In the 1840s Daniel Rhodes established Rhodes & Co. to mine coal in the Mahoning Valley area. In the 1860s, Marcus Hanna married Rhodes’ daughter and he and his brother later bought out his father-in-law. M.A. Hanna & Co. was incorporated in 1922. In 1958, a subsidiary of Hanna & Co. emerged as an independent corporation, the Hanna Mining Company. Hanna Mining has a rich history of contributing to coal, iron ore, and steel production.  

The M.A. Hanna Company flag is rectangular in shape with large red, white, and blue stripes. The flag in the NMGL collection is five feet long. The white stripe contains an outline of a blue star and within it is a red “H.” Hanna ships such as the Edward J Berwind, Fred G. Hartwell, and Matthew Andrews displayed a similar symbol on the smokestack, a white star with a red “H” on the inside. There is also an outline of a star with an “H” inside it on the top of the mast.