The Statue of Liberty

.. our Lady Liberty ..

🌟 

She is an icon, a national treasure and one of the most recognizable figures in the world. Each year millions who cherish her ideals make the journey to experience her history and grandeur in person.  She is the Statue of Liberty, a powerful symbol of freedom, democracy, inspiration and hope. 

The statue, officially named "Liberty Enlightening the World" is a univeral symbol representing the ideals of liberty and independence the United States was founded upon.

The Statue of Liberty has become a symbol of hope and opportunity for immigrants arriving in the United States, welcoming them to a new life. 

A treasured gift from France to the United States for the 1876 centennial of American independence.  the Statue of Liberty was constructed between 1865 and 1885.  Sculptor, Frederic Bartholdi and engineer, Gustave Eiffel collaborated on the design which was considered a 19th century engineering marvel. 

Completed in 1884, the statue was disassembled into 350 pieces and shipped to New York in 1885.  Construction on the American-designed pedestal began in 1884. President Grover Cleveland officially unveiled the statue on October 28, 1886 in a ceremony attended by over a million people.

The statue's torch in her right hand symbolizes the light guiding people to freedom while the tablet in her left hand displays the Roman numerals (JULY IV MDCCLXXVI) for July 4, 1776, the date the Declaration of Independence was adopted. Her crown is said to represent light "extending out to the world" and some suggest the seven rays represent the seven seas and seven continents, implying the global importance of liberty.   The statue's left foot steps on a broken chain and shackle, commemorating the national abolition of slavery following the American Civil War. 

.. Her Eyes See All .. 

The Statue of Liberty stands at the entrance to New York Harbor serving as a welcoming beacon to those arriving by sea. The Statue of Liberty's pedestal bears a bronze plaque inscribed with Emma Lazarus' poem, "The New Colossus" famously stating ..

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free".

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Emma Lazarus was a Jewish-American poet and activist in 1883. The poem was written to raise funds for the Statue of Liberty.  The bronze plaque with "The New Colossus" was added to the pedestal in 1903. 

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The Statue of Liberty torch remains a powerful symbol of hope and opportunity, representing the light that guides people towards freedom and the path to liberty. 

May God Continue to Bless America 

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In Honor of Women's History Month  

.. we remember Ameila Earhart ..

Amelia Earhart

American Aviator

(1897-1937)

Amelia Mary Earhart was an American aviation pioneer.  On July 2, 1937 she disappeared with her navigator, Fred Noonan over the Pacific Ocean en route to Howland Island from Lae, New Guinea while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the globe.  During her life, Earhart embraced celebrity culture and women's rights. Since her disappearance she has become a global cultural figure.  She was the first female pilot to fly solo non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean and set many other records.  She was one of the first aviators to promote commercial air travel, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences and was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines, an international group of female pilots of which Earhart was the first elected president.

Amelia beneath the nose of her Lockheed Model 10-Electra Special, NR16020 Serial # 1055

March 1937

Oakland, California

Before departing on her final round-the-world attempt prior to her untimely disappearance. NR16020 had a total fuel capacity of 1,151 gallons in ten tanks in the wings and fuselage.  80 gallons of lubricating oil for the engines was carried in four tanks. 

Amelia Earhart stands in the cockpit of her unfinished Lockheed airplane at the Lockheed Aircraft Company in Burbank, California.

Circa 1936 

$80,000 to buy the Electra was provided by the Purdue Research Foundation from donations made by several individuals.  George Palmer Putnam, Amelia's husband, made the arrangemens to order the plane and in March 1936 gave Lockheed the authorization to proceed with delivery requested in June prior to the pending July flight the following year. The modifications included four auxiliary fuel tanks in the passenger compartment, a navigator's station to the rear, elimination of passenger windows, installation of a Sperry Gyropilot or autopilot, various radio and navigation equipment plus additional batteries.  The Electra would not be ready until mid-July, a year before her fateful flight.

Amelia Earhart with her Electra 10E, NR16020 at Lockheed Aircraft 

Circa December 1936

Parked near Earhart's plane is her tan 1936 Cord 812 Phaeton.

Earhart's plane was powered by two air-cooled, super-charged Pratt & Whitney engines.

 

Amelia was born and raised in Atchison, Kansas.  She developed a passion for adventure at a young age, steadily gaining flying experience beginning in her twenties.  In 1928, she became a celebrity after becoming the first female passenger to cross the Atlantic by airplane.  In 1932, she became the first woman to make a nonstop solo transatlantic flight and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for her achievement.  In 1935, she became a visiting faculty member of Purdue University as an advisor in aeronautical engineering and a career counselor to female students. In 1964, Purdue University opened Earhart Hall in honor of her legacy and contribution to the university during her time on campus and technical advisor for the aeronautics department.  In 2009, Purdue erected a bronze statue of Earhart holding a propeller in front of the residence hall named after her. The university board approved plans to name the new Purdue University Airport Terminal the Amelia Earhart Terminal.  The Amelia Earhart Airport in her hometown was named in her honor. 

 She was a member of the National Woman's Party and an early supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment. 

She was one of the most inspirational American figures from the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s.  Her legacy is often compared to that of the early career of pioneer aviator, Charles Lindbergh, as well as First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, for their close friendship and lasting influence on women's causes.

Earhart was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1968 and the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1973.  Several commemorative memorials in the United States have been named in her honor.  These include a commemorative US airmail stamp, an airport, a musuem, a bridge, a cargo ship, a playhouse, a library and multiple roads and schools.  Numerous films, documentaries and books have recounted Earhart's life.  She is ranked No. 9 on Flying Magazine's list of the "51 Heroes of Aviation".

Earhart was a widely known, international celebrity during her lifetime.  Her shyly charismatic appeal, independence, persistence, coolness under pressure, courage and goal-oriented career along with the circumstances of her disappearance at a comparatively early age, have driven her lasting fame in popular culture. Hundreds of articles and scores of books have been written about her life which is often cited as a motivational tale, especially for women.  Earhart is generally regarded as a feminist icon.

Earhart's accomplishments in aviation inspired a generation of female aviators, including more than 1,000 female pilots of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) who served during WWII.  

The home where Earhart was born is where the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum is located.  It is maintained by Ninety-Nines. The Amelia Earhart Festival has taken place in Atchison, Kansas every year since 1996. 

In 1967, Ann Pellegreno flew a similar aircraft to Earhart's, a Lockheed 10A Electra to complete a round-the-world flight that followed Earhart's flight plan. On the 30th anniversary of her disappearance, Pellegreno dropped a wreath over Howland Island in Earhart's honor.  

In 1997, on the 60th anniversary of Earhart's round-the-world flight, San Antonio businesswoman Linda Finch retraced the final flight path, flying a restored 1935 Lockheed Electra 10, the same make and model of aircraft as Earhart's plane.

In 2001, another commemorative flight retraced the route Earhart flew on her August 2018 transcontinental record flight. Carlene Mendieta flew an original Avro Avian, the same type of aircraft that was used in 1928. 

The Amelia Earhart Commemorative Stamp was issued in 1963 by the United States Postmaster-General.

Sidenote:  Amelia Earhart met Charles and Anne Lindbergh in Winslow, Arizona in 1929 while participating in the first two-day cross-country service by train and Ford Tri-Motor from New York to Los Angeles.

The Ford Tri-Motor, nicknamed the "Tin Goose", was a large, all-metal, three-engine aircraft tht pioneered US coast-to-coast airline serviced in 1929.  Designed by Henry Ford and built from 1926-1933, the Tri-Motor was the biggest civil aircraft in the United States when it first flew.  It was popular with passengers and airlines due to its corrugated aluminum construction, enclosed cabin and Ford name.

 Dr. Arthur Bestor, President of Chautauqua Institution greeted Earhart upon landing on the 14th Fairway at the Chautauqua Golf Course.

Circa July 20, 1929

After Earhart arrived she gave a lecture to a full house at the amphitheater. This was part of a lecture circuit that followed her famous transatlantic flight in June 1928.

"All eyes were upon the young conqueror of the ocean"

Chautauquan Daily reported in 1929

"Stepping from the comfortably appointed plane as it came to rest on the fourteenth fairway, Miss Earhart, by her infectious smile, won her way immediately to the hearts of the crowd which had come to greet her", the Daily reported on July 22, 1929.  "Taken by auto to the home of President and Mrs. Bestor, she was cheered by the people along the route.  She, with Lieutenant Stevens, the pilot and Mr. Hutchison, mechanic, was entertained at a luncheon at the President's home."

From her being greeted by Dr. Arthur Bestor, Earhart proceeded to the amphitheater where she spoke about her 20-hour and 40-minute, June 1928 flight as a passenger across the Atlantic in the tri-motored Fokker plane, Friendship. Amelia Earhart, along with pilots Wilmer Stultz and Louis Gordon, flew across the Atlantic in the Friendship. Their successful flight took them from Trepassey Harbour, New Foundland to Burry Port, Wales.

The Friendship was originally ordered by Richard E. Byrd for his Antarctic expedition, but was later sold to Donald Woodward, who leased it to Mrs. Frederick Guest. Guest chose the name Friendship for the airplane. 

"As the flight of Friendship recedes into the past, I find that I must explain exactly who I am.  Recently, I have been congratulated several times for swimming the English Channel and once for swimming the Atlantic Ocean."

"I hope that every one of you will have the privilege of flying across the Atlantic.  I myself hope to be able to it again, not as I did, but in one of the large flying boats which will soon be making regular trips with landing stations at convenient intervals along the route."

Amelia Earhart

Chautauqua Institution Amphitheater

July 20, 1929

Perhaps most interesting about Earhart's lecture at the Chautauqua Institution was her characterization of gender disparities in aviation.

"Considering the question of why more women do not fly, Earhart attributed the difference between men and women in aviation to the influence of the educational system, where all girls are taught domestic sciences and all boys manual training, without regard to individual aptitudes," the Daily reported. 

Earhart's speculations on the future of air travel ended her Chautauqua speech and heralded her departure from the Insititution. After Earhart's disappearance in the Pacific eight years later, the Daily lamented the loss of its "First Lady of the Air."

July 20, 1929

Amelia Earhart addresses the audience gathered.

"We cannot believe the world is ready to move on without its most prominent, most popular birdwoman.  We cannot believe her permanent disappearance could be fair or just."

On July 23, 1929 pioneering aviator, Amelia Earhart landed at the Chautauqua Golf Club en route to her lecture at Chautauqua Institution's Amphitheater using this fairway as the runway.  One year earlier, George Wilkins and Carl Eielson, first to fly over the North Pole also landed here. 

Sir George Hubert Wilkins and Carl Ben Eielson were a pioneering team of polar explorers and aviators who made history by undertaking the first transpolar flight across the Arctic by airplane and the first airplane flight over a portion of Antarctica in December 1928. Wilkins and Eielson took off from Deception Island, one of the Antarctic's most remote islands and made the first successful airplane flight over the continent.  Wilkins was financed by William Randolph Hearst, American newspaper publisher and politician.  Hearst developed the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications.

The Lost Love of Thomas Rowe, Continued  

Registration 

with

the signature of

"Miss Lottie A. Bernard, Detroit"

Room 302

(Circa 1892)

(1864-1892)

Kate Morgan, a young woman who checked into Hotel del Coronado on November 24, 1892  under the name, "Lottie A. Bernard" from Detroit though she never checked out.  Instead, it is thought her lovely likeness and gentle spirit remain as the resort's resident ghost.  She arrived on Thanksgiving day, alone and unhappy.  According to hotel employees she said she was waiting for a gentleman to join her.  After five lonely days, Kate allegedly took her own life on November 28. Her body was found on a hotel exterior staircase leading to the beach.  Some skepticism still surrounds the finding that it was determined by the coroner to be self-inflicted. She was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in San Diego. Kate Farmer was born in Fremont County, Iowa. On December 30, 1885 Kate married Thomas Edwin Morgan.  They had one child, a boy, born on October 31, 1886 though he only lived two days.

At the time of her death, police could find nothing to positively identify her so a description of Kate was telegraphed to police agencies around the country.  As a result, newspapers began to refer to Kate as the "beautiful stranger".  After Kate Morgan's true identity was confirmed it was surmised she arrived at The Del hoping to rendezvous with a gentleman who may have been her estranged husband.

Kate had been employed as a domestic in a wealthy Los Angeles household.  From there, she traveled by train to the hotel, where fellow passengers reported that a woman matching Kate's description had argued with a male companion who then deserted her, enroute.  During her stay at the hotel, Kate was described as "sickly and sorrowful", venturing into San Diego to purchase a handgun. 

According to the hotel's book, written by the hotel's professional historian, titled Beautiful Stranger:  The Ghost of Kate Morgan and the Hotel del Coronado by author, Christine Donovan since that time guests and employees have attested to ghostly goings-on.  Most have to do with Kate's original third-floor guestroom where visitors have experienced flickering lights, a television that turns itself on and off, breezes coming from nowhere, inexplicable scents and sounds, items moving of their own accord, doors that randomly open and close, abrupt changes in the room temperature and unexplained footsteps and voices.  One guest reported seeing Kate's initials appear in a steamy bathroom mirror.  A doctor reported during his stay that his shoes and socks (which he always carefully placed by his bed at night) would end up all over the room by the time he woke up. The story of Kate Morgan continues to intrigue hotel visitors and the room in which she stayed is the most requested guestroom at the hotel.

Independent paranormal researchers, in turn, have documented supernatural activity in Kate's room using high-tech gadgetry, radiation sensors, toxic-chemical indicators, microwave imaging systems and high-frequency sound detectors.

There have also been Kate sightings in hotel hallways and along the seashore.  Another very "active" area is the resort's gift shop, established in 1888, where visitors and employees routinely witness haunted happenings and giftware mysteriously flying off shelves, often times falling upright and always unbroken.  

The book, Beautiful Stranger: The Ghost of Kate Morgan and the Hotel del Coronado is the official account of Kate Morgan's 1892 visit and contains a chronology of Kate's hotel activities, a transcription of the coroner's inquest, dozens of newspaper reports about Kate's hotel stay and vintage photos of the hotel as well as detailed descriptions of paranormal sightings.  Kate is described as a "relatively harmless ghost".  "She generally limits her activity to fleeting appearances and inexplicable antics".

 

St. Patrick's Day, Chicago Style 

Lucille Ball

Happy St.Patrick's Day

☘️ 🍀 ☘️ 

The Chicago River green dyeing is a beloved tradition that takes place every year on the Saturday before St. Patrick's Day.  The event typically starts at 10 a.m., and the best spot to watch is along the Chicago River between State and Columbus.

The tradition began in 1962, when a local plumbers' union proposed dyeing the river green as part of the city's St. Patrick's Day celebration. The initial purpose of dyeing the river was actually to trace the sources of industrial pollution, but it quickly became a cherished tradition.

About 40 to 50 pounds of plant-based, biodegradable dye is used to turn the river green, which is carefully dispersed from boats and mixed into the water by hand. The dyeing process takes around 45 minutes to an hour, and the brilliant green color can last for several days.

The Chicago River green dyeing is not only a visual treat, but also a significant cultural and economic event attracting tourists from around the world and contributing to the city's economy.

 

Humphrey DeForest Bogart

(1899-1957)

Bogart was an American actor.  His performances in classic Hollywood cinema made him an American cultural icon.  In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Bogart as the greatest male star of classic American cinema.  

The film's budget was $1.6 million and at the box office the film made $5.3 million. The film premiered in NYC on October 11, 1944. Critics specifically mentioned Lauren Bacall's peerformane and the chemistry between Bogart and Bacall on screen.  They began an off-screen relationship several weeks into production and married in 1945 after the film's release. To Have and Have Not was one of the top 10 grossing films of 1944. 

Some of Lauren Bacalls lines became renowned in movie history. Bacall while looking at Bogart in To Have and Have Not .. spoke these infamous words ..

"You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve?  You just put your lips together and blow."

This quote is ranked at #34 on AFI's 100 Years, 100 Movie Quotes list.   When Humphrey Bogart was buried, Bacall put a gold whistle with the inscription .. If you want anything, just whistle" in his coffin .. a nod to her line in their first film together. 

Lauen Bacall

(circa 1945)

(1924-2014)

Twenty year old Bacall poses with Vice President, Harry W. Truman as he plays for servicemen at the National Press Club Canteen in Washington, D.C.

Circa February 10, 1945

Betty Joan Perske was an American actress.  She was named the 20th greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by the American Film Institute.  She received an Academy Honorary Award in 2009 in recognition of her contribution to the Golden Age of motion pictures.  Becall was one of the last surviving major stars from the Golden Age of Hollyood cinema. Bogie and Bacall continued making films together with appearances in The Big Sleep (1946), Dark Passage (1947) and Key Largo (1948).  While in Hollywood, director, Howard Hawks gave Lauren her first name and she chose Bacall, a variant of her mother's maiden name, Weinstein-Bacal. After meeting Bacall in Hollywood, Hawks immediately signed Bacall to a seven-year contract with a weekly salary of $100 and personally began to manage her career.  

Stephen Bogart and Leslie Bogart

with their parents, Lauren and Humphrey

Lauren with daughter, Leslie and son, Stephen

Leslie was 3 and Stephen was 5 when their famous father passed.

 

The Rat Pack .. the Original Kings of Cool

Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sam Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop

In case you aren't old enough to remember, the Rat Pack was an informal group of entertainers who everyone in Hollywood looked up to and idolized.  Women wanted them and men wanted to be them!  There was one member who was eventually banished from the group and that member was Peter Lawford who married JFK's sister, Patricia. Sinatra was furious, believing Lawford had failed to intercede with the Kennedys on his behalf during the Kennedy for President campaign and therefore excluded him from the Rat Pack.  Sinatra and Lawford's friendship was over.  Sinatra fell out with Bishop in 1964 when Sinatra asked him to fill in for him at the Cal-Neva Lodge in Lake Tahoe as a favor and Bishop demanded $50,000 and to be flown in a private jet. 

The group was known for their partying life-style, Old Hollywood charm and scandalous behavior. The Rat Pack was often seen at the Copa Room at the Sands in Las Vegas.  They performed together in films such as Oceans 11. The Rat Pack of Oceans 11 fame grew out of Humphrey Bogart's circle of friends becoming synonymous with booze, women and the nightlife.  Rat Pack members not only partied together, but they worked with one another on albums, movie sets and stages.  There were numerous associates and outsiders wanting to join among them being ladies and even mobsters with supposed ties to the group adding to the lore around the famous group.  Rat Pack stories reveal a lot about its members who found friendship, fun and a bit of rebellion during their heyday. 

Originally, Bogart surrounded himself with friends who became known as 'The Rat Pack'. The Holmby Hills Rat Pack, at it became known, formed during the 1940s and 1950s and centered around Bogart.  Sinatra was a member of the esteemed group which included Bogart's wife, Lauren Bacall, actress Judy Garland and her husband, Sid Luft and actor David Niven and his wife, Hjordis.  Bogart took Sinatra under his wing, where the musician enjoyed the group camaraderie.  The pack spent a lot of time in California and migrated to Las Vegas on occasion for parties and nights out. 

Actress Lauren Bacall met Humphrey Bogart on the set of To Have and Have Not in 1944 and the two quickly became romantically involved.  Bogart was 25 years older than Bacall and already married at the time.  Bogart soon divorced his wife and married Bacall in 1945.  Bacall became the "Den Mother" of her husband's group. As the story goes, after Bacall came upon the group after they returned from a long night of drinking, she reportedly said, "You look like a rat pack". The name stuck.  Bogart and his friends designed a coat of arms and etablished a motto .. "Never rat on a rat".

Humphrey Bogart 

(December 25, 1899-January 14, 1957)

Bogart passed in 1957 and the original Rat Pack fell by the wayside.  Sinatra missed the friendships he had established and sought to recreate the experience with another group.  He first reached out to the witty charming Dean Martin, his co-star in the 1958 movie, Some Came Running.  Martin had recently split up from his comedy partner, Jerry Lewis.  Sinatra soon brought Sammy Davis Jr. into the fold, a dancer that he had met years before.  British actor, Peter Lawford and comedian, Joey Bishop soon followed, rounding out the original five. When the group first formed they considered being called "The Clan" though Sinatra reportedly hated the name.  Some also referred to the members as "The Summit" which is how Sinatra became known at the "Chairman of the Board."

Members of the Rat Pack enjoyed a lot of time together at the Sands Health Club.  Sinatra had bathrobes made for the occasion.  On the robes were the members' nicknames which Sinatra assigned and gave out embroidered bathrobes to the group.  Nicknames were on each:  Sinatra was "The Pope", Davis was "Smokey the Bear" and Martin was "Dino. 

Shirley MacLaine was often invited to join the group on stage.  Other celebrities who were often seen with the group included Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney. 

It doesn't get more iconic than the Rat Pack. They were considered the "bad boys" of the late '50s and '60s.  With their good looks and plenty of talent to go around, they sold out Las Vegas crowds on a nightly basis.  They also took their acting chops to the big screen, sharing credits on a handful of movies together.  

All members of the Rat Pack have now passed, but their films, television performances and music left behind an iconic legacy in the entertainment history.  Following Sammy Davis, Jr.'s passing in 1990, Sinatra who was an honorary pallbearer at the funeral told the Daily News .. "I wish the world could have known Sam as I did." 

Sinatra with Sammy

 

A T. Cohn Superior Toy Company, founded by Tobias Cohn in 1900 was a prominent toy company later faced bankruptcy in 1968 being purchased by Brumberger, Inc. 

In 1948, Tobias Cohn introduced this elegant Spanish themed house as their first dollhouse.  The detail is wonderful.  The lattice windows which are fully functional are a wonderful touch.  The house was unique with its tiled, pitched roof with its centered chimney.  Window boxes and shrubs decorate the lovely exterior. 

Close-Up Photo of the tiled pitched roof.

Chimney with tabs 

Inside, the house boasted a kitichen with white tiled walls, a dining room with hardwood floors covered by an area rug, a fully carpeted living room and upstairs a nursery with a cute circus motif, a bathroom with elegant swans adoring the walls and a master bedroom with sunny diamond patterned walls.  This house was unique because it is the only tin dollhouse built with a separate dining room.  The house was sold furnished with 3/4 inch Superior furniture or unfurnished. 

In the late 1940s Marx began to produce metal lithographed dollhouses with plastic furniture. Louis Marx and Company founded in 1919 by Louis and David Marx, produced dollhouses as part of their toy empire, know for their "give the customer more toy for less money" philsophy with variations of the Colonial style being popular.  

  The company in the early 1930s, during the Great Depression, seized the opportunity to acquire manufacturing plants in Erie, PA and in Girard, PA.  The Erie plant, opening in 1933,was the oldest and largest, followed by the Girard plant which was acquired in 1934 with the purchase of Girard Model Works which produced toy trains for the company.

In 1921, Louis Marx & Company had purchased the used tooling and product rights to two of the old Strauss products that were thought to have run their course:  The Climbing Monkey and the Mechanical Minstrel Singer.*  Marx' salesmanship brought these two products back to life.  Manufacturing millions of units in Erie, the factory became known as the Monkey Works among the workers and residents, alike. The Erie and Girard plants employed over 8,000 full time domestic workers. 

By the mid-20th century, the company had factories worldwide and occupied a number of Erie facilities in addition to the 19th and Cascade Street factory.  Also a plant at West 18th and Raspberry Streets, a credit union at West 20th and Cascade Streets and a warehouse in the old Bucyrus Erie building on West 12th Street.  

Louis Marx and Company 

"Drummer Boy" 

Tin-Wind-Up Toy

Circa 1950

The Marx Toys Logo 

Drummer Boy with his Original Box

*Louis Marx, the founder of Louis Marx and Company, was known for his "Mechanical Minstrel Singer" toy which he brought to market with bright colors and bigger models, selling 8 million of them along with "Jocko, The Climbing Monkey".   The "Mechanical Minstrel Singer" was a highlight of Marx's company featuring a figure that would move and "sing" when wound up.  The sale of these toys were due to Marx's salesmanship and the toy's appeal which lead to a huge success!  

The Marx wind-up toys were primarily produced in the Erie factory.  The factory produced mechanical wind-up toys and mechanical trains.  During the 1950s the Erie factory produced millions of mechanical cars, tanks and tractors annually. In the 1960s, the Erie factory also began to produce blow-molded plastics including many of the ride-on toys and furniture for the dollhouses. In 1975, the Erie factory was closed. 

In 2016, a fire broke out at the former Marx Toy Factory located at 227 East Hathaway Street in Girard where toy trains were produced. At its peak, Louis Marx and Company operated three manufacturing plans in the United States:  Erie PA, Girard PA and Glen Dale, West Virginia. 

Louis Marx acquired the Girard Model Works in 1934 which was located at the Hathaway Street address.  It closed in 1980.

"I must be a Santa Claus by heart, because I really enjoyed working there and would probably be working there still if the company hadn't closed. For every 100 ideas, only three actually became Marx Toys.  That's the rule of thumb that they gave me.  Ideas would go to design and for consideration on how they'd be manufactured. Sometimes they couldn't figure out how to make it or got into an idea and found it would be too costly to make for the price point that we needed to see it for."

Kim Stormer, Manager of Production, Planning and Inventory Control

Stormer was employed at Marx Toys in Girard for nine years until the plant closed in January 1980.   Many of factory workers were brought in from Brooklyn, NY. 

Glen Dale, West Virginia Factory

The facility was the former quarter mile long Fokker Aircraft Plant. 

This location made the Glen Dale plant the largest facility. The Glen Dale factory manufactured more toys than any other Marx plant, helping Marx become the largest toy maker in the world in the 1940s and 1950s.  By 1938, Marx employed more than 2,000 workers at its factories, warehouses and other Erie and Girard facilities at their peak in the 1940s and 1950s. 

Louis Marx

In 1955, Mr. Marx was known as the Toy King of America and his company was the largest maker of toys in the world! Because of his genius, he became a millionaire at the age of 24! Millions of durable Marx toys were sold through stores and mail order catalogs. 

Marx was known by numerous nicknames included "Toycoon" and "the Henry Ford of the toy industry".

A metal "Silver Dollar Music Hall" manufactured by Marx Toys is displayed at the Hagen History Center in Erie, Pennsylvania. 

From 1933-1975, the Erie factories of Louis Marx & Company pumped out millions of toys on Santa's behalf. Marx built his empire from sheets of litographed, tinplated sheets which were cut, pressed and folded into a stunning array of shapes and forms for toys and for dollhouses which were assembled with various panels.

Various Dollhouse Panels

This house was produced in 1951.  It boasted two patios, the one over the kitchen came with a green tin pool and yellow slide. 

 Assorted Furniture Pieces for the Dollhouses.

1:16 scale