This article was written by Suzanne Sickler Ohl, an early member of the Tyrone Area Historical Society.  It was first published in December 1992.

            When a child is asked what is wanted for Christmas no doubt the most popular answer would be “toys.”  That could mean anything from a ball, to an expensive doll or mechanical toy advertised in the latest toy catalog.  By far the most popular are toys that let children use their imaginations or relate to exciting occupations and people.

            Most people have memories associated with their favorite toys of the past.  Fortunate are those families who have toys handed down from one generation to another.  Thousands of spectators are drawn to museums dedicated to toys such as the famous Toy Museum in Edinburg, Scotland or the Lionel “World’s Largest Traveling Train Display” recently seen in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

            Even though toys were being made in factories in the early 1800s, Tyrone families still relied on their sewing and woodworking skills to satisfy the play needs of their children.  Dolls made from corn cobs and husks or apples used for faces and rags for the bodies, plentiful in the 1800s, are priceless collector’s items today.  Many a whistle, a truck, or a spinning top was crafted from a scrap of wood.  Scraps of yarn or cord were rolled into a handsome ball, the pride of any sports fan.

            The 1900 version of Chinese checkers was a square piece of wood with drilled holes in which matches were used in place of the marbles.  I still cherish the rocking horse seat made by my uncle from old wooden crates.  Now it is the family custom for each new grandchild to be photographed in that rocking horse just as I was when I was young.

            Toys were made of tin, lead, pewter, iron, and steel.  The earliest of the metals used was tin.  Scraps of tin were cut by hand and then soldered to form trucks, doll furniture, toy kitchens and utensils, animals, and people.  Tin and other metal railroad trains were collected eagerly and are much prized over the plastic models available today.

            Back in the 1890s a local Tyrone tinsmith, John Morningred, built a working Christmas village scene for his children and friends.  Since this was before he had electricity in his home, a waterwheel was built in the basement with the shaft going up through the living room floor to run the scene.  The village included a two-story house, ferris wheel, merry-go-round, church, and nativity group all made of tin.  The outdoor surroundings were a replica of Brush Mountain with real running water streams and dirt roads.  A small kerosene lamp was used in the house to show off its stained glass windows.  With the additions acquired over the years the Christmas scene presently needs a platform twelve feet by ten feet.

            A recent conversation (1992) with Fred Getz at RadioShack helped us recall the custom of the John Morningred family to open their home during the Christmas season for visitors to see their beautiful Christmas scene.  Lines of people, young and old, would walk through the living room, full of amazement at what was taking place before their eyes.

            John’s grandson, Duane, now curator of the Christmas village, displays it in his home in Wilmington, Delaware.  He recently gave the Historical Society early photographs of the display plus a video tape which shows the scene as it is today with descriptions given as to its origins dating back to 1890 in Tyrone, Pennsylvania and telling about some of the glittering mountain stones that came from nearby Brush Mountain.

            Cast iron toys, first available about 1825, became popular in the 1880s.  Favorites were the horsedrawn wagons and fire engines and the trains with the moving parts.  Many of the early cast iron toy molds have been used in recent years to make reproductions of those first toys.

            Between 1860 and 1900 clockwork toys began to appear in the stores.  Brass clockworks were used on the inside of the toys to move the arms or legs.  The toys were wound with a crank or with a key.

            The first tin and lead soldiers came from Germany in the early 1900s but soon were produced in the United States.  Boys were avid collectors of these soldiers, amassing large enough quantities to permit groupings according to different historical battles.

            Mechanical banks were a favorite for adults as well as youngsters.  The late John D. Meyer, past president of the First Blair County National Bank had a collection of more than 1,500 mechanical banks.  Other banks were like cash registers and those called “still banks” which were made in the form of a building or a safe.

            More convenient were the toys boys could carry in their pockets, namely marbles.  The first marbles, homemade of clay, were fragile and poorly shaped.  Glass marbles of different colors or swirled designs became common in the 1900s, many of which are rare and expensive today.  Wouldn’t it be interesting to pit today’s boys in competition with the boys of the 1940s in a game of marbles?  We could almost guarantee the 1940s boys would be the winners.

            Playing cards have been made for centuries.  Unusual aces, backs, and picture cards or those used for special advertising purposes are being collected today.  Shapes of cards can vary from rectangular to round to less than three inches in size.  Board games, such as checkers, parchisi, and chess have continued to provide good family entertainment.  The popularity of a board game often can be associated with the period of history in which it was produced.  An example is Monopoly, the game using large sums of fake money.  It was introduced during the depression years when money was scarce and people enjoyed the thrill of handling so much money even if it were fake.

            Most children at one time or another have owned or been fascinated by the Teddy Bear.  Its origin is traced back to a cartoon depicting the refusal of Theodore Roosevelt to shoot a bear cub when on a hunting trip in 1902.

            Paper dolls, homemade or cut from magazines, have been a source of pleasure since early in the 18^th century.  Shortly after the founding of Tyrone in 1851 a company in Boston started to publish sets of paper dolls and paper clothing.  They became so popular that other companies, including newspapers, started printing them in the 1890s.  Many food product companies, especially packers of coffee and spices, as well as the thread companies, began giving paper dolls as premiums.

            While the boys begged for pocket knives, girls enjoyed playing house and using their china tea sets.  Also available were the china Kewpie Doll and the glass engine filled with little candy beads.  Learning the alphabet and writing letters were easier when a child had a typewriter like Daddy had.

            A sled was considered a necessity as well as a toy.  With the seat fastened to the sled, babies could be taken for sled rides or groceries could be pulled home from the store.  When sleds were not available a piece of cardboard, metal, or greased wood could be used instead to go sledding on Brewery Hill or at Hagg’s Farm.

            Once the water had frozen at Reservoir Park or on the rivers then everyone got out their ice skates and joined the crowds for ice skating.  Those early skates, for many of us, were the clamp on type.  We spent much of our time fastening them on our shoes – much like the situation occurring with the early roller skates.  How well I remember wearing my skate key on a string around my neck so it wouldn’t get lost.

            No listing of Christmas gifts would be complete without mentioning the books that we loved.  These included fairy tales, Campfire Girls, Boy Scouts, Moby Dick, Little Women, and adventure stories to add to our collection.  Those books were read many times as well as being traded with friends.  Without the distraction of television, reading periods in earlier days were some of our most cherished memories.