FBG Project 049 - Appendix
• Source: JDG-1
Simmons Hardware Co — Subsequent Tenants
With the two main buildings and the office extension built for Simmons Hardware and Haley & Lang Co, the actual tenants of the buildings varied right from the start.
- Simmons Hardware became the regional variant Dymond-Simmons Hardware, and that was the first name painted across the building facade.
- Haley & Lang declined to exercise their lease option, possibly because of business changes related to the co-branding of the main business.
- Two local businesses moved into part of the unused Haley & Lang building: Kingsbury & Tyler, a grocery wholesaler who no doubt made use of the refrigerated cooler rooms, and a small amount of space for the Wright, Barrett & Stilwell Paper Co.
- Both businesses were evicted within a year or two as Dymond-Simmons expanded and needed the space. They turned the 1-story office extension into a showroom for company goods, and remained the building's only tenant from about 1908-09 until the company went under about 1932.
Simmons Hardware merged with firearms maker Winchester in 1922, becoming Winchester-Simmons. The merger was dissolved in 1929 and both companies went back to their original names and ownership structures. Simmons was out of gas, though, and went into bankruptcy in 1932. Other companies picked up their still-viable Keen Kutter product line, but the company itself disappeared.
The Sioux City warehouse was vacant by 1933 and stood empty until the Kollman-Warner Seed company occupied part of it from 1939-1941.
The Sioux City Battery Co then took over from 1944-1956, producing Ray-O-Vac batteries. The building became locally known as “the Battery Building,” a name still casually attached and familiar to locals.
The Bomgaars Co occupied the building for a time, “recently” according to the 2008 NRHP report, but by that time the building was again empty, and stood empty through various conversion schemes by the city until it was remodeled and renovated into a Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in 2013-14, which it remains.