Papers in the Hixon and Company Collection show that, in addition to the lumber industry, the Hixon interests extended to such varied enterprises as woolen mills, tanning and leather goods, flour milling, banking and securities, railroads, pulp and paper manufacturing, electric power and street railways. Many of these papers record the business activities of G. C. Hixon and his sons prior to the incorporation of Hixon and Company.
As the sources of timber in Wisconsin and the upper Mississippi Valley were depleted, Hixon and Company extended its operations to southern, western, and Pacific Coast states and Canada. The Hixons maintained these operations through financial holdings in many companies.
The corporation was formed at La Crosse, Wisconsin, September 15, 1900, by the heirs of Gideon Cooley Hixon, to conserve the assets of his estate and to continue the operation of his various enterprises. Corporation officers were Ellen J. Hixon, President; Frank P. Hixon, Vice President; and J. M. Hixon, Secretary and Treasurer. Content of the company's correspondence indicates that Frank P. Hixon had been the actual manager of the estate and that he continued to be the actual manager of the corporation. Despite the variety of enterprises, the business was managed personally, first by its founder, Gideon Cooley Hixon, and later by his son, Frank P. Hixon, with very little delegation of authority.
G. C. Hixon
The founder of the Hixon fortune, Gideon Cooley Hixon, was born in Roxbury, Vermont, March 28, 1826. When he was very young the family moved to Long Meadow, Massachusetts, where he received a common school education. He received his business experience at Springfield, Massachusetts, and in 1856 he moved to La Crosse, Wisconsin, where he entered into a partnership to operate a sawmill at the mouth of the Black River under the name of Crosby and Hixon. After dissolution of this partnership, Hixon engaged extensively in the lumber business at La Crosse until 1879 under the name of Hixon and Withee, and under the name of Hixon and Company at Hannibal, Missouri and Atchison, Kansas.
In 1882 Hixon acquired a large interest in the timber holdings of Thomas B. Scott, along the Wisconsin River, and the T. B. Scott Lumber Company was formed through the association of Hixon with T. B. Scott and A. W. Pettibone.
A leader of the Republican Party, Hixon was elected to the Wisconsin Assembly for the 1871-1872 term, and was a state senator in 1873 and 1874. He died September 23, 1892.
After settlement of the estate, and the incorporation of Hixon and Company in 1900, all five of the Hixon brothers retained an interest in the company. Frank P. and Joseph M. remained in La Crosse, William L. in Mankato, Minnesota, George C. in Chicago, and Robert in Toledo, Ohio. New investments were made in timber and lumbering operations in Minnesota, western and Pacific states, southern states, Ontario, and British Columbia. Land purchases usually were in multiples of 10,000 acres.
Frank P. Hixon
Frank Pennel Hixon was born at La Crosse, Wisconsin, October 13, 1862, and died October 24, 1931. In 1879 he started work in his father's sawmill at Hannibal, Missouri. He returned to Wisconsin in 1883 to become secretary-treasurer of the T.B. Scott Lumber Company at Merrill, and later he became president. Upon his father's death in 1892 he returned to La Crosse, where the headquarters of the Hixon interests were located.
Through the financial holdings of Hixon and Company, Frank P. Hixon became president of a number of companies, some of which included:
- Anson-Hixon Lumber Company
- Crookston Lumber Company
- Crosby Cattle Company
- Freemont Land Company
- Grand Rapids Pulp and Paper Company
- Listman Milling Company
- St. Hilaire Retail Lumber Company
- National Cooperage Company
- Merrill Railway and Lighting Company
- Pioneer Investment Company
- Robert Hixon Lumber Company
- National Bank of La Crosse
- Shevlin-Hixon Lumber Company
- T. B. Scott Lumber Company
- Centralia Lumber Company
Hixon was chairman of the board of the McCloud River Lumber Company of California, a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, and director and officer of the Wisconsin River Improvement Association and of the Wisconsin Valley Lumbermen's Association. In World War I he was chairman of the Wisconsin Liberty Loan Drive. He was a member of the state board of education, as is shown by a letter from Governor Emmanuel L. Philipp, January 22, 1919, accepting Hixon's resignation from that body (1919 P). [1]
Letters show that Hixon was interested in the education of the southern Negro, at least to the extent of contributing to the financial support of Negro institutions in the South. Among other letters on this subject are three from Booker T. Washington acknowledging receipt of donations to Tuskegee Normal Institute, May 17, 1913; October 16, 1913; and October 21, 1915 (1913W) (1913T) (1915W).
