Journal Front Page – March 7, 1973

Fifty years ago today, there were plenty of interesting things – some local, some national – on the front page of the Lorain Journal. 

Locally, the featured story was about an unfortunate boater from Sheffield Lake whose car ended up in the drink down at the Lorain Municipal Pier's boat loading ramp. It seems that his car's automatic transmission slipped out of the park position and into the water it went. Poor guy. And the Journal was right there to take a picture of him.

Lorain's Mascon Toy manufacturing plant had just been purchased by a group of investors along with two sister toy companies, including Flexible Flyer of Medina, manufacturer of the well-known sled. The new owners planned to continue operating the purchased plants and hopefully increase production.

Nationally, the ongoing protest and occupation by American Indians at Wounded Knee, South Dakota was triggering sympathetic protests elsewhere, in this case Lumberton, North Carolina.

And the hoped-for ratification in 1973 of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was stalled with less than half of the states approving the amendment – far short of what was needed.

Elsewhere on the front page was a capsule comparison of the contrasting points of view of two returning Vietnam POWs; an announcement of the closing of Lorain's draft board office; and a story of British man, heavily in debt, who had just solved his financial problems by winning "a big prize on the soccer pools."

City Vacates Former Mascon Toy Property

A few weeks ago, the City of Lorain opened its beautiful new Central Service Complex for its Public Property Department on West Park Drive. 

Despite getting the heads up on the Sept. 13th Open House by my insider in the department (a fellow Admiral King Marching Band Member Alumni), I arrived a little too late on Sunday afternoon to catch the tour. But even from the street, the facility is quite impressive (see photos at the bottom of this post). 

This all means that the former home of the Public Property Department on E. 35th and Broadway is vacant again. The City had been using the property for various uses, including its Street Department, since 1977.

But before that, the location had been home until 1975 to one of Lorain’s lesser-known companies: the Mascon Toy Company. Here’s the front of the main building, facing Broadway, as it looked recently.

The view looking east across Broadway from W. 35th Street

And here are a few shots of the rest of the property.

The buildings facing south

Looking west on E. 35th

The back of the building that faces Broadway

I’ve written about the history of the Mascon Toy Company several times (here), and how it started out as the Steel Stamping Company. The company has enjoyed renewed attention in recent years, being featured with a special display of its products back in 2018 at the Lorain County Historical Society. 

It will be interesting to see if Lorain demolishes the aging buildings or if some new use for them is found.

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Here are a few articles about the Mascon Toy Company that I haven’t posted before. 

The one below ran in the Thursday, May 20, 1965 Journal. It’s an interesting look at the company at a time when it had not only changed its name earlier in the year, but also its focus on the kind of toys it was going to be producing (plastic rather than steel).

And this one about the firm’s Christmas offerings ran in the Journal on October 4, 1970.

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Here are a few shots of the new Central Service Complex on West Park Drive. 

New Name for Steel Stamping Co. – Jan. 1965

A recent view of the former Mascon Toy Company building on Broadway

Back in January 1965, one of Lorain's iconic businesses – Steel Stamping Company, manufacturer of a variety of toys – received a new name: Mascon Toy Company. Its home on Broadway received a makeover as well.

Read all about it in the article below, which appeared on the front page of the Lorain Journal back on December 10, 1964.

(I did a post about the history of the Steel Stamping Company/Mascon Toy Company here back in 2013.)

The Steel Stamping Company/Mascon Toy Company

The former home of The Steel Stamping Company,
and later, The Mascon Toy Company at 3553 Broadway in Lorain

The Mascon Toy Co. division of Masco Corp. was located at 3553 Broadway in Lorain from the mid-1960s until the mid 1970s – but the original business at that location had much earlier roots.

1950 city directory ad

Before it became part of the Masco Corp. family, the company started out in the early 1920s as The Steel Stamping Company. Its earliest listing in a city directory was in the 1921-22 edition (although its address might have been outside of the directory's listing area in earlier editions).

Through the years, the company was usually listed as a toy and game manufacturer. A 1950 city directory ad listed its products as "steel toys, Hy-Speed wagons, wheelbarrows, automatic toy dial telephones, children's tubular chairs and tables, and tools and dies."

It was still listed as Steel Stamping Company in the 1963 book, although as a division of Masco Corp.

By the mid-1960s it was listed as the Mascon Toy Co. Division of the Masco Corp. By 1970, the parent company was now identified as Leisure Group, Inc., located in Los Angeles. By 1974 the directory listing for the company had changed to Blazon-Flexible Flyer Mascon Toys.

By 1975 the address was listed as vacant. Today it is the home of the Lorain City Garage.

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It's pretty easy to go online and find photos of vintage toys made by the Steel Stamping Company in Lorain. They're usually phones – and here's a few of them (below).

Courtesy Mariana Roberts Photography

1940s Model (Courtesy Etsy)

1960s Model (Courtesy Etsy)

It's a little harder to find toys produced by the Mascon Toy Company, but here are a few (below). There are a couple of cute novelty banks, as well as the well-known Sticky Finger game.

Courtesy Etsy

Courtesy Ebay

Courtesy Ebay

Sticky Finger game

Just what is the Sticky Finger game, and how did you play it? Watch this vintage TV commercial and find out!

Mascon Toy Co. article – Oct. 28, 1968 Part 2

Here's the second half of the article written by Bob Cotleur about Fred Donnell, the president of Lorain's Mascon Toy Company. It contains some interesting reflections by Mr. Donnell about what makes a good toy, as well as some thoughts about toy guns.

The article ran in The Journal on October 28, 1968.

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The Mascon Toy Co.
Fred Donnell: He Makes Toys – Part 2

By BOB COTLEUR
Staff Writer

Donnell said the industry today is American. "Before World War I most toys were made in Germany. Japan made some, but American manufacturers jumped at the chance created by the war. We ourselves, are an infinitely small part of the total toy market. We're only the largest in our own field."

He doesn't make gun-toys although he said guns were "a fifth of the industry." He also said war games and guns don't sell as well in wartime as during peace. He said this year some major department stores won't offer guns of any kind, even cowboys and Indian types.

"But I don't object to guns. Kids like them. And I'd want my own child to learn which end of the gun is the hot end."

DONNELL SAID the toy industry is like the auto industry. "A good idea must be kept under lock and key. This is the only industry where 60 percent of the annual sales result in packages being opened on one single day of the year – Christmas."

Because of that the plant operates from a production high of about 250 people in August to an unnumbered low in December.

The lines themselves are fascinating and what you might expect of Santa's workshop except the gnomes and elves are adult women, mostly wearing a blue smock. One sprays a color, another puts a spring inside, a third hammers two halves together, a fourth tests the toy (and how does she explain that job at home?).

"Toys," Donnell said, "are lovable. And some are socialized. This minibus has six riders. And who are the six? It's mother, father, brother, sister, Uncle somebody or another. The child names them."

He held up a fire engine with a four-man crew.

"Notice that one fireman is painted yellow. The rest are blue. The child knows the social order, that all aren't equal. The man in yellow is evidently boss.

"The best sellers in toys are those that mimic adult life. Give the child the right toys, one that stimulates imagination, and you are talking about the future leaders of the world. A child wants to be anything but what he really is. Toys give him that outlet."

FRED DONNELL AND his wife Patricia live at 425 Rock Creek Run, Amherst. Two sons by an earlier marriage include Fred III, 23, with the computer division of United Airlines on the west coast, and I'm [sic], 21, with the army in training at Ft. Knox.

Even toymaker Donnell knows that created toys aren't the whole answer. He once bought his sons $10 worth of scrap lumber "when you got something for the $10."

The boys built a fort with only a little help from dad. "It wasn't perfect, but what the hell..."

Donnell has another vantage point of viewing the toy world.

"The birth rate interests me. The death rate doesn't."

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Lorain-made Mascon toy from the LCHS exhibition
(courtesy WEOL.northcoastnow.com website)

The Lorain County Historical Society (LCHS) is featuring a Vintage Toy Exhibition at the Lorain County History Center from December 3, 2013 through January 31, 2014. The exhibition features 30 vintage toys from the LCHS collection, as well as some from private collections.

Many Lorain-made toys made by the Mascon Toy Company are included in the exhibit. Click here for more information about the exhibition.

Mascon Toy Co. article – Oct. 28, 1968 Part 1

Christmas is coming, and kids are naturally thinking of the toys that Santa Claus will bring.

But did you know that for decades, many of the toys that Santa brought – at least those that weren't manufactured by his elves at his shop at the North Pole – were made right here in Lorain? That's right, for many years The Mascon Toy Company was located in Lorain, Ohio. 

Here's a great article written by Bob Cotleur explaining it all. It ran in The Journal on October 28, 1968. It's kind of long, so I'l present it in two parts (and buy meself some time to prepare some other seasonal blog posts!)

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The Mascon Toy Co.
Fred Donnell: He Makes Toys – Part 1

By BOB COTLEUR
Staff Writer

FRED DONNELL, Lorain toymaker

"I PLAYED GOLF for three years, but gave it up. It's too frustrating for a seven-year-old mentality and if you don't have that seven-year-old mentality in my business, you're out of business."

The speaker is not a seven-year-old. His name is Fred L. Donnell and he's a toymaker. Since Jan., 1963, he has been president of Mascon Toy Co., division of Masco Corp., Detroit, and the largest single maker of toys for pre-schooler's in the nation.

The speaker is serious.

He is also soft-spoken, darkly handsome and has the affection for toys one usually associates with a man and his dog, or a woman and her makeup. He lives toys, although he got into the business 24 years ago "as a toy salesman for a jobber. At the beginning it was just a job. But over the years I became infatuated."

HE HAS A WALL library of toys in his office. As he talks about each, he takes it from the shelf and makes it work. You get the feeling you'd like to play with each yourself. The fascination creates that urge and suddenly you aren't as old as you think.

"We try to build time-occupancy into our toys. Mother buys the toy hoping she can get enough time to wash the dishes, mop the floors or get supper started. If you capture that (time occupancy) you've triggered the child's imagination."

"Toys aren't 'educational'. That's a lot of bunk, it takes three to make a toy educational: the tot, the toy and mother or grandfather. But a toy for pre-schoolers must stimulate imagination, create experience. If the challenge is too great, it's bad. Give a four-year-old an electric train and he'll wind it up with a kick. He's frustrated. He can't make it work."

Donnell picked up a stubby airplane complete with a pilot. He "zoomed it through the air with appropriate sound effects.

"Z-z-z-zooooom."

The toy had a string. He put it on the desk and pulled it. The oversize propellor went 'round and 'round. You could see what he meant.

"We built this plane with stubby wings, a fat body, moving parts and a pilot. Look again and see what else it is. It is a racer. The pilot is the child, or his daddy. The plane gets a name as well as the pilot. That takes imagination, but the child has it."

HE SHOWED an ice cream vendor's truck. Three oversized popsicles were stuck in the truck body. [Blogger's note: That's the toy shown in the black and white photo.] Each would only fit in its own slot. He said it was a coordinate toy, one that a child could figure out while he was selling mom or dad an ice cream bar or popsicle.

"We build these toys of 'Rigital' plastic. It's a special plastic and vastly different than what the industry offered originally many years ago."

He threw a toy hard against the floor. It bounced, fell back and waited to be picked up.

"That's the reason we offer an unconditional guarantee against the toy breaking for a full year," he said. "And we'll replace the toy even if the child leaves it under the rear wheel of the family's station wagon."

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I'll post the other half of this article tomorrow. I think it's pretty fascinating; I had no idea that toy manufacturers put so much thought into the products they made.