In business by 1895, the Paddock-Hawley Iron Co. was manufacturing a patent spoke tenoner in 1903. By 1906 they had become primarily a hardware dealer and distributor. In about that year they went bankrupt. J. E. and D. A. Baum, doing business as Baum Bros. of Omaha, Nebraska, organized the New Paddock-Hawley Iron Co. and, through that new firm, acquired the assets of the bankrupt company, which they relocated to Omaha. In 1907 the Beck & Corbitt Iron Co., St. Louis, bought the St. Louis property and the business assets from Baum Bros.

From April 1903 The Blacksmith and Wheeelwright

Information Sources

• Google Books listings for 1895 and 1904 catalogs. "Manufacturers, Importers, and Dealers ... Iron and Steel, Metal Roofing, Heavy Hardware, Carriage and Wagon Hardware ..."
• 1906-08-02 The Iron Trade Review.

  New Buyers:— The New Paddock-Hawley Co. has been incorporated under Nebraska laws for $700,000 by D. A. Baum, J. E. Baum and Fred Hawley. This action followed the purchase by the Baums of the Paddock-Hawley Co. of St. Louis, Mo. The allied iron jobbing interests include the Baum Iron Co. of Omaha, the Paddock-Hawley. Co. of St. Louis and the Sioux City Iron Co. of Sioux City. The Baums are also largely interested in the Des Moines Iron Co. of Des Moines.

• 1907-02-28 The Iron Trade Review.

  The Beck & Corbitt Iron Co., St. Louis, has bought the property and business of the Paddock-Hawley Iron Co., of that city, and as a result the New Paddock-Hawley Iron Co., Omaha, Neb., will abandon St. Louis, and will operate in Omaha as before. The Paddock-Hawley Iron Co. was bought last July by Baum Bros., of Omaha, who reincorporated in Nebraska under the name of the New Paddock-Hawley Iron Co. The absorption of the business by Beck & Corbitt involves more than $1,000,000, though the exact terms of the sale have not been made public. C. T. Brace, who has been in charge of the Paddock-Hawley interests in St. Louis, has been elected vice president of the Beck & Corbitt Co. For the present Beck & Corbitt will continue to use the buildings occupied by the Paddock-Hawley concern, but it is the intention of the company to build an addition to its present building on Main street. The capital stock of the company will also likely be increased. The Beck & Corbitt Iron Co. is one -of the oldest heavy hardware houses in the west, having been in St. Louis 45 years.

• A 1913 lawsuit, New Paddock-Hawley Co. v. Fayetteville Wagon Wood & Lumber co. et al., provides some background on the formation of New Paddock-Hawley Co. from the bankrupt Paddock-Hawley Co., and if you read it carefully you might get a better understanding of the events than I could.
• A 1934 lawsuit, Omaha-Baum Iron Store, Inc., v. The United States provides some background of the organization of the Baum and New Paddock-Hawley Iron Co. businesses.