page_title: Simmons Hardware Company
section_title: Merger with Winchester
hierarchical_section_title: Simmons Hardware Company / Merger with Winchester
caption_attribution_description: E.C. Simmons, of Simmons_Hardware_Company
context_page_description: The Simmons Hardware Company was a hardware manufacturer based in St. Louis with locations in six states.
context_section_description: The company had used an aggressive system of business where it aimed to buy up its suppliers so that it had the choice of best machinery and they could give priority to their needs. The company would then sell off the excess capacity in these companies. Their Keen Kutter brand advertised nationally, and the KK initials were used for several of their other brands. In 1902 they bought the Walden Knife company in Walden New York. This was of interest when the Winchester Repeating Arms Company decided to include knives among their products. They merged with the Simmons Hardware Company, and moved the Walden machinery from New York to their base in Connecticut. The Winchester and Keen Kutter brands flourished during the 1920s but in 1929 they agreed to separate and Simmons returned to their core business. In October of the same year they sold the Keen Kutter Building in Wichita to Alfred Jonathon Harwi's who had a  hardware company in Atchison, Kansas.
caption: Edward C. Simmons
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