Mahlon Haines

Yorkshire and Haines Park In October and November 1924, Haines bought of land which became known as Yorkshire Ranch. After the Great Depression in 1929, he built streets through the ranch land and offered free housing lots to those unemployed who agreed to build homes there, as he began developing the Yorkshire neighborhood. Haines built a two-room brick schoolhouse in the development in 1930, initially leased for $1 per year to the township's Independent School District. Expanded over the years since, these original school buildings were torn down to create playgrounds for the new Yorkshire Elementary School built adjacently in 2010.

When York Fairgrounds turned down his request to use their horse track, Haines built a half-mile "Haines Park" track in 1928 on a corner of his ranch near what is now the intersection of Northern Way and Eastern Boulevard. Horse races were held weekly and in 1930 the track became the first in the state to have weekly night races with overhead electric lighting. The park also hosted a rodeo for which all proceeds benefitted the Springetts Fire Company.

Haines hosted a celebration in September 1938 to commemorate his 33 years in York. Applying his "Shoe Wizard" nickname, Haines placed a half-page ad in newspapers throughout York County announcing a week-long series of evening entertainment for the public at Haines Park and other venues at his expense. Haines sold the Haines Park to Eastland Realty Company in summer 1953, who developed the track area into a trailer park which remained into the 1960s. In the 1970s, a Best Products store was built on the infield of the former track, a building which later became the regional headquarters for AAA. Haines received the Silver Antelope Award from the scouts in 1944. The Lancaster County Conservancy bought the Wizard Ranch land in 2018, to become part of the Hellam Hills Nature Preserve, and still allow the scouts to use it for safari events and camping. In May 2023, the Wizard Ranch land opened to the public with two hiking trails and a new parking area off Accomac Road.

Shoe House

It was in 1948 that he began construction of the Haines Shoe House in Hallam with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a living room. Via a newspaper ad in July 1949, he publicly thanked 20 local businesses that had a part in the project. Its exterior modeled after a work boot, Haines lived in the house briefly before using it to host older couples and honeymooners affiliated with his shoe stores, providing them with a free weekend in the house, the service of his staff, and a free pair of shoes. The house was offered to the public for rent in the 1950s.

Alma mater In late 1948, Haines "took a very active part in the Chapter meeting of Agricultural alumni" at his Maryland alma mater and stated "he would personally pay the subscription cost for any agricultural alumnus who did not feel financially able" to request the alumni publication.

Haines Acres

In December 1917, Haines bought Named Haines Acres, along what would later be named Haines Road, From Haines Acres, he moved into "The Hermitage", which he built across the street from the Shoe House.

In 1953, Haines was featured in the short Paramount film The Spirit of Seventy, which promoted the value of physical exercise. Haines founded a "Three Quarter Century Baseball Team" for senior citizens in St. Petersburg, Florida, near a winter home he had in Snell Isle. He attributed his own success at the game to staying fit and abstaining from alcohol and tobacco. The film was shown before featured attractions nationally to 1955, and first in York at the Elmwood Theatre.

Upon dying, Haines gave the Haines Shoe House to his employees. before becoming an Airbnb rental property in late 2022.

Personal life Mother As a widow, Haines' mother, Elizabeth Ann Morrison Haines, moved to Washington, D.C., in 1882 and became a successful businesswoman. After ten years of living with her children above a small store on 11th Street S.E., they moved to Seward Square and she hired architect Julius Germuiller to design a large department store building at Eighth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, S.E. Completed in 1892, it was advertised as "the largest store in the world, built, owned and controlled by a woman". The building was expected to sell for about $30 million in 2019.

Haines' mother had an orange and grapefruit plantation on the Isle of Pines – at that time an American territory before it was returned to Cuba in 1925. In January 1913, Haines left on a primarily steamship trip to visit her there, going with Edward Schaszberger, the father-in-law of a friend in the Dempwolf family. Governor Pack Road in Baguio is named for him. The Packs visited her daughter in Washington in July 1915, from which they were then to visit Haines in York.

First wife Haines married June Brown Irwin (1885–1951) of Union County on October 20, 1909. They had three children: Stanley Emerson (1910–1966), Mahlon Nathaniel II (1912–1960), and June Irwin (1916–1918).

The Haines's first suburban residence was designed by John A. Dempwolf in 1912 and occupied in April 1913, at the intersection of North Rockburn and East Philadelphia Streets in Springettsbury Township, and still standing in 2018. It still stood as a private residence as of 2019.

Second wife and death Haines first met second wife Grace Marianne Churchill of London, England, while on a westward trans-Atlantic steamship cruise in summer 1955. After much correspondence, the two married on June 5, 1957. Grace was 30 years younger and this was her first marriage.

In 1961, Haines placed his "Hermitage" home, across from the Shoe House, up for sale. He and his second wife had planned to build a new "Churchill Downs" estate along Accomac Road near his Wizard Ranch property.