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Lionel Manufacturing Company
Joshua Lionel Cowen was born in New York City on August 25, 1877. An inventivc and enterprising youth, Cowen started working in his teens for the Acme Electric Lamp Company in Manhattan, assembling battery lamps. He found himself in the heart of a technological free-for-all as electricity was incorporated into eyeryday life.By the turn of the ccntury, Cowen began to cxperiment with battery-operated lamps in his spare time. A local merchant approached him one day and asked him to create a whimsical window display to attract the public. His first effort produced the Electric Express, a showpiece featuring trains powered by a dry-cell battery wired to the track. It was a grand departure from the wind-up, steam?powered, and motorized yehicles of the time.
The succcess of Cowen's window display was due in no small part to the advances in transportation that were transforming America at the timc. Railroad tracks were crisscrossing the country, and trolley cars or streetcars were becoming a staple in every major city. New York City, in particular, had developed an elaborate transportation system of electric-powered streetcars. This became the model for Cowen's displays the following year. Once again, his displays were a huge hit. The orders started coming in from stores as far away as Rhode Island, and Cowen found himself much in demand.
In 1903, he set up the Lionel Manufacturing Company. The company started out producing store displays featuring trains and trolley cars, but five years later, the company realized a larger market for children's toys. It was in this mass market that the company could produce trains \vith movable \vorking parts that captured the imaginations of children of all ages. In 1909, the company added the tag line "The standard of the world" to all their promotional advertising.
While every other major toy train manufacturer around the world was producing trains with steam engines or wind-up clockwork mechanisms, Cowen continued to perfect the electric train. He understood electricity and realized it would become the power of the future. In 1918, the company was renamed the Lionel Corporation, and by 1920, it had become one of three major American producers of model electric trains and accessories.
