J. H. Hahn
J. H. Hahn was mayor of Colfax, Iowa, from 1903 to 1909.[1] It was he whose letter to Andrew Carnegie regarding the establishment of a library in the Spring City was finally answered on December 20, 1904, with a promise of $5,000.[2] Even out of the office of mayor, Hahn continued to be the principal correspondent with James Bertram until an increased grant for $6,500 was received on January 22, 1912.[3] Born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, on May 5, 1870, the son of John P. and Matilda (Dittig) Hahn, John Henry Hahn came to Colfax in 1896[4] from St. Charles, Iowa.[5] In 1896-97, he was the manager and partner in H. G. Stouffer & Co., a grocery and bakery concern. Then, in 1897, he owned and operated the City Grocery and Bakery.[6] Thereafter he was engaged in the insurance and real estate business. The 1905 Iowa Gazetteer lists Hahn & Buchanan-Hahn and Clarence M. Buchanan, real estate.[7] The 1910 City Directory lists Hahn & Stouffer-Hahn, Harry G. Stouffer, and Frank J. Stouffer, real estate, insurance and immigration agents.[8] Hahn was elected city councilman in 1911.[9] In 1922, he was elected as a Republican a member of the Jasper County Board of Supervisors (term beginning January 1924).[10] He was re-elected in 1926.[11] In 1938, Hahn was again a candidate for member of the Board of Supervisors for the term beginning January 1939.[12] The election marked a political comeback for Hahn, who defeated his Democratic opponent.[13] In 1940, he was unsuccessful in his bid for another term.[14] A member of the Colfax Volunteer Fire Department for 59 years, Hahn was fire chief for many years.[15] He was a member of the Commercial Club[16], the Independent Order of Odd Fellows[17], the Methodist Church[18], and the Jasper County Sunday School Association, of which he was past president and an organizer.[19] He married Elizabeth “Lizzie” Stouffer (1865-1945)[20] on July 7, 1892, at St. Charles.[21] Hahn died at his home in Colfax on June 4, 1957.[22] He is buried in the Colfax Cemetery.[23]
-Larry Ray Hurto
[1] Gen. James B. Weaver, ed., Past and Present of Jasper County, Iowa, Vol. I (Indianapolis, IN: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1912), p. 351.
[2] Reel 6, Carnegie Corporation of New York Records, Columbia University Libraries.
[3] James Bertram to J. H. Hahn, January 22, 1912, reel 6, Carnegie Corporation of New York Records, Columbia University Libraries.
[4] The Newton Daily News, June 4, 1957; The Colfax Tribune, June 6, 1957.
[5] The Iowa Press Association’s Who’s Who in Iowa (Des Moines: Published by Iowa Press Association, 1940), p. 614.
[6] Ibid.
[7]Lee Schmitt, The History of Real-Estate Agents, Insurance Agents & Lawyers in the Town of Colfax, Iowa Before the Year of 1940 (1993), p. 3.
[8] R. L. Polk & Co., comp., R. L. Polk & Co.’s 1910 Jasper County Directory, Vol. I (Des Moines and Detroit: R. L. Polk & Co., 1910), p. 161.
[9] The Colfax Clipper, March 30, 1911.
[10] The Newton Daily News, November 8, 1922.
[11] Ibid., November 3, 1926.
[12] Ibid., June 2, 1938.
[13] Ibid., November 9, 1938.
[14] Ibid., November 6, 1940.
[15] Ibid., June 4, 1957.
[16] The Iowa Press Association’s Who’s Who in Iowa, p. 614.
[17] The Colfax Tribune, June 6, 1957.
[18] The Iowa Press Association’s Who’s Who in Iowa, p. 614; Mrs. Wilford (Maurine) Bond, ed., One Hundred Years of Methodism in Colfax, Iowa 1868-1968, pp. 15, 23, 28, 46, 50. Hahn was a longtime trustee, Sunday School teacher, and choir member; the John Hahn Estate bequeathed a 120-acre farm to the local church.
[19] The Iowa Press Association’s Who’s Who in Iowa, p. 614.
[20] Jasper County Genealogical Society, comp., Jasper County, Iowa, Cemeteries: Washington Township, Colfax Cemetery (Des Moines: Iowa Genealogical Society, 1996), p. 821.
[21] The Colfax Tribune, June 6, 1957; The Newton Daily News, June 6, 1957.
[22] Ibid., June 4, 1957; The Colfax Tribune, June 6, 1957.
[23] Jasper County Genealogical Society, Jasper County, Iowa, Cemeteries: Washington Township, Colfax Cemetery, p. 821.