Keen Kutter and Other E.C. Simmons and Shapleigh Hardware Masonry Tools

Tools sold by E.C. Simmons Hardware Co. and Shapleigh Hardware Co., both of St. Louis, MO, are some of the most collectible tools in the United States.

Edward C. Simmons entered the hardware business as an apprentice at age 16, and after 7 years at 2 firms, he was made a partner in 1863. A year later the business reorganized as Waters, Simmons & Co., and in 1870 Isaac W. Morton replaced Mr. Waters, and the name changed to E. C. Simmons & Co. The company grew rapidly, based on an ambitiously wide distribution area and house brands to fix the company’s identity in the customer’s mind. According to one account, Simmons was the first nationwide hardware brand based on a catalog, the "Hardware Encyclopedia", with thousands of illustrated pages. Simmons established warehouses in Sioux City, IA, Wichita, KS, Minneapolis, MN, Toledo, OH, New York City, and Ogden, UT.

E.C. Simmons warehouses

Simmons’s many brands included Keen Kutter, Enders, Oak Leaf, Chipaway, Polly Prim, Run Easy, Blue Brand,  Delmar, Sterling, American, Delft, Van Dyke, and Wonder. Wikipedia states that Keen Kutter was first used by Simmons in 1866, adopted as a trademark in 1870, and was used on their highest quality tools and cutlery.

Keen Kutter pointing trowel

By 1929, Simmons Hardware was over-extended and began selling some of its assets, and by 1939 it was in bankruptcy. In 1940, rival Shapleigh Hardware Co. purchased Simmons. Shapleigh continued to use the Keen Kutter trademark, modifying it by replacing "E.C. Simmons" at the top of the logo with “Shapleigh”. Shapleigh continued to use Keen Kutter on products until they also went out of business in 1960. Val-Test Distributors of Chicago, IL, a wholesale hardware buyers group, bought the Keen Kutter trademark and used it on a limited number of products until the 1990s.

Keen Kutter and Shapleigh edgers

The Keen Kutter brand was used on brick, pointing, and finishing trowels, cement tools, and putty knives. Oak Leaf and Chipaway were also used on some masonry tools. One distinguishing characteristic of Keen Kutter and other Simmons brands is that the logo was usually etched or cast into the item, and were more durable than the paper labels and decals used by other wholesalers and retailers. Shapleigh’s brands before 1940 included Diamond Edge, Bridge Tool Co., Columbia, Longwear, and Mizzou. Bridge Tool and Shapleigh were used on masonry tools. Here are pages with masonry tools from these catalogs:

Simmons Keen Kutter Catalogue No. 776

Bridge Tool Co. edger (Shapleigh)

Simmons Keen Kutter 1939 Catalog
Shapleigh Hardware 1959 Catalog

Keen Kutter products are popular enough to have been faked, and fakes are common at antique shops. Although I have not seen fake masonry tools, this article is worth reading:

Keen Kutter Fakes and Reproductions, by Mark Chervenka

Montgomery Ward & Co. Lakeside Tools

American retailer Montgomery Ward & Co. used Lakeside Saw & Tool Co. and Lakeside as house brand names for tools, knives, razors, cutlery, and other items. Many of these items did not carry the Montgomery Ward name, and gave the impression that Lakeside was an independent manufacturer. Because there is no published history of the Lakeside brand to set the record straight, that has led to much speculation on internet forums on the maker of Lakeside tools. Lakeside Saw & Tool Co. was incorporated 24 January, 1908, with a token $1,000 of capital stock, and address at 120 Michigan Ave., Chicago. By 1911, its address was 108 W. Chicago Ave. Both locations were Montgomery Ward's buildings. On this evidence, we conclude that Lakeside Saw & Tool Co. was a subsidiary of Montgomery Ward & Co. Other subsidiaries in 1911 were Lakeside Foundry Co. and Lakeside Implement & Vehicle Co.

Certified List of Illinois Corporations, 1911

Lakeside Saw & Tool logo

Researching the history of the Lakeside brand would be easy with access to Ward’s catalogs over the 128 years the company operated. However, only the 1916 and 1920 have been scanned and are available for viewing and download. These are on Archive.org, and I have edited both down to the pages with tools. Based on these, we can say that the Lakeside brand was well-established by 1916 and was used on their first-quality items. According to a limited-view Google scan of a 1950 Montgomery Ward catalog, another brand had replaced Lakeside by that time. Wards Master Quality tools were higher priced than Lakeside tools.

As with other house brands like Sears Craftsman, Lakeside tools were likely manufactured by various independent companies. These would have contracted with Montgomery Ward to supply items of a specified quality with the Lakeside name etched, stamped, or on a label or decal. Because Ward guaranteed satisfaction with their goods, it was imperative that Ward buy items free of defects. Based on tools that have survived, we know that Lakeside tools were well-finished. Where the tool allowed it, the Lakeside logo is large with impressive script. In the picture above, notice the MW worked into the design, for Montgomery Ward.

In 1916-20, the Lakeside line included a full selection of brick and plasterer's trowels, cement tools, and stone tools.

Montgomery Ward 1916 catalog pages with tools

Montgomery Ward 1920 catalog pages with tools

Montgomery Ward 1916 catalog, page 904 

Montgomery Ward 1920 catalog, page 907

Ward's Master Quality forged brick trowel

Sears Roebuck & Co. Masonry Tools

Throughout the 20th century, Sears Roebuck & Co. was the largest mail order company and probably the most recognizable retailer in the United States. Tools that Sears sold have benefited from that popularity. Sears contracted with manufacturers to make most items with Sears brand names, and this private label manufacturing continues today. Unfortunately for tool collectors and historians, Sears has not revealed who those makers were. A considerable amount of time and effort has been spent by those collectors and historians to determine who the manufacturers were, and this research is ongoing at websites like Alloy Artifacts.

Sears Roebuck was founded by Richard W. Sears (1863-1914) in 1886 in Minneapolis, MN, and moved to Chicago IL in 1887, where Alvah C. Roebuck joined the business. Initially they sold watches and jewelry by mail, and quickly expanded to include many other household items. In 1893 the business became Sears, Roebuck and Co. By 1895 the firm was producing a 532-page catalog with "shoes, women's garments and millinery, wagons, fishing tackle, stoves, furniture, china, musical instruments, saddles, firearms, buggies, bicycles, baby carriages and glassware, in addition to watches and jewelry” (source of quote). Chicago clothing manufacturer Julius Rosenwald bought into the company in 1895, becoming vice president, and then Roebuck resigned because of poor health. Growing rapidly, the firm moved to a new 6-story building in 1896, and continued to build and lease other buildings in Chicago. In 1905 construction started on a 41-acre plant and office building on Chicago's West Side. When it opened in 1906, the 9 story, 3 million square foot mail order plant was the largest business building in the world.

Sears tool brands include Fulton Tool Company, Craftsman, Dunlap, and Sears. Their masonry tools sold in the past included a brick trowel, pointing trowel, finishing trowel, concrete edger, concrete groover, brick hammer, and other common masonry tools. Here are the pages with masonry tools from 6 Sears catalogs from 1957 to 1972, with the cover pages to identify the year.  

Sears did not register Fulton Tool Company as a trademark, but no single maker has been found for the wide variety of tools that Sears sold with the Fulton name. Fulton tools began appearing in 1908 catalogs, and included hand saws, crosscut saws, axes, planes, chisels, hammers, pliers, and more. The only references I have found for Fulton as a tool maker are an Ohio manufacturer of mining tools and a file and rasp maker in Brooklyn, NY.

The famous Sears Craftsman brand dates to the 1927 registration of the Craftsman trademark, and a history of the brand is on the Sears Archive at Craftsman History. Craftsman masonry tools include a forged brick trowel, brick hammer, brick jointer, and brick chisel.

Craftsman 6553 11 inch brick trowel

The Dunlap brand was primarily a line of economy tools that sold from 1938 to at least 1960. It may have been named after Tom Dunlap, the manager of the Sears hardware division from the 1930s through the 1950s. Sears filed a trademark application for Dunlap in 1938 and the trademark was issued in 1939. Dunlap tools first appeared in the in the 1938-1939 Fall and Winter Sears catalogs. The Dunlap name replaced some tools that had previously sold as Fulton or Merit (wrenches). Dunlap masonry tools sold on eBay and elsewhere include a variety of masonry tools.

Dunlap cast iron edger & groover