The Venerable Charles L. Horn
Charles Lilley Horn was born on a farm just outside Mount Vernon, Iowa on March 5th, 1888. A few years later when Charles was a small child, the family packed up and moved to a small town in western Iowa called Cushing. This small town is still in existence located about an hour straight east of Sioux City. After graduation from high school, he went to visit friends in Minnesota and found he liked the state enough that he opted to enroll at the University of Minnesota rather than University of Iowa. His initial plan was to study forestry, so he enrolled in the University’s school of Agriculture’s forestry program. It was not what he expected, so before the year had ended, he entered the University’s Law School program, but his interest and love for conservation was fostered in his initial collegiate efforts. Charles graduated from law school in 1912.
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Throughout his life, Horn dressed very dapper, wearing a fresh carnation each day and a three piece suit no matter the weather. As a young man he was 5’11” (his son says 5’10”) 180 pounds with bright blue eyes and a waxed mustache, though he did get heavier as he aged. Charles grew a mustache in his early 30s, which he wore for the rest of his life and had all his clothing made for him by a German tailor named Otto Will. He remained president of the company for over 50 years, stepping down as president in 1974 and took a position as the chairman of the board. In 1977 Horn officially retired, then only a year later died at the age of 90. Charles Lilley Horn committed his entire life to company whose brand is now a household name and philathropic efforts in conservation have had long-lasting effects locally and nationally.
Not too long after finishing law school, Horn became president of a small Minneapolis company called American Ball Company. It was located on East Lake Street near Cedar or 27th Avenue, where the company manufactured steel ball bearings. This operation got him involved with the (at the time) debunked Federal Cartridge and Machine Company. Horn and a man named Todd Lewis wanted to buy the abandoned buildings, machinery, and other assets for their newly established Federal Cartridge Corporation. In the early winter of 1922 Federal Cartridge Corporation consisted of Horn, John Haller, and a coal stove they used to keep warm in the Anoka plant. Horn drove a 1921 Buick Roadster between the administrative offices in Minneapolis and manufacturing plant in Anoka regularly during the many weeks to follow, manage, and assess progress on plant functionality. Horn also spent much of those early years networking in local stores to sell the ammunition his company was producing, which proved monumental in expanding their brand’s popularity.
