General Hanford "Jack" MacNIDER

MACNIDER, VAN AUKEN, HANFORD, MCAULEY, HAGEN, HAAG, JOSEPH, LEE

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 4/6/2011 at 23:03:51

Hanford McNider
A Career Dedicated to Service

The Mason City Rotary Club is proud of the fact that Hanford MacNIDER, National Commander of the American Legion, is an active member of that club. "Jack," as he is known to his Rotary friends and others, has always taken an active interest in the affairs of the Rotary Club and has been a regular attendant at its meetings. Upon his return to Mason City, following the great American Legion held at Kansas City, Missouri, the Rotary Club took a prominent part in the great reception which was tendered to him. The reception. held in the Armory on the evening of his return, was attended by over 2,000 citizens of Mason City, and Howard Van AUKEN, secretary of the Rotary Club, and commander of the local post of the American Legion, presided.

Hanford MacNIDER, born in Mason City on October 2nd, 1889, was educated at Milton Academy, Milton, Massachusetts, and then later at Harvard, graduating from that institution in 1911. Five years later he served in the Second Iowa Infantry on the Mexican border. He holds the classification of investment banker and founded the First National Company at Mason City, of which he is president.

When America entered the World War, Jack entered the Officers' Training Camp at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, and a few months later was commissioned a second lieutenant of infantry. He arrived in France in September, 1917, with the 9th Infantry of the Second Division, took part in five major operations and was promoted successively captain, major, and lieutenant-colonel. The new National Commander was wounded at St. Mihiel and was cited three times in general orders. He wears the Distinguished Service Cross with oak leaf clusters, Legion of Honor, Croix de Guerre with three palms and one gold and one silver star, and the Italian War Cross. His career has been devoted entirely to Service.

While Iowa State Commander of the American Legion, he spent prctically all of his time and thousands of dollars in traveling expense for the benefit of his comrades. During his term as National Commander he probably will not spend ten days at home. He has refused to accept the salary connected with the office. He is fearless in the performance of his duty and has and will accomplish much for the "Buck Private" and for the injured and maimed soldiers. It is interesting to note that Rotarian MacNIDER succeeds as National Commander of the American Legion Rotarian F. W. GALBRAITH, Jr., of Cincinnati, Ohio, a former Rotary official, who was killed in an automobile accident last summer.

~ Howard M. Van AUKEN, Mason City, Iowa

SOURCE:
"Interesting Rotarians" The Rotarian p. 69. Vol. 20, No. 2. Rotary International. February, 1922.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, April of 2011

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Hanford "Jack" McNider

Hanford "Jack" MacNIDER was born October 2, 1889 in Mason City, Iowa. He is the son of Charles H. MacNIDER, a prominent banker and leader in the cement business, and May HANFORD MacNIDER. He attended Milton Academy [a boarding school in Massachusetts] and subsequently Harvard University, where he graduated in 1911 before returning to Iowa and took up bookkeeping in his fater's Mason City bank.

MacNIDER joined the United States National Guard and served during the Pancho VILLA Expedition during the Mexican Revolution [1916-17], among 160,000 national guardsmen patrolling the border. As the story goes, military charges were laid against MacNIDER when one of his men disagreed with a Colone. MacNIDER allegedly went AWOL to get to the front. When authorities finally caught up to MacNIDER, he had alreadyrisen through the ranks, winning 14 medals. Charges were then dropped. Or so the story goes.

During World War I, he served in the American Expeditionary Force in France. He participated in founding of the American Legion, and was commander of the Legion for the State of Iowa from 1920 to 1921, before being elevated to National Commander in 1922.

In the early days of the American Legion, MacNIDER wrote, "The first dutyof The American Legion is to see that those men who came back from the service, blind, maimed . . . broken in health and spirit . . . who much live through the war forever in their homes throughout the country . . . get a square deal from the Government they fought for."

NOTE: Through the American Legion's hard work, the U.S. Veterans Bureas was created, a forerunner of the Veterans Administration, later becoming the Department of Veterans Affairs.

President Calvin COOLIDGE appointed him Assistant Secretary of War in 1925. Major Dwight D. EINSENHOWER was MacNIDER'S executive assistant.

MacNIDER married Margaret McAULEY in 1925. He was considered a possible Republican candidate in the United States presidential election, 1928, but after the death of his father, MacNIDER returned to Iowa to handle the family's business affairs. Under MacNIDER'S guidance, the businesses thrived even though the country was caught up in the Great Depression.

President Herbert HOOVER appointed him as the United States ambassador to Canada in 1930. In 1932, he resigned in an unsuccessful attempt to be made the Republican candidate for Vice President. In 1940, he again failed to receive the Republican nomination for President and declined the Vice Presidential candidacy under Wendell Lewis WILLIKE. He also turned down a cabinet position offered by President Dwight EISENHOWER in 1952.

During World War II, he was wounded by a Japanese grenade while commanding the Buna Task Force on the front lines in New Guinea. After recovery, he was given the command of the 158th Regimental Combat Team a.ka. The Bushmasters at the Bicol Peninsula.

His military decorations include two Purple Hearts, two Bronze Stars, three Silver Stars, the Distinguished Service Cross three times, and the Philippine Legion of Honor.

After retirement [mandated by regulations upon his 62nd birthday], MacNIDER was promited to Lieutenant General

Hanford MacNIDER became one of Iowa's best-known war heroes, projecting the image of a down-to-earth Iowa farm boy although he had actually been born to bank.

He became a Master Mason in 1912 and rose to the penultimate [32nd] degree, called Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret. Throughout his life, MacNIDER kept his Masonic ties and his connection to Northwest States Portland Cement Company, becoming its president for 53 years.

On February 18, 1968, while on vacation in Sarasota, Florida, MacNIDER died at a hospital of pulmonary edema. It has been said that he was interred in Mason City's Elmwood-Saint Joseph Cemetery, however the cemetery office has no record of him. It is believed that he was cremated and his ashes scattered in an unknown location.

SOURCES:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanford_MacNider

Photographs courtesy of Library of Congress

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, April of 2011

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The Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
Sunday, October 24, 2010
by Kristin Buehner for The Globe Gazette

Legendary Indianhead

MASON CITY — Toni HAGEN remembers the first time she came upon the Indianhead mansion, in 1966, to work as a maid.

"It was stunning," she said. "You come up to it and it's all this stone. And it was such a beautiful setting."

Built in 1929 as the home of Gen. Hanford and Margaret MacNIDER, the 40-room mansion in eastern Mason City today houses Four Oaks, a psychiatric medical institute for children.

But it was built for the MacNIDERS and their sons, Tom, Jack and Angus, upon a knoll overlooking the Winnebago River. The house was 200 feet long and 50 feet wide, with a circular drive leading to it from what was then Highway 18.

It was named for the U.S. Army's 2nd Infantry Division, nicknamed Indianhead, in which Hanford MacNIDER served during World War I.

Gen. MacNIDER served as assistant secretary of war under President Calvin COOLIDGE and as U.S. minister to Canada under President Herbert HOOVER.

Charlie MacNIDER, 59, Jack MacNIDER'S son, said that as a small child, he was always struck by the scale of the house.

"I had never been in a house that big," he said.

The house was designed by New York architect Waddy WOODS, who ordered thick walls of dolomite, a native stone, "because he was still convinced there was a possibility of Indian attacks," MacNIDER said.

It was built by Italian stonemasons from Washington, D.C.

A gatehouse to the northwest of the house was the location of a stable and a caretaker's house.

The house was frequently featured in the Globe Gazette and appeared in a 1930 spread in Home and Field magazine.

Among the distinguished guests to visit Indianhead were President Herbert HOOVER, Henry Cabot LODGE, Charles LINDBERGH and Gen. James DOOLITTLE.

They climbed an elegant circular staircase in the entrance hall, lined with prints of former presidents.

The house also featured a morning room with windows on three sides, breakfast room, a nursery, sunroom, library and numerous fireplaces.

A screened veranda with flagstone floor ran along the back of the house. A screened porch above it was accessed from the MacNIDER'S bedrooms.

The dining room walls were papered with murals depicting scenes from the Revolutionary War. A copy of the wallpaper also hung in the White House. The murals became worn over time and have since been removed.

A tennis court and swimming pool were in the back — south — yard.

When the MacNIDERS moved in, in December 1930, they hired a Pullman railroad car to bring in guests from Chicago for a housewarming party.

The house today retains the character of the home Charlie MacNIDER recalls as a child. The interior has been greatly modified, however.

The white pillars and roof at the front entry are gone. So are the trees and shrubs that once graced the entire length of the house.

Gone, too, is the veranda, later a flagstone patio, off the south entrance.

"On nice fall or spring afternoons we would sit out there on Sundays for tea," MacNIDER said.

Such occasions were "mandatory attendance," he said.

In the early 1960's, his grandparents closed off the entire second floor, which had been bedrooms, and modified sitting areas downstairs into their bedrooms on either side of a hall.

Two guest rooms at the top of the stairs remained, however.

The veranda was removed from the back of the house and bay windows added in the living room.

The staff rooms were located on a lower wing of the second floor, over the kitchen, MacNIDER said. They had their own stairs.

The large attached garage at the west end of the house is now a classroom for Four Oaks' day program.

"The General (as he was called) had a taste for fancy cars and he liked to drive them fast," MacNIDER said.

His grandfather was always in the library, a 40-by-60-foot, knotty-pine-paneled room to the east of the center hallway. A collection of military flags, since donated to the Charles H. MacNIDER Art Museum, were hung above the general's large English writing desk.

The library today has been divided into smaller rooms. The pine walls and chandeliers remain.

A sunroom at the east end of the house now serves as the office of Four Oaks program manager Nalini JOSEPH.

"The General had a presence that was intimidating to a 10-year-old," MacNIDER said. "I was awestruck in his presence."

His grandmother was elegant.

"Granny was always turned out to the nines," MacNIDER said. "I never saw her at Indianhead when she did not look like she could have gone to a state dinner."

She, too, spent much of her time in the library, among the walls full of books. "I remember Granny taking tea in the library on Sundays," he said.

MacNIDER also remembers spending time there at Christmas and on his birthdays. On one birthday, a football field and baseball diamond had been mowed into the front lawn for him.

"We would have a game and go in for cake and then be escorted out before the cocktail hour."

At Christmas, MacNIDER fished for his gifts. He leaned over the railing of the circular stairway in the front entry with a fishing pole while his parents attached presents to his pole from below.

"I enjoyed being around my grandparents," MacNIDER said. "They were interesting people who'd done interesting and fascinating things."

Two years after the death of Gen. MacNIDER, in 1968, Margaret MacNIDER and her family decided to donate the home to North Iowa Area Community College.

She said at the time that her youngest son, Angus, had attended Mason City Junior College and that those were the happiest years of his life.

"The idea of it not being used, sitting out there decaying, would be really painful," Charlie MacNIDER said of the house. "The fact that it is being used in a constructive fashion is very pleasing to us."

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The Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
Sunday, October 24, 2010
by Kristin Buehner for The Globe Gazette

Ex-maid "treasures" her time at Indianhead

MASON CITY — Toni HAGEN "treasures" the time she spent working as a maid at the Indianhead mansion for Gen. Hanford and Margaret MacNIDER.

"Working for them was an opportunity that someone in Mason City would ordinarily never have," said HAGEN, 65.

HAGEN worked at Indianhead — today the home of Four Oaks — in 1966, when she was 21. She was referred to the MacNIDERS by a friend, Mike HAAG, who was helping out with the grounds and the Indianhead farms.

"It was just an elegant house, and so was Mrs. MacNIDER," HAGEN said. "It was also a very comfortable home."

The library was a huge room, she said, with "tons" of books. A floor-to-ceiling rolling ladder was used to reach the books on the top shelves.

Margaret MacNIDER kept fresh flowers from the garden throughout the house.

"She liked to garden," HAGEN said. "She could do about anything and she did it well."

HAGEN remembers a living room along the south of the house, with French doors leading to the south lawn. There were fireplaces at either end of the room. A maid's room was west of the kitchen. It had twin beds where the cook and the maid could nap during the day.

HAGEN also remembers the pantry in which 20 sets of china were stored.

"I could choose which dishes to use at dinner, except on Tuesday, which was family night, and then Mrs. MacNIDER chose"

There were Staffordshire crystal, Steuben glassware and sterling silver, all of which HAGEN cleaned and polished.

Her day at Indianhead began about 7:30 a.m., when Hagen would serve breakfast and do a little light housework.

Hagen wore a light blue nylon dress uniform during the day and a white nylon dress with white apron in the evening.

She made the beds, changing the sheets every other day.

At noon, she and the cook, Mary, would have lunch in a breakfast room off the kitchen that the staff used. The MacNIDERS were rarely home for lunch, HAGEN said. "Then we were free until it was time for dinner."

At 4 p.m. it was time to turn down the beds and draw the drapes in the bedrooms.

The MacNIDERS ate dinner early, about 5 or 5:30 p.m., in the living room. HAGEN would set the table and bring in their plates, prepared by the cook.

"I only served dinner on family night and when they had guests for dinner," she said.

On family night, the MacNIDERS' sons and grandson, Charlie, would come to dinner. HAGEN served drinks in the library before dinner.

"They were very nice people to work for," she said.

HAGEN took turns with the cook working Sunday mornings, making breakfast and coffee.

The MacNIDERS often played cards in the library after dinner when they were alone.

Staff worked on Christmas and Thanksgiving at the MacNIDERS' family dinners. HAGEN remembered that their son, Jack, would bring in a little glass of champagne or wine to the kitchen for the staff.

When they were away, the staff would be off. The MacNIDERS would let them know when they were returning.

"Then we'd take the sheets off all the furniture, vacuum and dust and polish the silver and remake the beds to have it ready for their homecoming."

Margaret MacNIDER taught her how she liked things cleaned. She showed HAGEN how to set the table, from which sides to serve and remove dishes. "She was very patient and kind," HAGEN said.

The General was always the first one served.

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The Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
Sunday, October 24, 2010
by Kristin Buehner for The Globe Gazette

'Yard Boy" remembers life at Indianhead

MASON CITY — Working at Indianhead, the Mason City home of Gen. Hanford and Margaret MacNIDER was a way of life for Mike HAAG, who began working there during the summer of 1958. He was 17.

He started working full-time in 1960 and continues to work for the MacNIDER family.

"I was basically hired more or less as a yard boy," HAAG, 69, said. "I worked wherever I was needed."

His stepfather, Sidney LEE, worked on the farms at Indianhead.

In those days, Indianhead was pretty much self-sustaining, HAAG said.

There was a chicken house for eggs and a milking house. A few head of cattle were being raised to provide milk for the "big house," HAAG said.

There was also a vegetable garden.

The gatehouse included a house for the caretaker, with an adjoining garage and stable.

A separate four-stall garage was west of the Indianhead mansion. Among the vehicles that HAAG remembered were a 1953 Corvette, the first in the Corvette line, purchased new by the General, and a station wagon that HAAG drove to take the maid shopping and used for running errands.

The house had its own water system, septic system and back-up generator.

Household staff included an upstairs maid and a downstairs maid, a cook and a laundrywoman, who lived with her husband in the staff’s quarters. Her husband, an employee at Northwestern States Portland Cement Co. in which the MacNIDERS had a controlling interest, tended the vegetable garden.

The estate was entered by a road that ran to the gatehouse, northwest of the mansion, from Highway 18.

The gatehouse today is used only for storage.

HAAG lived in it for a few years. It had a living room, dining room, kitchen, two bedrooms and a bathroom, he recalled.

He remembers the MacNIDERS entertaining at their home at special events they hosted each summer. There were "Oldtimers Parties" for cement plant employees.

"The General related very closely to his workers at the cement plant," HAAG said. "He actually considered it almost a family."

A huge dining tent and a cooking tent were set up on the south lawn.

Food — usually prime rib — was catered by the Hotel Hanford, which was owned by the family. Two bars were set up in the house.

The events were held rain or shine. When it rained, the MacNiders had a tent walkway set up that led from the house to the dining tent.

"It was quite a production," HAAG said. "One thing I learned from the MacNIDERS was that if you're a good host you want your guests to be happy." There were also parties for the sales people and buyers. Every third year, Margaret MacNIDER hosted a women's tea for wives of the cement plant employees.

Margaret MacNIDER was "a lady," HAAG said. "That's the feeling you had around her."

The General was a very fair man, HAAG said.

"He expected things done the way he wanted, naturally."

Gen. MacNIDER drove to his office downtown seven days a week. HAAG would drive with him and then bring the car back.

"The MacNIDERS were never showy with their wealth and remained down-to-earth," HAAG said. "I had a great deal of respect for them."

Gen. MacNider was blind in one eye, the result a wound suffered during World War II when he was hit by shrapnel, HAAG said.

"He was driving a Jeep ahead of his troops in New Guinea," said Gen. MacNIDER'S grandson, Charlie MacNIDER, 59. "He was the first general wounded in the Second World War," Charlie MacNIDER said. "He also suffered severe damage to his stomach. He liked to lead from the front, never led from behind."

The damage to his eye prevented him from driving (in the war), which was hard for him because he loved cars and loved to drive, MacNIDER said.

Photographs courtesy of Globe Gazette

Globe Gazette articles transcribed by Sharon R. Becker, April of 2011

Biography ~ General Hanford "Jack" MacNIDER
 

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