ABSTRACT
Very few of us did not have a little red wagon when we were growing up. Odds are it was a Radio Flyer wagon, made by a private manufacturing company in Chicago. Started in 1917 by Antonio Pasin, this was the story of an Italian immigrant with a dream and a destination. Despite his exemplary woodworking skills, he had difficulty finding work after arriving in America and was forced to take some unskilled jobs until he could save his way into starting his own business. By 1923 his “Liberty Coaster
Company” employed several others and was on its way, building children’s wooden toy wagons. The firm really took off after the 1933 World’s Fair, coincidentally held in Chicago! There, Pasin borrowed heavily and created a 45 ft tall exhibit touting the “Radio Flyer” wagon.1 The little red wagon maker never looked back.
