Archeologists Find the Real Santa
Historic Site in Akron, Ohio is Original North Pole.
During the winter
of 2001-2002, an archeological team working in downtown
Akron, Ohios Lock 3 Park, unearthed a small ceramic
figurine. It is a curious little man with a sweet face
and long white beard, wearing a blue hooded coat. When
thoroughly cleaned and examined they discovered this was
Santa the first and original the real Santa.
Head archeologist,
Brian Graham, President of the non-profit, American
Toy Marble Museum, conducted the survey on the site
of the first mass-produced toy a clay marble. His team
of volunteers discovered tens of thousands of marbles
and an equal number of small, penny toys.
Graham estimates
the figurine was manufactured in the mid-1890s, making
it the first figurine of an American Santa and likely
the oldest three-dimensional representation of Santa in
existence.
The figurine was
thought at first, by some, to be a wizard or gnome, but
in-depth research over the following seven years proved
the Blue Santa is the real Santa.
Samuel C. Dyke,
Father of the Modern Toy Industry
In 1883 a group of
Akron newspapermen founded the Akron Toy Company on the site which today is Lock 3 Park. In 1884, Samuel
C. Dyke, the companys Superintendent invented a device
that allowed one worker to make 800 to 1,000 clay
marbles per hour. This was the first mass-produced toy
and it was an immediate success.
Marbles at the
time were the most popular childrens game in the
history of the USA. Previously, all marbles were
hand-made, relatively expensive and most were imported
from Germany. Mass-production allowed the price of
Dykes marbles to plummet. For a penny, a child could
buy a whole hand-full of marbles.
In 1891 Dyke
incorporated The American Marble & Toy Manufacturing
Company with $100,000 in stock. The company employed 350
hands and it became the worlds largest toy company.
Previous to 1884
and the mass-production of marbles in Akron, there were
toy companies and their toys were hand-made, beautifully
painted and so expensive only the wealthiest families in
the world, royalty, etc. could afford to buy them for
their children. All the other children could only dream
and wish they had the same toys the rich children play
with and their only chance of getting a real toy was to
ask Santa. Unfortunately, they were always disappointed,
as the real Santa didnt exist yet.
The introduction
of mass-produced toys at Dykes marbleworks in Akron,
Ohio changed the lives of children for ever. His company
was so successful that other local entrepreneurs opened
up their own marble factories and by the 1920s there
were a total of 32 marble companies in the greater Akron
area.
In the 1980s there
were gentlemen on the other side of Akron looking for
new uses for rubber. They saw the birth of this new
market for childrens products and jumped on the
bandwagon. They turned out the first mass-produced
balloons, rubber balls, rubber dollies, rubber duckies
and rubber baby buggy bumpers. By 1929 there were over
130 Akron area companies making and selling all types
and styles of inexpensive toys to children all over the
world.
When Akrons
Congressman, William McKinley, became President of the
United States in 1900 Sam Dyke became McKinleys
Industrial Ambassador, At-Large. Dyke sold his toy
company to his brother Actaeon and traveled the world
seeking new manufacturing methods that could be used and
improved in the USA.
Fire Destroys
Marbleworks
One night in 1904
the toy factory caught fire and rapidly burnt to the
ground. The next morning every little boy in Akron was
down at the factory site stuffing their pockets with
marbles. The Mayor of Akron ordered the police to guard
the site and keep the boys away. But, when the Mayor
learned Actaeon left town soon after the fire and the
company didnt have fire insurance, he declared the site
a public nuisance and ordered it buried. The City
couldnt allow children to rummage around the burnt out
remains of a factory and there wasnt any other way to
keep them out. This is how a million marbles and toys
came to be buried at Lock 3 Park.
The Real Santa
In 2000 the City
of Akron began work on what would become Lock 3 Park, on
the site of Sam Dykes old marbleworks. They allowed The American Toy Marble Museum to conduct an
archeological examination. And, when they were digging
at the site of the first mass-produced toy, the place
where the worlds toy industry began, the place where
the first inexpensive toys were made, so that all
children could own a toy, they found Santa the real
Santa.
The Blue Santa is,
of course, a symbol representing the most significant
change in toys and childrens gift giving. Before the
Blue Santa children played with sticks and rocks and
rope, but they didnt have or play with toys. But, the
miracle of mass-production, represented by the Blue
Santa, for the 1st time in world history
brought toys to all children, the world over and for all
times since.
This is the real
Santa. The kind and generous spirit who brings toys to
all good girls and boys, world-wide. The same Santa
wholl bringing toys to your home this Christmas.
The Spirit of the
Blue Santa Lives On
In 2007
representatives of The American Toy Marble Museum began making authentic reproductions of the Blue Santa,
using the same ceramic techniques used in the mid-1890s
at American Marble & Toy Manufacturing Company.
That Christmas season, sales were astounding. Additional
elves were hired, production increased to thousands per
week, and yet demand was still so high they had to limit
customers purchases to three per sale.
By hiring
additional elves and working with Akron area workshops
who hire disabled persons, production now continues year
round.
There is something
uniquely wonderful and loving about the Blue Santa that
has touched the hearts of all who see him. If you would
like to own a Blue Santa of your own, you can get one
here, on-line. If you wish to view the original in
person, hes still there at his birthplace, he hasnt
left. But hes now in a beautiful display case at The
American Toy Marble Museum in Lock 3 Park, Akron,
Ohio the original North Pole.
The Blue Santa
The Original
and Real Santa Clause
The Characters:
Walter E.
Wellman; was the highest paid journalist in the USA
at the turn of the 20th Century. In the early
1880s Wellman was editor and publisher of the Akron
Daily News. In 1883 he incorporated the Akron Toy
Company. He then got an offer he couldnt refuse, turned
his newspaper and toy company over to his protégé Samuel
C. Dyke and left town for Washington D.C. to work as the
political reporter for the Chicago Herald.
Samuel C. Dyke;
is the father of the modern toy industry; the first to
mass-produce a toy a clay marble in 1884 and founded a
half dozen toy marbleworks in Akron, Ohio. In 1901 he
was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary, at-large,
by US President William McKinley. He was president of
the worlds largest electrical insulating companies and
help start the National Marbles Tournament in 1923.
Actaeon L. Dyke (a.k.a. A.L. or AL;) was Sam Dykes older brother. The
two brothers were at times the best friends and close
working associates, at other times they couldnt work
with each other at all and were fierce competitors in
the toy business.
The Blue Santa;
is a blue, salt-glazed figurine of a German, Father
Christmas, style Santa and the oldest figurine of an
American-made Santa known to exist. He was manufactured
in the mid-1890s by The American Marble & Toy
Manufacturing Company in Akron, Ohio. Standing 2 and
1/2 tall, he was the largest toy manufactured by the
company. Brian Graham, President of The American Toy
Marble Museum, once a professional archeologist,
discovered the Blue Santa in an archeological excavation
during the winter of 2001-2002.
The Summit
County Beacon, August 15, 1883 - 1:3
A TOY FACTORY
FOR AKRON.
Messrs. S.C.
Smith, of Smith Bros., and Walter E. Wellman, late
editor of the Daily News, have taken out a
certificate of incorporation for the Akron Toy Company.
These gentlemen propose to manufacture and sell a toy
safe bank, for which a patent will be issued in two or
three weeks. The company propose to engage in the
general toy business next year, but will devote their
energies in pushing their specialty during the holidays
this year.
The Akron Toy
Company later became The American Marble & Toy
Manufacturing Company.
The Story of the
Blue Santa
Samuel C. Dyke was
the first person to mass produce a toy a clay marble
in 1884. His Akron, Ohio toy company proved the theory;
if you mass-produce something children like, you can
reduce its price to a point where children can buy it
with their own money. For a penny you could buy a
fistful of Dykes American Agate Marbles.
That was the start
of what we know today as the modern toy industry and
childrens product industry.
By 1888 Dyke was
making and selling one million marbles a day, enough to
fill 5 railroad box cars, and was well on his way to
becoming a millionaire. This caused other entrepreneurs
in Akron to open up their own marble factories and by
1900 there were more than two dozen companies formed to
make toy marbles.
Around the same
time there were men on the other side of Akron looking
for new uses for rubber (Akron, OH. was the rubber
capital of the world until the 1970s.) They witnessed
the success of these marble-men and turned out the first
mass-produced balloons, rubber balls, rubber dollies,
rubber duckies and rubber-baby-buggy-bumpers. Others
opened toy factories to turn out tops, iron banks,
wooden and tin toys; bikes, trikes and peddle cars;
color picture books, paper doll cut-outs and puzzles
this is a long list. By 1929 there were over 120 toy
companies operating in the greater Akron area.
There are still
major toy companies operating here today, Little Tykes,
Step Two, Maple City Rubber, Balloon Accessories, Inc.
etc. However, 80% of the toys sold in the world today
are manufactured in China where labor costs are so low,
making the cost of a toy so low, that children can
afford to buy them with their own money.
The World Before
Sam Dyke
Back in the early
1880s, before Sam Dyke mass-produced the first toy,
there were toy-makers and toy companies. However, these
were hand-made toys; skillfully crafted, beautifully
painted, and so expensive that only the wealthiest
families in the world, i.e.; royalty and robber barons,
could afford to buy them for their children.
Common children
made-do with home-made toys; a miniature horse whittled
by grandpa from a piece of wood, or a rag doll made by
mom. Theyd heard about the wonderful toys the rich
children played with and they wished to have ones like
those too. The only chance of getting a toy like theres
was to ask Santa, but they were always disappointed. At
that time the real Santa the one we all know and love
today -- didnt exist. That santa could only deliver
nuts, sweet treats to eat like an apple and the warmest
clothes the family could afford.
