Lincoln blog
Lincoln Logs are among the most-loved toys in the world. You’d be hard put to think of a more American toy. That may change soon.
My sisters and I played with Lincoln Logs when we were kids, and I’m sure you did, too. Our parents did as well, and maybe even our grandparents. Going the other direction, my daughter played with them growing up in the 1980s, as did our grandson just a few years ago. There’s probably a few thousand kids playing with them right now.
Lincoln Logs are among the most-loved toys in the world, and they’ve had plenty of time to earn that love. Invented in 1916 by John Lloyd Wright (son of Frank Lloyd Wright!), and patented a couple years later, they were an immediate success. With more than 100 million sets sold, they’ve been entertaining kids — and every parent who’s ever helped their kids build with them — for more than a century. You’d be hard put to think of a more American toy.
That may change soon. Basic Fun of Florida, the producer of Lincoln Logs, is losing their U.S. supplier, with the closing of Pride Manufacturing of Burnham, Maine. Unless a new manufacturer is found in the next couple months, Basic Fun along with rights-holder Hasbro, will shift production of the quintessentially American toy to China again. Yes, the toys were produced in China for a number of years before moving back to the U.S. in 2014.
Lincoln Logs have seen a number of owners, licensees and producers over the years. Since Wright sold his company in 1943 to Playskool (for a mere $800), toy giants Milton Bradley, Hasbro and K’Nex have all produced the sets.
With Pride Manufacturing laying off 115 workers, there’s a factory sitting idle in Maine right now, filled with machinery already tooled for churning out the logs. What a business opportunity for a large U.S.-based custom wood-parts manufacturer with the available capital — and, perhaps, a deep love for classic products — to keep this all-American toy here for another hundred years.
A.J. Hamler is the former editor of Woodshop News and Woodcraft Magazine. He's currently a freelance woodworking writer/editor, which is another way of stating self-employed. When he's not writing or in the shop, he enjoys science fiction, gourmet cooking and Civil War reenacting, but not at the same time.
