The early years of the 20th century were very different from today. Toys, although they have evolved in many ways, remained the delight of children around the world. Explore the history of toys, as traced by the History website.
The Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency marks the beginning of the “Teddy Bear.” In 1902, the toy bears were named “Teddy” after the president’s nickname. The teddy bear became known all over the world and is still known and loved today. It was only a few years later that teddy bears were mass-produced.
Crayola crayons were first made in 1903 by Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith.
In 1913, an item called the Erector Set was invented. It was a motorized steel toy that children could use to build models of almost anything. Its creator was AC Gilbert, a physician.
Charles Pajeau created a similar wooden game called Tinker Toys in 1914. Tinker Toys was made for younger children.
Raggedy Ann dolls first appeared on the scene after newspaper cartoonist Johnny Gruelle reproduced the doll he made for his daughter. That was in 1915.
The following year, the son of an architect named John Lloyd Wright, invented Lincoln Logs, which were interwoven to make structures.
Polystyrene was invented in 1927 and is the type of plastic that was used to make toys in the early days.
Two years after the creation of Mickey Mouse (which was in 1928), Charlotte Clark made Mickey Mouse stuffed animals. This was the beginning of Disney merchandise.
The yo-yo became popular in the United States after Donald Duncan bought a yo-yo company in 1929.
Scrabble developed from a game called Criss Cross, invented by Alfred M. Butts in 1931. It became known as Scrabble after James Brunot bought the rights to Butts and registered the game under this new name. Now more than a million Scrabble games are purchased each year in North America.
In 1935, the Parker brothers introduced Monopoly. This game is so popular today that there are many different clones of this game, many of which are equally popular.
The View-Master, a three-dimensional viewer, was developed by a camera enthusiast named William Gruber. The toy became popular when Gruber licensed Disney characters to make 3-D still images of Disney movies and television shows.
Finally, in 1940, model airplanes were mass-produced. They started out as a way for manufacturers to sell airplanes to the military, but later became a toy.
The toys we know and love today have their roots in these ancient times. Isn’t it interesting to know that if it weren’t for all these creative people, most of the games you know today would never have been?
