Top Ten Toys of Yesterday: 1900-1920

It is amazing that so many toys sold in stores today were created a hundred years ago and were the "IT" toy of their time. Several toys from the Turn of the Century are standards in every toy box of every modern day child.

Top Ten Toys of Yesterday: 1900-1920

1. Teddy Bears

Most people have heard the story about President Teddy Roosevelt being the inspiration for modern day teddy bears. For those who haven't heard, the story goes that while on a hunting trip in November of 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt's frustration over not finding any worthy game prompted his staff to capture a black bear cup and tie it to a tree for him to shoot. President Roosevelt refused to shoot the bear, spared it's life, setting it free. A political cartoonist (Clifford Berryman from the Washington Star) used that incident to illustrate how The President dealt with another issue in the news (a boundary dispute). The story then follows that a toy store owner in New York, Morris Michtom, created a stuffed bear for his store to match the bear illustrated in the cartoon. After that bear's sales took off, Michtom got permission from The President to use his name on the toy, and there we have the Teddy Bear.

Michtom took the proceeds from those sales to start the famous Ideal Toy Company in 1903.

Teddy Bears became famous across the Nation and by 1915, every child had to have their own Teddy Bear. That much has not changed much in all these years. Practically every child in the United States has at least one teddy bear in their toy collection.

2. Erector Set

The Erector Set is one of the most popular toys of all time and has managed incredible staying power throughout generations.

Created by former Gold Metal Olympian (Pole Vault in 1908) A.C. Gilbert, the Erector Set made it's debut in the very first toy advertising campaign in 1913. Then, it was called The Mysto Erector Structural Steel Builder.

Gilbert was inspired by watching workers set and rivet steel beams for the electrical powerline tower they were building. He was taking the train from his home in Connecticut to New York City at the time. While watching these workers, he decided to create a children's construction kit that was more than a toy. It would be something they could use to create and build and add to.

Today, children still find building and creating new things an adventure using a toy that their great great grandparents played with.

3. Lionel Trains

It is difficult to imagine that Lionel Trains have been around since 1901. Of course, the first train was used attract customers through the famous New York City window displays, but it was not long before consumers wanted them in their own homes.

The Electric Express, Joshua Lionel Cowen's first model train, was created in 1901 by fitting a small motor under a model of a railroad flatcar. The motor was powered by a battery and the Electric Express ran around thirty inches of track. By 1953, Lionel Corporation was the largest toy manufacturer in the world.

As Lionel Trains still race around Christmas trees all across this Country today, Lionel Trains was named on the top 10 toys of the 20th Century.

4. Lincoln Logs

After seeing how a hotel his father designed survive an earthquake in Tokyo, Japan, John Lloyd Wright (son of architect Frank Lloyd Wright) was inspired to create a building toy using interlocking pieces, similar to the hotel's design. Lincoln Logs were introduced to the market in 1916 and were a big hit.

Educational advocates play a part in the success of this toy as, early on, they saw how this toy challenged children's concentration and eye-hand coordination. Lincoln Logs were the first toy to ever be promoted on television (1953).

Lincoln Logs have remained a favorite of parents who look for creative, yet safe and durable toys.

5. Raggedy Ann

Newspaper cartoonist, Johnny Gruelle can be thanked for this cherished favorite. He had this doll made for his daughter and decided to begin selling copies. Those copies have found their way into countless homes, even today.

6. Radio Flyer Wagon

Already known as a toy wagon maker, Antonio Pasin, chose to name his toys in a way to capture the spirit of the era he lived in. In 1917, the radio was the newest invention everyone was talking about. As a radio worked by waves of sound, the idea of naming his newest wagon after flying radio waves, thus the Radio Flyer was born and became the icon of his company.

7. Tinker Toys

Designed for children too young for Erector Sets, Tinker Toys were made with little hands in mind. Creator, Charles Pajeau was actually inspired by watching young children poke sticks into empty spools of thread.

The story of this toy is very interesting. Pajeau designed the first set in his garage and took his toy to the 1914 American Toy Fair where nobody cared about his creation. That Christmas, he hired several little people to dress as elves and play with his toy in a Chicago department store window. Within one year, over a million sets were sold.

Tinker Toys are still attracting little hands to tinker and create.

8. Crayons

Crayola Crayons debuted their first box of eight crayons in 1903 and have not looked back. Creators Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith could not have imagined that their new product would become a necessity in every classroom in the Country.

9. Tin Toys

Even though tin toys were being produced in Germany for years, it was not until the Turn of the Century before American companies began producing these toys, thus making them available wide scale throughout the Country. These toys were made from metal, covered with tin and painted. Many were mechanical in nature. A lot of people think of them as "wind up toys."

10. Tiddlywinks

Today, this classic child's game has become a professional sport. Tiddlywinks are still sold in stores and marketed to children, but most players today are adults who enter competitions held around the world.

Tiddlywinks is a simple game played with small discs, called winks. The winks lay on a flat surface and players use a large disc, called a squidger, to pop the winks into the air. They do this by pressing the squidger down on one side of the wink. The goal is to get your winks into the cup. Adult competitors also attempt to have their winks land on top of their opponents' winks, thus creating more difficulty for the other player.

Creator, Eugene Tiedler owned a clock making shop where his workers would keep their spirits up by playing simple games. One of those was where the men would use disc shaped scraps of wood and try to flip them into their co-worker's drinking cup. As the discs were the scraps from making the eyes of owls for the clocks, one worker happened to call the discs the owls' winks and it soon caught on. After the game and the name caught on throughout the city of Cincinnati, Tiedler decided to quickly design a set of rules and began painting the discs in bright colors. He marketed the game as "Tiedler's Winks" and stopped making clocks by the year 1889. By the Turn of the Century, Tiedler's Winks had spread across the Country and in 1938, was renamed Tiddlywinks when Parker Brothers bought the rights.