Sunny River Writings

Did you have a little red wagon when you were a child? If so it was probably a Radio Flyer. There was so much one could do with their Radio Flyer wagon. Hop in and race down a hill. Load it up with toys to hall across the yard. Or pull your pet puppy up and down the sidewalk.

For xmas this year I was given the most interesting book, Radio Flyer: 100 Years of America’s Little Red Wagon. I received my first little red wagon for xmas in 1997. I was forty-five. My children and husband surprised me with the Radio Flyer. I must admit it was quite a surprise. Over the years I have put her to good use.

In the spring I haul away the leaves and remains of last years garden. Then filling it with a bucket of compost, gardening tools, and plants to be put into my little garden space. The little red wagon helps in the summer when I weed the flower bed along the sidewalk, filling it with weeds and trash that has been tossed out by a passing car or someone walking down the sidewalk. In the fall again I load up the spent plants, squash vines, tomato stems, and the many pots that have held summer flowers. Hauling the load to the compost pile or back into the garage for winter storage. The wagon hauls heavy boxes from the garage into the house. There are times when I have had a heavy or awkward piece of furniture to move so grabbing my little red wagon she helps me to manuver the item to a new spot.

This little wagon is a traveler, first in Illinois, next Michigan where she helped me plant a butterfly garden, then to Vermont, and finally to North Carolina. Today she is a little rusty but still is a great gardening buddy.

Because my children know that the Radio Flyer wagon is my trusty companion it was the perfect gift this year. The history of Radio Flyer is quite remarkable. Here are a few things I learned.

The company, in 2017, turned 100 years old and is being run by the third generation. Still a family owned business being run by Robert Pasin grandson to Antonio Pasin.

Antonio Pasin had been a cabinetmaker in a small village outside of Venice, Italy. Pasin came to the United States in 1914 at the age of sixteen. He arrived three months before the starting of WWI. In 1917 he opened a shop making handmade furniture, wine presses, and wooden tricycles. Later making the first wagon. An Italian immigrant he worked out of his one room garage located in the slums of Chicago.

In 1922 Pasin founded his company naming it Liberty Coaster Company. Antonio put all his focus on the Liberty Coaster wagon, which was originally made of wood with four wooden spoke wheels.

“…the only thing Antonio would ever talk about was that moment he saw the Statue of Liberty. He would later name the first wagon he built the Liberty Coaster, after ‘Lady Liberty’ – the first face to greet him when he landed on America’s shores.”

By 1926 Pasin got a patent for his first all steel wagon named Coaster Wagon No. 1. He was then able to mass produce the wagon, although he developed more than a dozen wagon models during his first ten years. Pasin’s best seller was the Radio Flyer wagon which he debuted in 1930. It had stamped metal wheels and rubber tires. The name Radio Flyer came from the two greatest inventions at that time the radio and the airplane. Prior to the Radio Flyer he had a wagon he named the Lindy Flyer after Charles Lindbergh. It is at this time Antonio again changes the name of the company to Radio Steel and Manufacturing Company. Although the company is referred to as Radio Flyer the name isn’t changed to Radio Flyer, Inc. until 1987, fifty-seven years later.

The Chicago World’s Fair in 1933 featured an exhibit of the Radio Flyer Coaster Boy at their Century of Progress Exposition. By the following year they were producing 3,000 wagons a day. From 1942–1945 they stopped production of the wagon to support the war efforts making blitz cans for the troops. The 60’s saw the company expand their marketing and advertising. Making specialty wagons to go along with the current TV and movies like The Mickey Mouse Club and the Davy Crockett show. An advertisement in 1973 said that Radio Flyer is the “…only wagon that outsells Ford station wagons.”

The big screen showed a movie in 1992 titled Radio Flyer about two brothers and their little red wagon. The movie starred Tom Hanks and Elijah Wood. In 2003 Antonio Pasin was inducted into the Toy Industry Hall of Fame. Taking Flight an animated short film released in 2015 was inspired by the life of Pasin. The film won an Emmy Award in 2017. The trophy was presented to Robert Pasin the CEO of Radio Flyer and Antonio’s grandson.

Today Robert Pasin the ‘Chief Wagon’ as he is called believes Radio Flyer “transports people to a happy place-to the best parts of childhood, moments of adventure, imagination, family, friends, sunshine, green grass and most of all love.” Mr. Pasin tells us that this book is the story of an American classic. “That’s why when First Lady Michelle Obama needed a gift for young Prince George of England, she bought a little red wagon. Or when former secretary of state Colin Powell needed a symbol for his philanthropic endeavor America’s Promise, he used a little red wagon. And when Bob Dylan needed the perfect image of nostalgic love for a son, he wrote about the little red wagon.”

This final quote I find so relevant today, “…readers and fans will learn for the first time not only about the brand they (and their grandparents) love, but about also our country and the opportunity it gave to enterprising immigrants, and how family ties are strong enough to build something that can last for more than a century.”