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Gene Autry saved the day for central Ohio community

By KATHLEEN L. FORD
Antique Week Correspondent

KENTON, Ohio — Kenton is just a small town in central Ohio, but it’s earned a big place in history. It is known to toy collectors worldwide for the fine cast-iron toys produced there from 1893 to 1952. It also is famous for its ties to Gene Autry, the popular singing cowboy, who saved both the toy factory and the town.

Tim Striker, president of the Kenton Toy Collectors, said the factory, known worldwide for its toys, was founded in 1890 as Kenton Lock Manufacturing Co. Its earliest catalog, dated 1892, showed door locks, keys, hinges and a wide selection of other hardware. The company entered the toy business in 1893. “They could make more money producing toys than hardware,” Striker explained.

Bob Saylor, Kenton Toy authority and club member, said the first known cast-iron toy produced in Kenton was the Columbia Bank, which was an ornate, domed building modeled after the landmark Administration Building at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. It was made in several sizes with various finishes. With its fine casting, careful construction and realistic details, the high-quality bank successfully launched the company into the toy business.

The factory steadily expanded its line of toys, changing its name to Kenton Hardware Manufacturing Co. in 1894. Striker said when its first toy catalog came out in 1900, it featured more than 100 cast-iron toys, including horse-drawn fire engines and floor trains.
The catalogs of 1901 and 1902 depicted an even wider selection of toys and banks.

Kenton Hardware quickly established itself as a major player in the toy business, but it faced many obstacles throughout its nearly 60-year run. Trouble struck in 1903 when the factory was destroyed by fire. After it was rebuilt, the factory reopened in 1904 as a branch of National Novelty Corporation, a trust of manufacturers. The corporation appointed Lewis Bixler as general manager of the Kenton factory. Striker said Bixler became an important and respected leader who obtained many patents for Kenton Toys.
The factory underwent several ownership changes from 1908 to 1912. National Novelty went into receivership and a second trust, known as Hardware and Woodenware Manufacturing Company, took over in 1908. When this second trust went under in 1912, Kenton Hardware Co. was incorporated by Bixler and several local investors.  
Although Kenton residents were hopeful the company was back on track in local hands, the road ahead remained difficult. The 1914 Tariff Act increased competition from foreign toy makers, while World War I caused a shortage of fuel and materials. Bixler managed to pull the factory through the hard times, and by the 1920s Kenton’s toy business was booming under his leadership. The 1923 catalog included more than 700 toys.

Saylor pointed out that designing hundreds of toys required hard work and ingenuity. In 1923, company leaders wanted to make a toy taxi, but there were no cabs in Kenton to use as a model. They sent their master mold maker, Joe Soloman, to Toledo where he stood on the city street corner sketching taxi cabs. He transformed his sketches into a mold to make the realistic toy Yellow Cab.
Saylor said Bixler’s many business contacts helped him obtain other models for toys. In the neighboring town of Marion, the Marion Power Shovel was made, while in nearby Findlay they produced Buckeye ditching machines. Bixler had a full-sized power shovel and ditcher delivered to the factory for Joe Soloman to copy. The resulting toys were detailed miniature versions of the real equipment.

The factory’s good times came to an end during the Great Depression. Bixler struggled to keep the factory open without laying off any employees. Striker reported that everyone kept working, but they were down to two days a week. They needed something to stimulate toy sales.

Company vice president, Willard Bixler, the son of Lewis Bixler, came up with the idea they needed. They had a new design for a cap gun with an innovative cap advancer, but it was costly to produce and too pricey for buyers. Willard Bixler thought the new gun would sell if they could find a famous person to endorse it. Meanwhile, Gene Autry, a rising cowboy star, was looking for something to put his name on for publicity.

“The marriage happened right there,” said Bob Bailey, a leading expert on Kenton cap pistols. Gene Autry sent one of his movie guns to copy and the first Gene Autry Repeating Cap Pistol came out in February of 1938.

To everyone’s surprise, Gene Autry’s name provided the perfect stimulus to excite buyers and make the cap guns an immediate sensation. At Autry’s request, the cap guns had a minimum price of 50 cents. His royalty was 2 1/2 cents per gun with a $300 guarantee the first year, but Autry’s first royalty check was for $12,000.
After the sale of the millionth cap gun, Gene Autry visited Kenton on Aug. 8, 1938, where he received a hero’s welcome for putting the toy factory back to work. It was Autry’s only visit to Kenton, but the factory continued to capitalize on the cowboy’s popularity for years by producing variations of the Gene Autry cap gun. For example, the 1940 version featured his name in script on plastic grips. The final model, made in 1950, was an engraved Gene Autry cap pistol.

Unfortunately, even the famous cowboy couldn’t stop the company’s decline in the period after World War II. “There were a lot of things working against the factory,” Striker explained. Japanese and German toy factories were rebuilt after the war, which strengthened Kenton’s competition.

Also in the 1950s plastic and tin toys were introduced, while the high cost of shipping cast-iron further hurt the business. To make matters worse, several key company leaders died in the early 1950s, including Lewis Bixler and Joe Solomon. Kenton Hardware’s final toy catalog came out in 1952 and the company officially dissolved in 1956. 

Today’s collectors of Kenton Toys need to be well-informed because most of the toys produced in Kenton were unmarked. Reproductions also exist, but Striker said authentic Kenton Toys have a distinctively smooth finish, while reproductions have rough and gritty castings. Kenton toys also are well-constructed with joints that fit properly.

Bailey, Saylor and Striker agreed that current economic conditions and changes in the interests of collectors have softened the prices of the most common Kenton Toys, but high-quality items and rare toys are holding their value.

Bailey said novice collectors can pick up some of the most common cap pistols for $30 or $40, but the top-selling, engraved Gene Autry cap pistol can shoot to $1,000. He noted that the original box for a Gene Autry gun can sell for $500. Prices on other toys vary widely depending on rarity and condition. At the high end of the spectrum, Striker cited RSL Auction Company’s toy auction in Maryland last fall where a Mrs. Katzenjammer mechanical bank, circa 1907, sold for $45,000. The buyer’s premium pushed the hard-to-find Kenton bank over the $50,000 mark. For Kenton toy collectors, it was a positive sign that interest in Kenton Toys is still alive and well.

•One of the best places to learn about Kenton Toys and the Gene Autry connection is Hardin County Historical Museum in Kenton.
•Gene Autry Days, June 26-27, is Kenton’s annual western festival including dealers selling antique cast-iron toys, cap guns and western memorabilia.

4/7/2010