American Flyer is a name rooted in the history of model trains that began in Chicago
in 1905 with toymaker William Hafner and his friend William Coleman. The American
Flyer name was adopted in 1908. Early trains were wind-up or clockwork models with
some large scale models being produced prior to the Great Depression. In 1918 the
company introduced its first electric train, an O-gauge model that was simply a 
windup model with an electric motor in place of the clockwork motor. 

A.C. Gilbert, of Erector Set fame, took over the company in 1938. Today, American
Flyer model trains still run on layouts and under Christmas trees across the U.S.

 
American Flyer S-gauge model from the early 1950s

In 1914, American chemist John J. Porter produced the first line of chemistry sets, “Chemcraft.” It was such a hit that a few years later, science fanatic A.C. Gilbert, maker of Erector Sets and, later, American Flyer model trains, put out his own chemistry sets.

The Erector Set, a metal toy construction set was invented by A.C.
Gilbert in 1911, and patented in 1913. They were manufactured by
the A. C. Gilbert Company in New Haven, Connecticut, from 1913
until its bankruptcy in 1967. The Gabriel company of Lancaster,
Pennsylvania bought the Erector name, and continued to make
the sets into the 1970s and 1980s.

The Erector Set is believed by many to have been the subject
of the first national advertising campaign in America for a toy.

Toy maker Alfred Carlton Gilbert

1922

Lincoln Logs were invented in 1916, by John Lloyd Wright and based on the 
architecture of the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, designed by John’s father Frank
Lincoln Wright . 

 
  
   John L. Wright (12-12-1892- 12-20-1972)

1953 Bowman Baseball Cards