased the Hahn Division from Kearney. This purchase included West Point Products and Milbrandt Corporation which has been acquired by Kearney-National in 1969. This enabled Hahn to enter the field of commercial golf course equipment. A reciprocal sales agreement between Hahn and the British firm, Ransomes Sims & Jefferies in March, 1971 has proven to be mutually advantageous. Ransomes is marketing Hahn golf greens management equipment in Europe and other countries and Hahn is marketing Ransomes fairway mowing equipment in the U.S.
Most recent acquisition was the Air Rake Mfg. Corp., Chicopee, Mass in March, 1973. Hahn is now one of the most respected names in the Outdoor Power Equipment field and has a network of dealers and distributors covering all of the U.S. and Canada.
Today Hahn, Inc. consists of three enterprises, the Outdoor Products Div., the Turf Products Div. which is comprised of a line of golf course mowing equipment and equipment for dethatching and aerifying turf. The Ag Products Div. has been given impetus by the introduction of a new Hi-Boy in 1972 which has gained great acceptance.
Currently Hahn employs over 600 people. Our annual payroll exceeds $3,500,000; the plant and office buildings occupy approximately 450,000 square feet of space.
Innovation has keynoted the progress of Hahn, Inc. and will continue to be the prime objective.
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