Andy, I don't know the exact date they started...but I do know George Lowe was the buyer for Schmelzer Arms Company who were a large sports equipment maker and retailer in Kansas City from the later 19th century...Kansas City was also the home of Lowe and Campbell...
George Lowe probably felt he could do it better than Schmelzer and ventured out on his own...I would speculate he started around the turn of the century..probably started small and grew....I scoured the net but it looks like you'd need deeper research...like micorfilm of the leadng newspaper of Kansas City at turn of the century.
http://www.sportsantiques.com/portlandpg6.htm
See above link, 8th paragraph down for a snipit of a reference in a brief profile I wrote on the Shmelzer Arms Company...which I culled from a 1930 Sporting Good Illustarted magazine.