History of Hawn Bedding Company
William D. Hawn founded Hawn Bedding Company in 1946. The first location was 12th & Brooklyn in Kansas City, MO. About 3 years later, the plant was moved to 3100 Gillham Plaza where it remained until January 1993. Due to the deterioration of the area, it became necessary to relocate. At that time the entire operation was moved to Lee's Summit, MO. The move to Lee's Summit increased the size of the plant from 5,000 square feet to 10,000 square feet. Two years later, due to the increase in sales and the need for more space, Hawn expanded into the empty space in the same building. This doubled the square footage to 20,00 square feet. The expansion allowed the purchase of additional machinery which allowed the operation to be streamlined.
During the mid 1950's, Hawn Bedding was Incorporated by William D. Hawn when he took on his son-in-law, John W. Pinder,Sr., and his brother, Vincent Hawn. After the death of Vincent in the early 1960's, the surviving partners continued on util the death of William D. Hawn in 1984. In 1985, John Pinder, Sr. retired and the business was sold to two of his sons Charles (Bill) Pinder and John W. Pinder, Jr. Both had been with the firm since 1970 & 1971. In 1986 Mark S. Pinder, the brother of Bill & John, joined the firm and became the 3rd partner and sec/treas of the company, while Bill remained the president and John the vice president.
Hawn Bedding began operations on the heels of World War II. William D. Hawn had trained under his father William L. Hawn who owned and operated Jones Mattress Company. Both companies were primarily rebuilders. Upon the retirement of his father, William D. started Hawn Bedding. As the years rolled by, rebuilding faded into the background as the nation became more prosperous and people bought more new bedding. Rebuilding has now almost become a memory.
The next major change came when the building in which the company operated was purchased in 2002, thereby assuring the continuation of the business in the same location.
