Vintage Photos: Michigan Kids with Their Favorite Toys, 1890-1956

What two things describe kids?
Candy and toys.
Those are the things that make up their whole world.

Candy is fine, but once eaten, that's it. Gone for good. Toys, on the other hand, may last for a good number of years.

Candy was easily accessible to kids; mom would give us change to go down to the party store or sweet shop and get ourselves a candy bar, or gum...or we'd spend our whole allowance on candy and comic books.

Get our free mobile app

Toys, however, were something special. Those were things you wished and hoped you'd get for Christmas or your birthday. Mom's handful of change would not be enough to get that toy you really wanted. I remember when I was maybe five years old, walking by our small town grocer and seeing the coolest toy in the window: a safari set! It came with a pith helmet, plastic toy gun with a bullet belt, and a few other things that I can't recall. I just remember I wanted that SO bad...it wuz SO cool! I would walk by that store every day, just staring at it. I told my mom about it and how bad I wanted it...the cost was only like six bucks. This went on for months.

Christmas finally came...and I didn't get my safari kit. My birthday was two months later...and I didn't get my safari kit. It just wasn't to be. Nowadays I occasionally try to Google Image search for that kit but to no avail. I don't remember the actual name of the toy or the company...so I will more than likely never find it, or ever get it.

It's obvious that toys have a permanent place in an adult's memory, with a sentimental fondness for the ones that meant so much to us when we were kids...even the ones we drooled over but never owned.

The gallery below features 25 photos of Michigan kids with their specific toys, from the late 1800s to 1956...