Display heralds Wolverine toys made in '40s and '50s on North Side

Even Santa's elves sometimes need help producing the toys found under the Christmas trees of good little girls and boys.

For more than 50 years, some of that assistance came from the Wolverine Toy Co. on the North Side. A sampling of Wolverine's toys, which ranged from lithographed cars to play laundry sets, is on display through the end of the month at the Library Center of Point Park College and the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Downtown.

"Toys From the Past - Wolverine Toy Co." features a display case of toys from the collection of Terry Mowrey.

A self-described collector and history buff who started with toy soldiers in the 1940s, Mowrey is a member and former president of the Allegheny City Society, an organization dedicated to preserving, promoting and interpreting the history of Allegheny City and Pittsburgh's North Side.

In addition to the toys, Mowrey supplied a history, timeline and other details on the company included for the display, which was arranged with the Library Center's business department.

Founded in 1903, the Wolverine Supply and Manufacturing Co. originally designed and produced household items, including brooms, and tools and dies. One of its clients, the Sand Toy Co., went bankrupt in 1908 before it could accept an order for a mechanical gravity action toy die from Wolverine.

Wolverine owner Benjamin Bain bought Sand Toy in 1909 and began manufacturing the Sandy Andy sand toy. The company became the Wolverine Toy Co. that same year.

The year 1913 was a noteworthy one for Wolverine. Bain built an 80,000-square-foot factory on a 3-acre site at Page and Fontella streets on the North Side. Wolverine began manufacturing pressed tin toys there and introduced its line of sand toys that year.

Mowrey says sand toys were powered by sand, which interacted with counterweights and pulleys to cause continuing motion. Examples of sand toys produced by Wolverine included a seesaw, seen in the display.

"There were also friction toys you pressed down on, and spring-powered toys," he says. "Wolverine was a major manufacturer of these kind of toys."

The Library Center display includes a Sandy Andy windup boat, a green Wolverine Express Bus, a Little Action pinball game, and a dark red roadster with the intriguing words "Mystery Car" printed on the side. Toys for little girls are represented by a small pot and kettle and a Little Sweetheart Ironing Set, which came with small clothespins, clothesline, a cutout doll and her clothes.

Wolverine began advertising its toys, along with sketches and explanations, with Sears Roebuck in 1919 and introduced a line of housekeeping toys in 1920. Owner Bain died in 1926, and the company passed to his wife, Dora.

The company became a major North Side employer. Its work force peaked each fall in preparation for holiday sales. As business expanded, so did the types of toys manufactured.

"Wolverine produced lots of toys for girls, including washing machines, dryers and doll furniture," Mowrey says. "There was even a toy grocery store that had three walls and a counter that included a scale and toy boxes of food."

While many Wolverine toys, such as the bus and motor boat, are commonly referred to as tin lithography, Mowrey says this isn't technically correct.

"Most of them are actually pressed steel with a tinned or plated coating," he says. "Most of the Wolverine toys were done in lithography, some with fine details. Others were just painted, and it varied with the design."

Wolverine continued to manufacture toys during World War II, but switched to different raw materials because of metal shortages.

"They made wooden and cardboard toys, which really looked very similar to the metal ones," Mowrey says.

Wolverine introduced its Educational Toys and Rite-Hite Toy lines during the 1950s. It became a subsidiary of Spang Industries in 1968 and moved to Booneville, Ark., in 1971. The company was renamed Today's Kids in 1986.

While the average Pittsburgher might not be aware of the city's Wolverine toy legacy, that's not the case with those from the North Side.

"People on the North Side are pretty aware of Wolverine," Mowrey says. "Whenever there's a gathering of people on the North Side, Wolverine Toys come up. They'll say that a member of their family, often a father or uncle, worked there."

Although renamed and long gone to Arkansas, Wolverine's local legacy exists beyond memories and Mowrey's collection.

"The building still stands on the 1200 block of Western Avenue," he says. "On one part of the building facing Western, you can still see the painted word 'Wolverine,' and on another part, the word 'Toys.'"