Figure 1.-- We do not see many toy cars in the 1900s, the autombile was not very common, bsically a play thing for the Rich. This changed with Henry Ford's Model-T (1908). Almost instaneouly, toy cars and trucks became a boy's staple. Not only toys, but we also begin to seen peddle cars. This photigraph was taken in October 1913. Put your cursor on the image for aniother view.

We see basically the same toys in the 1910s that were popular in the 1900s. An important new addition was toy cars. We see very few toy cars in the 1900s. We see all sorts of them in the 1910s. They did not take long to become a majpr toy item after Henry Ford came out with with the Model-T (1908). And ws do not just see cars, we see toy trucks as well as well as pedal cars of all sorts. Radio Flyer was ther first little red waggon (1917). And more and more kids had trikes and bikes. This include bith biys and girls, but were most poplar for boys. Construction sets wee a nmajor innovatioin. Erector Sets invented by Alfred Carlton Gilbert appeared for school age boys (1913). Gilbert got the idea for his kits while watching a construction site in New York City. It was the boys who wanted them--the sets girders made of stamped sheet steel. Erector sets were was the only construction set that contained a working electrical motor. Lincoln Logs for younger boys were created John Lloyd Wright (1916). This invplved interlocking beams looking like logs. Charles H. Pajeau designed another construction toy--Tinkertoy. A set containg wooden sticks and wooden spools with holes drilled in them for the sticks. We do not know of any particularly important new toy for the girls. The focus continued to be on domestic pursuits. Dolls were the major item along with doll houses and baby carriages. Raggedy Ann made her appearance (1915), was created by American author Johnny Gruelle. He wrote short stories about the doll. His doll was a rag doll with red yarn hair and a triangle nose. There were many more expesive types made in buisque and even porcelin. The Ouija board appeared in the 1910s. The movies began to beome an important part of American life. Hollywood energeds as the center of film production. Children commionly went to the movies saturday afternoon. Westerns fron the beginning were popular, especially with boys. Ienvitally the boys wanted cowboy regalia, incuding cowboy hats and toy guns. Caps guns were invntged (1860s), but were not all that common until well into the 20th century. We are not sure how much of the cowboy armament became available in the 1910s, but it ceratinly was by the 1920s. I would not be until lzter that caps guns became a boys's staple. We are not sure about the impact of World War I on toys in America. The War certainly impacted children's play. We see many images of boys playing War. This was just the boys, the girls rarely joined in the game. The Unired States did not enter the War for 3 years (1917). We do begin to see toy air planes.

Created: 7:02 AM 12/6/2021
Last updated: 7:02 AM 12/6/2021