Lincoln Logs were invented around 1916, and this ad was from 1924. The inventor was John Lloyd Wright, son of famous architect Frank Lloyd.
The sets were named after US president Abraham Lincoln, who was born in a one-room log cabin.
It may seem quaint in an age of realistic video games, but I like these creativity toys where the ingredients are a pile of physical parts + imagination.
12 Comments
_haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works · 19 pts · 4d
I had these growing up: Solid building toy, would recommend if you have kids. They still make them.
EggInDisguise@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 8 pts · 4d
Well I guess I know what I'm looking for.
I used to have a set of these and I was super happy when my grandfather brought me a second set, I was building multi-level houses with fences and patios....
Lost it all in a move as a child though
calliope@retrolemmy.com · 6 pts · 4d
Me too! I loved them, even though I even had other building toys I liked for different reasons. Lego, Construx, K’Nex.
Lincoln Logs were invented by architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s son.
Oh sorry that last part is in the description I was just excited to share a fact
agent_nycto@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 4d
He designed them after Japanese building techniques
calliope@retrolemmy.com · 12 pts · 4d
And his father’s architecture designs!
I actually remember being surprised by how stable Lincoln Log houses were, moving them around as a kid!
Bonus@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 4d
They have significant lap joints and mass as to lock into place and those trusses don't hurt.
Apparently, John Lloyd Wright was estranged from his father but, FLW cites Tangrams as influential toys in his early development. I think he had been in early progressive kindergarten or similar. Literally a fitting result for his son to come up with something similar yet more three dimensional and architectural.
I had no idea these went back that far. They were advertised heavily in the 70s. TIL.
calliope@retrolemmy.com · 6 pts · 4d
I was thinking the same thing! My family had a set in the 80s.
They also came out a few years after Erector sets, and some of Lincoln Logs’ early popularity was because of the building set boom in the early 1920s!
Bonus@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 1d
I guess I kind of associated them with the hippy-dippyness of the 70s a lot, and that was fairly subjective (because we grew up in hippy-dippy shacks in the woods).
ToiletFlushShowerScream@piefed.world · 9 pts · 4d
My family was too poor for duplo, so I had these to play with. I can still remember the smell.
And the taste for some reason? God I was a dumb kid...
EnmebaraGuesser@piefed.ca · 4 pts · 4d
Wikipedia says they were made of redwood, but then went through a short period of being plastic (bah!), before reverting back to wood again. Redwood does have quite a distinctive smell!
jqubed@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 4d
I had some as a kid; they’re a great toy!
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 4d
Was more of a Brio kid. But I never passed on the opportunity to play with them when they were available.