Atlanta Hardwood Corporation was founded in 1952 as Howard Lumber by James W. Howard, Sr., father of the current chief executive officer, Jim Howard. In the early days, as a lumber broker, the elder Mr. Howard grew his business by selling to furniture manufacturers in eastern Tennessee. In the mid-1950s, the company was moved to Atlanta and began processing Appalachian hardwoods in leased kilns. By 1960, his brothers joined the business and a plant was built in Mableton, Georgia, where the corporate headquarters for Atlanta Hardwood is located today. A second plant in Huntersville, North Carolina was opened to service the furniture industry in the Carolinas.

Under the leadership of Jim Howard, the company grew to include four drying yards operating as AHC Hardwood Group, along with a moulding plant in north Georgia and six distribution centers in the southeast, AHC Import Lumber, importing African and South American hardwoods, AHC Export Lumber, which sells Appalachian hardwoods around the world, and AHC Logistics, the trucking division of the company.  The distribution group was sold in 2018 and management reinvested in value-added manufacturing.

As a multi-generational company with a long-term vested interest in sustainable forestry, AHC Hardwood Group is committed to renewable wood resources and responsible forest stewardship.