Hahne, Fred

HAHNE, DEFRANCE, ADAMS

Posted By: Janelle Martin (email)
Date: 4/5/2011 at 13:39:52

History of Hamilton County, Iowa, Vol. II, 1912, J.W. Lee, pp.190-194.

The printing business requires for its successful operation a degree of general knowledge which amounts to labor, culture and a technical proficiency in the details of the trade in addition to the executive ability and commercial instinct required for success in any business walk of life. Fred Hahne, proprietor of the printing establishment at No. 547 1/2 Second street, Webster City, Iowa, owes his prosperity to his long period of personal identification with the printing trade and to the progressive and systematic principles, which have always marked his activity. He is a native son of Webster City, where his birth occurred on March 17, 1877. His parents were William and Sarah (DeFrance) Hahne, the former of whom a native of Hanover Germany, whence he came to the United States in 1870, and the latter a native of Tama county, Iowa. They settled in that year in Hamilton county, where they have since resided.

Fred Hahne was educated in the public schools of his native city, and laid aside his books at the age of fifteen years. Since that time he has been identified with the printing trade, becoming acquainted with its different branches. He began his career in the office of the Webster City Graphic in 1892 and was employed by this concern for two and one-half years. He rose in that period of time by his evidence of ambition and desire to better his condition from a humble
capacity to the position of foreman of the shop, which he was holding when he severed his connection with the Webster City Graphic in 1894. In that year he entered the employ of the Webster City Freeman aud was active and successful in this connection for one year. He resigned this position to accept the formanship for the Webster City Journal and after two and one-half years of successful identification with this paper removed to Spencer, Iowa, in the fall of 1898, where he spent a year and a half as foreman of the Spencer Reporter. He was successful here as he had been before in Webster City and gained eighteen months' experience as a valuable asset, when he returned to Webster city in 1899. From that year until 1903 he was active as foreman of the Webster City Journal. In that year he definitely brought to a close his connection with newspaper work in the composing room. His long career had given him a knowledge of the technical details of his business and a self-confidence which has never deserted him since that time. It added to the breadth of his culture and to his general knowledge and was a valuable asset to him in independent business life. In 1903 he established his present enterprise under the name of the Fred Hahne Printing Company. He does a general line of printing, but makes a specialty of pedigreed live-stock sale catalogs and in this department of his enterprise has exclusive rights in Webster City. It is the largest exclusive live-stock catalog printing establishment in the United States and does business for the owners of live-stock sales throughout America. It required for its management and development an executive, whose ability lies along concentrative lines, and these qualities are vital forces in Mr. Hahne's commercial career. He maintains personal control over the large and still expanding business, of which he is the head, and his capacity for detailed organization and his shrewd and discriminating mind make him one of the greatest individual forces in trade circles of Webster City. Moreover he is interested in a number of local manufacturing institutions, which benefit by his sound judgment and commercial ability.

On December 29, 1897, Mr. Hahne was united in marriage to Miss Clara Adams, a daughter of George T. Adams, at one time a prominent agriculturist of Hamilton county, who lived retired in Webster City for some years prior to his death on the 1st of January, 1912, in his seventy-sixth year. Mr. and Mrs. Hahne are the parents of four children: Myron D., born October 29, 1899; Georgianna, whose birth occurred on the 5th of August, 1903; Winifred, born August 8, 1906; and Richard Howard, born February 25, 1912. The family residence is at No. 517 Webster street, Webster City.

Mr. Hahne gives his political allegiance to the republican party and does his duty in political circles with the same energy and conscientiousness which he brings to bear upon the management of his enterprise. He served his city in various capacities, having been a member of the council from April, 1908, to April, 1910, representing constituents from the old second ward. Since 1911 he has been councilman at large for Webster City and his public service has been distinguished by a broad intelligence and a keen interest in every phase of civic development. He is a member of numerous societies affiliated with the livestock business. He holds membership in the American Short Horn Breeders Association of Chicago, The American Hereford Breeders Association of Kansas City, The American Aberdeen Angus Breeders and the American Poland China Breeders Associations of Chicago, and is also prominent in the American Chester White Breeders Association with headquarters at Columbus, Ohio. In exclusive fraternal circles Mr. Hahne is prominent, holding membership in Acacia Lodge, No. 176, A. F. & A. M. ; Webster City Lodge, No. 302, B. P. O. E. ; and in Forest Camp, No. 103, Woodmen of the World. He is also a charter member of the Court of Honor in Webster City. He is a devout adherent of the United Brethren church and is known in Webster City as a man of exemplary private and public character. His business is rapidly expanding and developing into an institution of national scope and his commercial enterprise and ability are progressing with it. He judges his colleagues in the business world by the same high standards of honor and integrity which he has set for himself and by which he moulds his business development, his political activity and his private life.

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