![miniradio flyer sled miniradio flyer sled](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/2uIAAOSwdr5g6FVg/s-l640.jpg)
People tend to forget that both of Chicago’s World’s Fairs-the Columbian Exposition in 1893 and the Century of Progress in 1933-took place during major economic depressions.
![miniradio flyer sled miniradio flyer sled](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/zHoAAOSwjateNS9x/s-l400.jpg)
Still, Papa Pasin was keenly aware that his coasters needed a true coming out party to ensure their long term viability in a hazy marketplace, and the return of the World’s Fair to Chicago seemed like the end-all-be-all opportunity.
![miniradio flyer sled miniradio flyer sled](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/vpQAAOSwNSJe-k91/s-l640.jpg)
The Radio Flyers and several other brands were marketed towards both boys and girls-a rarity-and eventually adults, since the wagons could serve just as well for gardening and other yard work. In any case, the company was performing admirably in the midst of the Great Depression, churning out 1,500 wagons per day on average through a Ford-like assembly line process. Radio Flyer’s corporate headquarters is, remarkably, still essentially in the same location today-although all manufacturing has unsurprisingly moved to China. Contrary to popular belief and obscure Tom Hanks movies, the wagon could neither take flight nor broadcast episodes of “The Shadow.”īy 1933, Pasin had set up his newly rechristened business, the Radio Steel & MFG Company, at a large manufacturing facility on Grand Avenue in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood. When Pasin started emulating the automobile industry and switching to a stamped steel construction in the late 1920s, he called his new wagon the “Radio Flyer” as a reference to two of the great technological feats of his lifetime. was also producing tricycles, scooters and other kid vehicles-a tiny fraction of which have stood the test of time. So he had to do a lot of odd jobs in order to get along.”Īnd yet, the humble son of a Venetian cabinet maker persevered and found his niche in Chicago, using his carpentry skills to create a popular line of wooden coaster wagons-starting with the brand name Liberty in 1917. “He came to this country and nobody would give him a job because he was too young. “Antonio got off of that boat with no money, no friends, nobody,” his wife Anna later said. So he was no stranger to a risky proposition. from Italy in 1914, at just 16 years of age-bringing along little more than a Fievel-like desire to pursue the American dream. Keep in mind, this was a guy who’d immigrated to the U.S. “That was the only time my grandmother saw him stressed out in any way,” Antonio’s grandson Robert Pasin-current ‘Chief Wagon Officer’ of Radio Flyer- told Investor’s Business Daily in 2014. But when Antonio Pasin-inventor of the Radio Flyer-decided to invest $30,000 into a coaster wagon exhibit for the 1933 World’s Fair, he considered it the riskiest make-or-break moment of his life. In retrospect, it looks like one of the savviest and most successful promotional stunts of its era. Made By: Radio Steel and MFG Co., 6041 W. Museum Artifact: Miniature Radio Flyer Wagon from 1933 World’s Fair