Kenton Overland Circus polar bear wagon cast Iron Toy

Kenton

In 1894 the four- year-old Kenton Lock Manufacturing Company of Kenton, Ohio, became Kenton Hardware and began producing cast-iron toys and still banks.

The firm was known for its horse-drawn vehicles, fire engines, planes, nodding toys, and comic strip characters. It even made a toy hot-air engine around 1925. Kenton marked the end of Prohibition in the early 1930s with a horse-drawn beer truck. In the 1940s the firm introduced a series called the Overland Circus.

The musical Oklahoma inspired a version of the "Surrey with the Fringe on Top" marketed in 1952.

Kenton used the trade name "Kentontoys." Lionel -- The Lionel Manufacturing Company, founded in 1903 in New York City by Joshua Lionel Cowen, was renamed the Lionel Corporation in 1918.

By 1920 the company was one of three major American producers of model electric trains and railroad accessories. Lionel trains were known for their use of a third rail and transformer, available as early as 1906, which enabled a child to control the train and to operate attachments.

Lionel absorbed Ives in 1931 and Gilbert (American Flyer) in 1968. After 1953 the company went into steep decline, paralleling that of the American railroad industry, and closed in 1969.

Fundimensions, a Michigan subsidiary of General Mills, now reproduces replicas of many of the 1950s models.

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Cast iron toys are among the hottest toy collectibles today. Some of the best known of these were made by Kenton, an Ohio firm that operated from the 1890s to the 1950s. Their famous Kenton toys include children's savings banks, toy stoves, trains, circus caravans, cars, fire trucks, nostalgic horse-and-buggy lines, and nodders, all identified and shown here in color photographs and original catalog illustrations. Most famous of all was the authentic Gene Autry toy pistol, which was unveiled in 1937. Two million of these were sold in the first year and a half, and the company prospered from the Singong Cowboy's popularity until 1951. This marvelously well-illustrated and researched book traces the history of Kenton from its days as a boomtown hardware manufacturer in the nineteenth century through the struggles of the two world wars. The growth of the American toy industry is reflected in the chronicle of this important company told with details from the company archives and with the engaging testimony of company employees. The story of Gene Autry's festive visit to Kenton is delightful!

About the Author

Charles M. Jacobs has lived in Kenton since 1985. He is the curator-director of four historical museums in Ohio, including the archives in Kenton.