Founded 1920, the Prairie du Chien Tool Co. made hand- and foot-powered grinders, especially those intended for agricultural use. Shortly after incorporating they claimed to be manufacturing "hand, foot and belt power grinders, drill presses, forges, anvils, vises, etc." This appears to have been aspirational rather than actual and we find no evidence that they manufactured any tools or machinery other than grinders, with the exception of mandrels that could be used for saws or grinders. Their grinder brand names included Prairie, Badger, Speeder, Sturdibilt, and Utility.

In 1940 the company name quietly changed to Prairie Tool Co. The company continued to operate for decades, and was presumably profitable into the 1990s. When the world wide web appeared they maintained a website. They must have been hard hit by the increased availability of competitive products from Japan, and then China. The company went under in about 2005.

Information Sources

• 1920-02-19 The Iron Trade Review (volume LXVI No. 8, page 596).

  Prairie du Chien, Wis.—Articles of incorporation have been filed by the Prairie du Chien Tool Co., capitalized at $50,000, for the purpose of engaging in the manufacture of tools, mechanical appliances, etc. The incorporators are Robert H. Kaftan, W. R. Graves and E. C. Amann.

  "Robert H. Kaftan" was perhaps "Robert A. Kaftan", partner in the Green Bay law firm of Kaftan & Reynolds.
• 1920-02-26 The Iron Trade Review (volume LXVI No. 9, page 660).

  Material and machine tools were purchased in the New York market recently by F. S. Hyland, general manager of the Prairie du Chien Tool Co., Prairie du Chien, Wis. This company recently commenced the manufacture of hand, foot and belt power grinders, drill presses, forges, anvils, vises, etc.

• May 1920 Outers' Recreation has an illustrated ad from Prairie du Chien Tool Co. for a pair of "Rownomore" hand-cranked propellers intended to replace boat oars. "Freedom at last from the tyranny of oars."
• 1920s issues of Dunn's International Review carry ads from Prairie du Chien Tool Co.; Google Books' "Snippet View" does not allow us to actually view the ads.
• March 1921 Steam, page 87.

  The Prairie du Chien Tool Co., Prairie du Chien, Wis., will issue $40,000 of preferred stock to provide more adequate working funds and finance the purchase of additional equipment, materials, etc. It manufactures tool grinders. Charles Grelle is president, and J. J. Wangard, works manager.

• 1921-09-22 Farm Implement News, page 23.

  Tool Grinders for Farmers—The Prairie du Chien Tool Co., Prairie du Chien, Wis., has issued a catalog which illustrates the copmany's Speeder tool grinders, especially designed for the farm implement trade. They are adapted to work on sickles, scythes, plowshares, ensilage knives, cultivator shovels, harrow discs and other farm devices.

• 1921-10-20 Farm Implement News, page 26.

  The Prairie du Chien Tool Co., Prairie du Chien, Wis., which specializes in a line of grinders designed for farm purposes, is now operating its factory full time six days a week to meet a steady increase in orders. More men are being added to the force.

• 1922-04-01 Automobile Topics, page 604.

  Prairie du Chien Tool Co., Prairie du Chien, Wis., has increased its capital stock from $50,00 to $150,000.

• 1922-11-09 Manufacturers' News, page 28.

  Prairie du Chien Tool Co., Prairie du Chien; Increasing from $50,000 to $100,000. Pres., C. C. Grelle. Sec'y L. L. Schwingle [sic; should be "Swingle"].

  Other reports from the same time are roughly even split on the increased capitalization being $100,000 or $150,000.
• 1922 Engineering Directory lists under the category of Grinders, "Prairie du Chien Tool Co., Prairie du Chien, Wis. Trade names—Prairie, Speeder, Sturdibilt."
• 1923 issue of Farm Implement News Buyers Guide (volume 32) lists Prairie du Chien Tool Co., Prairie du Chien, Wisc., in the categories of Emery Grinders (Power—Farm); Grindstones and Fixtures (Foot Power); Grindstones (Engine Power—Farm); Knife Grinders (Lawn Mower). From page 517:

  Prairie du Chien Tool Co., Prairie du Chien
  Hand, foot and belt power tool grinding machines.
  Jobbers: American Avenue Hdwe Co., Long Beach, Cal.; Harper & Reynolds Co., Los Angeles, Cal.; Hoffman Hdwe. Co., Los Angeles, Cal.; Southwest Hdwe. Co., Los Angeles, Cal.; Tritch Hdwe. Co., Denver, Colo.; Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co., Chicago, Ill.; Luthy & Co., Peoria, Ill.; Blish, Mize & Silliman Hdwe Co., Atchison, Kan.; Janney, Semple, Hill & Co., Minneapolis, Minn.; Farwell, Ozmun, Kirk & Co., St. Paul, Minn.; The Tucker Co., Inc., 75 Murray St., New York N. Y.; Gates-Nichols Wholesale Hdwe. Co., Tulsa, Okla.; L. E. Spencer Co., Nashville, Tenn.; Morrow-Thomas Hdwe. Co. Amarillo, Tex.; Huey & Philip Hdwe. Co., Dallas, Tex.; Momson-Dunnegan-Ryan Co., El Paso, Tex.

• 1940-07-25 Hardware Age, page 274, under the categories of Knife Grinders and Sickle and Mower Knife Grinders: Prairie Tool Co., Prairie du Chien, Wis. "Sturdibilt".
• 2015 book, Legendary Locals of Prairie du Chien, by Mary Elise Antoine, page 27.

  Charles Grelle Sr., a cabinetmaker and undertaker, had been mayor of Prairie du Chien for four terms. In 1900, his son, Charles Jr., and he built a new structure of the site of the original Grelle cabinet shop. Two blocks east on Bluff Street, Charles Jr. operated a dry-goods business. About 1910, Charles Jr. (pictures) began to invest in other commercial ventures. He and four other men opened the Prairie du Chien Canning Company. A few years later, Grelle, W. R. Graves, E. C. Amann, and Lawrence Swingle began the Prairie du Chien Tool Factory...

• Their now-defunct website provided the year the company was established. The archive.org archive of their site provides a timeline that suggests the company survived into 2005 but likely not beyond that.
• findagrave.com entries for Frank Smith Hyland (1880-1940), Robert A. Kaftan (1878-1844), William Roswell Graves, Eugene Charles Amann (1878-1959), Charles Henry Grelle, Jr. (1867-1935), and Lawrence Leslie Swingle (1895-1990). We were unable to find any information on the works manager in 1921, J. J. Wangard.