F.W. Planert & Sons, est. 1898

Museum Artifact: Planert Ice Skate Sharpening Jig (1910s) and Ice Skate Box (1930s)

Made By: F.W. Planert & Sons, Inc., 935-941 N Damen Ave., Chicago, IL

“Perfect design—perfect alignment—perfect fit and perfect performance. The New Planert All Steel—Full Tubular Skates are now the most popular of all skates. Their beautiful stream lines—their perfect fitting fine leather shoes and wonderful quality steel construction has won the hearts of every boy and girl who appreciates speed,

Model-Craft, Inc., est. 1942

Museum Artifact: Kay Stanley’s Model-Craft Molding & Coloring Set No. 3A – “Cowboys and Indians”, c. 1950s

Made By: Model-Craft, Inc., 521 W. Monroe St., Chicago, IL

“Five feet two and weighing 117 pounds, Kay Stanley can be as tough as a truck driver and as charming as a Perle Mesta. At home at any machine in her factory, she is still a charming hostess in her near North Side apartment in Chicago,

TinkerToy, est. 1914

Museum Artifact: Tinkertoy Wonder Builder Set, c. 1930s

Made By: The Toy Tinkers, Inc., 2012 Ridge Ave., Evanston, IL

“Toys haven’t been considered a ‘regular business’ in the United States until very recent years. We relied on Japan and Europe to supply our children; and, by and large, a very inferior article they supplied. But toys are coming up here in a business way these days,

Chicago Roller Skate Co., est. 1905

Museum Artifacts: Chicago Roller Skates w/ White Boots and No. 78 SPL Wheels (c. 1939),  Chicago Roller Skates w/ Brown Boots (c. 1945), and Chicago Skates without boots (c. 1920s)

Made By: Chicago Roller Skate Company, 4458 W. Lake St., Chicago, IL

“They used to call him ‘Slow-Poke’ when he had those old-fashioned, slow, hard-rolling skates. But, Oh Boy! On ‘Chicagos’ he whizzes to the lead like a flash.

Exhibit Supply Company, est. 1901

Museum Artifact: “Blind Dates” Arcade Collector Cards, 1941

Made By: Exhibit Supply Company, 4222-4230 W. Lake Street, Chicago, IL

“One cannot mention the words ‘penny arcade’ without thinking of the Exhibit Supply Company of Chicago. For over twenty-seven years its president, Mr. J. Frank Meyer, has been engaged in his tireless task of advancing the arcade business. Today, the acorn of more than a score of years ago has developed into a giant oak tree and the Exhibit Supply Company has become the symbol of all that is fine in the line of penny arcade machines.” —Bernard Madorsky (Eastern Distributor for Exhibit Supply Co.),

Playskool MFG Co., est. 1928

Museum Artifact: Playskool Crib Rail Boat Toy, c. 1960

Made By: Playskool Manufacturing Company, 1750 N. Lawndale Ave.

“Next to baby-sitting grandmothers, the stylized wooden toys made by a Chicago firm called Playskool Manufacturing Co. may well be the greatest parent-savers of the age. Two-year olds have been known to play with a Playskool gadget for up to fifteen minutes without once bothering mommy or daddy—and that is about as long as any toy,

American Flyer MFG Co., est. 1907

Museum Artifact: Wide Gauge “Pocahontas” Electric Model Train Set with No. 4637 “Shasta” Locomotive, c. 1928, and O-Gauge Cast Iron Locomotive No. 3195, c. 1930.

Made by: American Flyer MFG Co., 2229 S. Halsted St., Chicago, IL

“Just Like Real Trains: The new 1928 American Flyer Rainbow Line radiates an atmosphere of supreme quality. Its exquisite beauty, realistic design, and skillful workmanship will instantly capture your admiration.

Bally MFG Company, est. 1932

Museum Artifact: Bally Mechanical Slot Machine Reel, c. 1930s

Made By: Bally MFG Co., 2640 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago, IL

Bally is one of the most recognizable and yet seemingly untethered brand names in America. It’s been associated—depending on your age and demographic—with arcade video games, casinos, rollercoaster theme parks, fitness club chains, and, starting in 2021, a stable of regional TV sports networks.

Superior Marking Equipment Co., est. 1893

Museum Artifact: Superior “CUB” Kids Rotary Printing Press No. 8401, c. 1950s

Made By: Superior Marking Equipment Co. / SMECO (aka Superior Rubber Type Co.), 1800 W. Larchmont Ave., Chicago, IL

Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.

Mills Novelty Company, est. 1891

Museum Artifact: Mills “Poinsettia” Slot Machine, c. 1929

Made By: Mills Novelty Company, 4100 W. Fullerton Ave., Chicago, IL

On Loan From: Klairmont Kollections

Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.

Monark Silver King, Inc., est. 1934

Museum Artifact: Monark Silver King “Roadster” Girls Bicycle, 1950s

Made By: Monark Silver King, Inc., 6501 W. Grand Ave.

“Now—An Aluminum Bicycle! The same metal which made possible present-day high-speed trains and airplanes, makes the frame of the new-type SILVER KING bicycle. Aluminum alloy—much lighter than steel, but with 3 times the tensile strength, weight for weight. Gives faster speed, greater strength, and snappier appearance.” —advertisement for the first Monark Silver King bicycle,

Halsam Products Co. & Elgo Plastics, est. 1917

 

Museum Artifact: Elgo American Plastic Bricks set No. 705 (1950s) and Halsam Double Twelve Club Dominoes (1960s)

Made By: Halsam Products Co., 4114 N. Ravenswood Ave., Chicago, IL

Upon encountering an old cylindrical cardboard container of “American Plastic Bricks by Elgo,” nine out of ten people are likely to make the same spontaneous assumption—that they’re looking at a cheap knockoff of LEGO.

Gateway Engineering Co., est. 1933

Museum Artifact: Gateway Junior Model NP-1 Sewing Machine, c. 1950

Made By: Gateway Engineering Company / Gateway Erectors, Inc., 233 W. Grand Ave., Chicago, IL

“The Toy Sewing Machine that really sews!” —1948 advertisement for the Gateway Junior Model

Produced only for a short time from the late 1940s into the 1950s, the Gateway line of toy sewing machines represents a case study in a business making the most out of its extraneous materials.

Nestor Johnson MFG Co., est. 1912

Museum Artifact: Johnsons Ice Skates, c. 1960s

Made By: Nestor Johnson MFG Co., 1900 N. Springfield Ave., Chicago, IL

“The first pair of tubular skates made in the United States or Canada were made in Chicago by Nestor Johnson. . . . He made the only really important change in centuries of skate making. From the old flat steel or solid type skate to the All Steel,

Langson Manufacturing Co. / LMCO, est. 1923

Museum Artifact: LMCO Cody Colt Paper Buster Gun, 1950s

Made By: Langson MFG Co., 4200 W. Wrightwood Ave., Chicago, IL

It might have the look and sound of a typical cowboy-themed cap gun from the 1950s, but there’s something a tad different about the LMCO “Cody Colt”—something that helps distinguish Chicago’s Langson Manufacturing Company from most of the competing toy gun manufacturers of its era.

Allied MFG Co., est. 1934

Museum Artifact: Komic Kamera Film Strip Viewer, 1934

Made By: Allied MFG Co., 1338 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL

Once upon a time, during a fleeting moment of optimism smack dab in the solar plexus of the Great Depression, an 18 year-old kid named Harold B. Shapiro applied for a patent on a device he called a “film exhibitor”—a small bakelite box intended for the “direct viewing of scenic or other picture films .

Skil-Craft Corporation, est. 1949

Museum Artifact: Handy Andy Tool Set with Blue Diamond Tools, c. 1960s

Made By: Skil Craft Corporation, 325 W. Huron St., Chicago, IL

Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.

TootsieToy & the Dowst MFG Co., est. 1876

Museum Artifacts: TootsieToy Die-Cast Cars: No. 4655 Ford Model A Coupe and No. 4629 Sedan, c. 1928

Made By: Dowst Brothers / Dowst Manufacturing Co., 4537 W. Fulton St., Chicago, IL

Chicago-based brothers Charles and Samuel Dowst were arguably as foundational to the toy car industry as Henry Ford was to the real thing. It was work on a significantly smaller scale,

Carl Goldberg Models, Inc., est. 1955

Museum Artifact: Stunt Man 23 Model Airplane Kit, c. 1970

Made By: Carl Goldberg Models, Inc., 4734 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL

Unless you’ve been a model airplane enthusiast at some point in your life, the name Carl Goldberg might not mean much to you. For several generations of young, aspiring aeronautical engineers, however, his work probably mattered more than anything Charles Lindbergh ever did.

Electric Corp. of America, est. 1942

Museum Artifact: Hand Painted Baseball Figurine, 1940s

Made By: Electric Corp. of America / ECA Toys, Inc. / ECA MFG Co., 2518 W. Montrose Ave., Chicago, IL

Dating from the early 1940s, our sleepy ceramic Little Leaguer here was produced a few years after the first Hummel figurines hit the U.S. market, making him a sort of hyper-Americanized, wartime knockoff of those popular German collectibles.

Bambino Products Co., est. 1933

Museum Artifact: Bambino World’s Fair Baseball Board Game, 1933

Made By: The Bambino Products Co., 103-105 S. Jefferson St., Chicago, IL

George Herman “Babe” Ruth—the Great Bambino—was arguably the most famous person in the United States in 1933. Even in the twilight of his baseball career, at age 38, he was literally and figuratively a larger-than-life character; a celebrity as much as a sportsman.

T. C. Gleason MFG Co., est. 1905

Museum Artifact: Knights of Columbus Ceremonial Sword, c. 1930s

Made By: T. C. Gleason MFG Co., 325 W. Madison St., Chicago, IL

A Knights of Columbus sword, as you might presume, is made for symbolic, decorative use—not for combat. That being said, the sword in our collection, likely dating from the 1930s, is just sharp enough—and rusty enough—to at least pose a minor threat of tetanus.

Chas. A. Brewer & Sons, est. 1911

Museum Artifact: Peppy Thrill Punch Board Game, 1939

Made By: Chas. A. Brewer & Sons, 6320 S. Harvard Avenue, Chicago, IL

“One out of every three adults plays a punchboard or slot machine. More people do this than play church lotteries, the horses, and numbers games—all three combined.” —Samuel Lubell, Saturday Evening Post, 1939

Produced the very same year as the article quoted above,