Schoolhouse Surprise

Lynn, Avery and Alvin did.

Lynn, Avery and Alvin lived in Mound, a very small town nestled on Lake Winnetonka in Minnesota … and they had an idea.

The boys decided to open a metal works factory to make gardening tools … and their timing was great … with World War II over it was easy to get metal inexpensively by the dump truck as the country had excess capacity.

They set up shop in an old schoolhouse that the previous owner had used make to metal boxes, other items and even some metal toys. When they were buying the building the owner told them about trying to sell his metal toys at a major toy fair but hadn’t any luck and kind of given up on them.

Well the boys thought there might be something there … so they bought the rights to the toys too thinking maybe the toy vehicles might be a nicely profitable sideline to the gardening tools … and they were totally wrong.

You see once they started marketing the toy steam engine they couldn’t keep up with demand … pretty soon they forgot about the gardening tools and just made metal toys instead … and rest is history.

Today, the toys Lynn, Avery and Alvin popularized are known worldwide, now made more out of plastic than metal and are in the National Toy Hall of Fame … and they are named not after the town the boys lived in, but the lake in front of the town. Lake Winnetonka. Tonka Toys!

Tonka Toys are a great idea … because for often than not, developing a great idea will test you and your mettle.