Kenton Lock Co./Kenton Hardware Co.
The Kenton Lock Manufacturing Company of Kenton, Ohio added toys and banks to its production line in 1894 and the company’s name was changed to the Kenton Hardware Manufacturing Company. However, its reputation as a quality lock manufacturer was not lost, as bank enthusiasts today still marvel at the well-constructed nature of their banks’ locks. Soon after the company changed its name it was destroyed by fire in 1903. The company rose from its ashes in the short span of four months.
After the fire, the company joined a series of failed toy trusts. During this time, the Wing Manufacturing Company was moved to the Kenton plant, thereby incorporating the sale of Wing toys and banks into the Kenton catalog. Due to the declining nature of the trusts, Kenton plant operations were closed from February 1908 until February 1910 and many of their patterns were sold to competing manufactures such as J. & E. Stevens, the Grey Iron Casting Company and Jones and Bixler. This sale of patterns explains why many of the same banks were produced by different manufacturers.
In 1912, upon the final failure of the toy trusts, Kenton sales agent L. S. Bixler resurrected the company under the name of the Kenton Hardware Company. Until his death in 1951, Bixler’s leadership made Kenton a leader in toy and bank manufacture with the addition of several innovative designs, such as the radio and mailbox lines.