Greetings LEGO Lovers. Below is the chronological timeline of The LEGO Group, the company that has created those great LEGO Building Sets and Minifigures that we love! This information was found on the LEGO website.
1932
Ole Kirk Kristiansen, master carpenter and joiner, establishes his business in the village of Billund, Denmark. His firm manufactures stepladders, ironing boards, stools and wooden toys.
1934
The company and its products now adopt the name LEGO, formed from the Danish words "LEg GOdt" ("play well"). Later, it is realised that in Latin the word means "I put together". The firm has 6-7 employees.
Ole Kirk places the following motto on the workshop wall: "Only the best is good enough".
1935 Selected Product News
The LEGO Duck
Clothes hangers (Dagny Holm design)
1937
Godfred Kirk Christiansen starts creating models. He is 17 years old.
1939
The shop now has 10 employees.
1940
Denmark occupied by the Germans. Godfred Kirk Christiansen does not travel to Germany to study as planned. Instead, he becomes manager at LEGO.
1942
The LEGO factory burns to the ground, however, the production of wooden toys is quickly resumed.
1943
The firm has approx. 40 employees.
1946 Selected Product News
Wooden bricks with decorations (letters and figures)
1947
The LEGO Group is the first in Denmark to buy a plastic injection-moulding machine for toy production. The machine costs 30.000 Danish Crowns. By comparison, the revenue of the firm this year is 450.000 Danish Crowns.
1947 Selected Product News
Plastic ball for infants
The educational traffic board game "Monypoli"
1948
LEGO has 50 employees.
1948 Selected Product News
A game of Tiddlywinks
1949
The company produces around 200 different plastic and wooden toys, including Automatic Binding Bricks, a forerunner of the LEGO bricks we know today. They are sold in Denmark exclusively.
1949 Selected Product News
The LEGO Automatic Binding Brick with four and eight studs
A plastic fish and A plastic sailor
1951
Plastic toys account for half of the company's output.
1951 Selected Product News
The building base with 10 x 20 studs
The plastic tractor (Ferguson)
1952 Selected Product News
Big plastic and wooden cars
1953
The Automatic Binding Bricks get a new name: "LEGO Mursten" ("LEGO Bricks").
The name LEGO is printed inside all bricks.
The first application for registration of the trademark.
1954
The word LEGO is officially registered in Denmark on 1st May.
1954 Product News
The Beam brick
LEGO windows and doors
1955
After further developing the LEGO Bricks, the company launches the revolutionary "LEGO System of Play". The first real export of LEGO begins. First country is Sweden. Godfred Kirk Christiansen demonstrates the new product at a toy fair in Nuremberg, Germany. Reactions are not positive.
1955 Selected Product News
LEGO System of Play: 28 sets and 8 vehicles plus supplementary elements
1956
The first foreign sales company is established in Hohenwestedt, Germany.
The company buys its first own truck.
1956 Selected Product News
Bicyclists and motorcyclists (little plastic figures)
1957 Selected Product News
Plastic Tractor
A LEGO brick with light inside
1958
The current LEGO stud-and-tube coupling system is patented. The new coupling principle makes models much more stable.
1959 Selected Product News
Bilo-fix (wood + plastic)
1960
The wooden toy warehouse is destroyed by fire. Production of wooden toys is discontinued entirely.
1961
The LEGO Group invents the wheel! It is marketed in the following year.
The range comprises 50 sets, 15 vehicles and various loose elements.
Sales start in the US and Canada via a license agreement with Samsonite Corp.
1961 Selected Product News
The wheel
Terapi I, II and III (pre-school products)
1963
Godfred Kirk Christiansen presents the company to the ten product characteristics:
- Unlimited play potential
- For girls and for boys
- Fun for every age
- Year-round play
- Healthy, quiet play
- Long hours of play
- Development, imagination, creativity
- The more LEGO, the greater the value
- Extra sets available
- Quality in every detail
1964
Model sets, complete with building instructions, are launched as a natural addition to existing Basic and Supplementary sets.
LEGO bricks are exhibited at the Danish pavilion at the New York World Fair.
1964 Selected Product News
LEGO Model cars
Jumbo bricks (produced by Samsonite in the USA)
1966
The product range comprises 57 sets and 25 vehicles. A total of 706 million LEGO elements are produced during the year.
LEGO is now sold in 42 countries.
1966 Selected Product News
The battery-driven LEGO Train
1967
There are now 218 different LEGO elements (not counting colour variations) and between 18 and 19 million LEGO sets are sold during the year.
1968
LEGOLAND® Billund opens its gates on 7th June and attracts 625,000 visitors in its first season, 3000 on the opening day.
1969
The DUPLO series for under-fives is launched internationally.
1969 Selected Product News
The 12-volt motor joins the Train series.
1971 Selected Product News
Doll house elements incl. furniture
The inspirational book "We play with LEGO®"
1972
The license agreement with Samsonite ends in the US.
The Information & Public Relations department established.
1972 Selected Product News
New LEGOLAND cars
4,4 V train (re-launch)
1973
A single new LEGO logo replaces the various logos that have been used until now. The new LEGO logo unifies all the company's products under one banner.
LEGO USA established in Brookfield, Connecticut.
1973 Selected Product News
LEGOLAND ships
The London Bus
Doll's house units, together with furniture components
1974 Selected Product News
The LEGO family figures
1975
LEGO USA moves from Brookfield to Enfield, Connecticut.
Procurement in the US established.
The LEGO Group has 2500 employees.
English becomes official corporate language.
1975 Selected Product News
The Expert Series
1976
Sculpturer Robert Jacobsen's "LEGO" is revealed in Billund.
1976 Selected Product News
Harley Davidson motorcycle
1977 Selected Product News
LEGO TECHNIC
DUPLO doors, windows and "symbol" figures without arms and legs
1978
The first LEGO Road Show takes place in Dayton, Ohio. Later, this becomes the LEGO World Shows.
1978 Selected Product News
LEGOLAND mini figures with movable arms and legs
Base plates with road markings
USS Constallation
The Castle
1979 Selected Product News
LEGOLAND Space
FABULAND
SCALA
DUPLO "house box"
1980
The Educational Products Department is established.
The DUPLO rabbit logo is introduced.
According to a survey, 70% of all Western European families with kids under 14 now have LEGO bricks in their home.
Selected Product News 1980
DUPLO pull-along and rocking toys for toddlers
DUPLO sound element
1981
First LEGO World Show in Denmark.
1983
3700 employees world wide.
1983 Selected Product News
DUPLO Baby series (incl. six rattles)
Big DUPLO figures with movable arms and legs
DUPLO Train
1984 Selected Product News
The LEGOLAND Castle Series
1985 Selected Product News
DUPLO Farm
New range of LEGO trains
1986 Selected Product News
The DUPLO Family (dog included)
The Technic figure
Light and Sound
Technic Computer Control (educational)
1987
The brick logo is developed.
Almost 6000 employees.
1987 Selected Product News
DUPLO and LEGO buckets
LEGOLAND Monorail
Playboard (DUPLO Baby)
1988 Selected Product News
DUPLO Circus
DUPLO Plane
Forest People
1989 Selected Product News
The Pirate line
1990
The LEGO Group is now one of the world's 10 largest toy manufacturers - the only one in Europe (the others are American and Japanese).
The magic barrier - one million visitors in a single year - is broken for the first time at LEGOLAND Billund on 4th September.
1990 Selected Product News
DUPLO Zoo
Model Team
LEGO Technic Control Center
1991 Selected Product News
Harbour theme (LEGO Town)
Ships (re-launch)
Flex-system elements (Technic)
9-V train (Travo controlled)
1992
A Guinness record in railway line construction is set - 545 metres of LEGO rails with three model locomotives.
The world's largest LEGO Castle is built on Swedish television. Over 400,000 LEGO bricks are transformed into a castle 4.45 m x 5.22 m castle, measured for the Guinness Book of Records.
LEGO Imagination Centre is opened in Mall of America in Blomington, Minneapolis, USA.
1992 Selected Product News
LEGO Town Paradisa theme
1993 Selected Product News
Ice Planet 2002
Forklift truck (TECHNIC)
LEGO DUPLO 4,5-V Train with new rail system and sounds
1994
The UNHCR uses LEGO mini-figures on posters around the world.
The "Travel in Space", arranged by LEGO USA, opens in Space Center, Houston.
8880 employees world-wide.
1994 Selected Product News
Islanders (LEGO Pirate line)
Super-Car (LEGO TECHNIC)
Spyrius (Space)
DUPLO playhouse
1995 Selected Product News
LEGO DUPLO PRIMO (DUPLO BABY in North America)
LEGO FreeStyle
LEGO SYSTEM Aquazone
LEGO TECHNIC Control II
1996
www.lego.com is launched.
LEGOLAND Windsor, the first LEGOLAND family park outside Denmark, opens on March 29.
LEGOLAND Billund has now had 25 million visitors since its opening on in 1968.
1996 Selected Product News
Time Cruisers (LEGO SYSTEM)
Western (LEGO SYSTEM)
Exploriens (LEGO SYSTEM Space)
1997
For the first time, a CD-ROM containing building instructions is included with a model set. The set also contains a Bar Code Truck with a programmable bar-code reader.
The first LEGO MINDSTORMS Learning Center opens at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, USA.
1997 Selected Product New
Diver theme (LEGO SYSTEM)
The Bat Castle (LEGO SYSTEM Castle)
UFO boxes (LEGO SYSTEM Space)
LEGO Island (software)
LEGO DUPLO Dinosaurs
1998
The brand statement "Just Imagine..." is introduced into the LEGO universe.
For the first time ever, LEGO Group faces a deficit.
In April the new LEGO logo is presented. It is a graphically "tightened" version of the logo used for the past 25 years.
1998 Selected Product News
LEGO MINDSTORMS
LEGO TECHNIC CyberMaster
Eight new LEGO PRIMO sets
Various LEGO software titles
1999
LEGOLAND California opens in Carlsbad, southern California, in March.
The LEGO brick is named as one of the "Products of the Century" by Fortune Magazine.
1999 Selected Product News
Star Wars (LEGO SYSTEM)
Rockraiders (LEGO SYSTEM)
Winnie the Pooh and Friends (LEGO DUPLO)
ROBOLAB (educational)
LEGO Soft (educational)
2000
The company mission and fundamental beliefs are being revised to "Children are our role models..."
The British Association of Toy Retailers names the LEGO brick "Toy of the Century".
2000 Selected Product News
LEGO & Steven Spielberg MovieMaker Set (LEGO Studios)
Grand Silver Champion (LEGO TECHNIC)
Speed Slammers (LEGO TECHNIC)
LEGO MyBot
LEGO Football (LEGO Soccer in the US)
2001
LEGO Serious Play is unveiled.
Selected Product News 2001
LEGO BIONICLE (+ BIONICLE PC and Nintendo game)
LEGO DUPLO dolls
LEGO Bob the Builder
LEGO Harry Potter
Jack Stone
Alpha Team
Robotic Invention System 1,5 (LEGO MINDSTORMS)
2002
The brand statement "Play On" replaces "Just Imagine..."
The LEGO DUPLO brand is replaced by the LEGO EXPLORE brand covering all pre-school activities.
2002 Selected Product News
Music Composer (LEGO EXPLORE)
Music Roller (LEGO EXPLORE)
Island Extreme Stunts (+ PlayStation game)
WilliamsF1 Racer
Galidor
SpyBotics
2003
The LEGO mini figure celebrates its 25th birthday.
Visitor record is broken again in the LEGOLAND park in Billund, Denmark. 1.63 million people pay a visit to the park during the season.
Representations of the LEGO mini figures Biff Starling and Sandy Moondust are the first earthlings to reach the planet Mars onboard the NASA Mars rovers "Spirit" and "Opportunity".
LEGO website - www.LEGO.com receives around four million visitors per month.
2003 Selected Product News
Make & Create
CLIKITS
DUPLO (Explore) Intelligent Train
DUPLO (Explore) TheatreStories
Back-hoe Loader w/ pneumatics (TECHNIC)
Little Robots
World City
LEGO Discovery
Knights' Kingdom
LEGO Spider-Man
The official information available from LEGO doesn't yet go past 2003. When more becomes available, this page will be updated. For now, see my post on the history of the Minifig to see some more current info.
Even though this page was very long, not everything from the company's website was included here.
To see the LEGO Corporate timeline information in it's entirety, vist their page.
Thanks!
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