I went into the booklet I had written about hammer guns and found some information there.
When L.C. Smith sold the gun works to John Hunter (Sr.) in 1888-89, in the contract he stipulated that the L.C. Smith name would be used on the guns, John Hunter agreed and the L.C. Smith name lived on.
This brings us to part of the mystery when Hunter Arms Co. actually started making guns. Both Brophy and Houchins say it was 1890. They go on to say that John Hunter had to have a building large enough for building guns and so he had one made in Fulton. The truth is, the building was already there, it was an old building to begin with, built in the 1860’s and was not in the best of condition. A quote from the Fulton Patriot, Fulton, New York,
Wednesday April 12, 1899 Number 15. “………..from the original building, the workers have enlarged from time to time, as necessities compelled, until present time finds them occupying the main structure, 220 x 50 feet four stories in height together with four other small buildings. Output has increased from 3,000 guns in 1889 to a quadrupled volume, and in 1899 will show an annual output of twelve thousand (12,000) guns. I apologize for the number of guns made the first year, I stated 12,000 and it was 3,000 So as stated in article, production did begin in 1889 in Fulton with workers that came from Syracuse .
I hope this settles this.