In 1954, the 2,300 acre Hianloland Property was put up for sales and purchased for $350,000 by William Alton "Pete" Jones.   

The youngest of seven children, W. Alton Jones was born in 1891 near Webb City, Mo., and went on to become an important business leader and one of the richest men in the United States. Jones became president of Cities Service Co., and he played a vital role in World War II by undertaking several bold initiatives that would earn him a Presidential Certificate of Merit in 1948. He ended the nation's dynamite shortage by building a secret production plant in Maumelle, Ark.; he resolved a critical problem involving the refueling of warplanes by constructing an aviation gasoline refinery in Lake Charles, La.; and when the government waffled over the construction of an oil pipeline from Texas to the East Coast, he built the Big Inch and Little Inch pipelines in time for the Normandy invasion, saying "You can't sink a pipeline." Later, he served as a secret emissary of the Truman Administration and helped to settle an Iranian oil dispute that resulted from that country's attempt to nationalize British-owned refineries operating in the area. As one friend said of Jones, "The only thing ordinary about him is his name. Nobody keeps up with this Jones."

Jones was always described as an aggressive, imposing figure who stood 6 feet 3 inches and weighed about 250 pounds. As a powerful business leader, he could be demanding and bossy to the staff at Hianloland Farm, but he also reportedly treated them well, knew everyone's name, and introduced his family and friends to the staff upon each visit. Soon after the purchase, he refurnished the three Louttit homes on the property using a decorator from New York, who even insisted on importing toilet paper for the bathrooms. Jones also had a line of spruce trees planted along the entry road to hide the evidence of the 1951 fire. But otherwise little changed when the property ownership was transferred.