Ninety and still into toys: how Fisher-Price pulled a town out of depression ... and may do so again

Legendary US brand behind childhood classics weathers controversy and Covid-19 to celebrate milestone anniversary

The small upstate New York village of East Aurora is a picture of small-town tranquillity. Main Street is as quaint as a painting, complete with a five-and-dime store; farmland toward Lake Erie is dotted with dairy cows, and the museum celebrates a community of arts and craft artists known as Roycrofters who set up here in 1895.

In 1930, mayor Irving Price decided he wanted to establish financial security for the town as the Great Depression began to take grip. He called on his wife, children’s book illustrator Margaret Evans Price, and a business associate, Herman Fisher. They asked Helen Schelle, owner and manager of the Penny Walker Toy Shop, to join them. Fisher thought the world needed better toys – toys that “appeal to the imagination, that do something new and surprising and funny”.

It’s one of the legendary American brands, and it really helped define toys for kids and preschool children

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from Children | The Guardian https://ift.tt/30Dvpzf