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The Ohio Art Company history
The Ohio Art Company company history timeline
Henry Winzeler started up his own manufacturing company in 1908.
In 1910 Winzeler bought his own stamping machine and consolidated production.
Soon after the move to Bryan in 1912, the company installed metal lithography equipment, an addition that would shape the company’s future.
Winzeler began making metal picture frames and various other novelty items that were sold in retail stores all over the US. The company moved locations in 1912 to Bryan, Ohio where it became even more successful with its Cupid Awake/Cupid Asleep picture frames.
Rising demand spurred moves to progressively larger plants, until Ohio Art moved to the town of Bryan and a specially built plant in 1915.
The 1916 purchase of Chicago’s Holabird Manufacturing Company broadened the product line to include glass-framed calendars featuring popular Ohio Art prints.
In 1917 Ohio Art acquired both the C. E. Carter Company's Erie toy plant and the Battle Creek Toy Manufacturing Company.
In 1917, the Ohio Art Company began manufacturing toys such as the windmills and climbing monkey.
A quality (and very popular) tea set line was introduced, and in 1923, sand pails appeared.
In 1927 H. S. Winzeler retired from Ohio Art to concentrate on his West Coast businesses.
In the early 1930’s, Ohio Art was one of the very first companies to license a character from Walt Disney for a toy; Steam Boat Willie, the precursor to Mickey Mouse.
Fifteen-year-old son Howard W. (“Howie”) Winzeler started working part-time at Ohio Art in 1930 and joined the firm full-time three years later.
Craftsman Studios, a manufacturer of brass and copper tableware, was acquired in 1931.
When H. S. Winzeler died in 1939 Howie was appointed to fill the vacant seat on the board of directors.
The Winzelers had drawn Killgallon from a rival toy company to become sales manager in 1955.
The final product of the Etch A Sketch was first produced on July 12, 1960 at the Bryan, Ohio factory.
Not content to rest, Ohio Art balanced the toy market's seasonally cyclical sales with the incorporation of Strydel, Inc., in 1962.
In 1968 Ohio Art acquired Trinc Company, a truck leasing firm formerly owned by Ohio Art executives, and a controlling interest in Emenee Corporation, a manufacturer of toy musical instruments.
The founding Winzeler family sold its controlling stake in Ohio Art to William Casley Killgallon in 1977.
Art, craft, and educational toys offered to "Make Creativity Fun." Sales and profits peaked at $55.6 million and $3.4 million in 1992.
In a more low-tech vein, Ohio Art launched a color Etch A Sketch in 1993 that used the traditional two-knob drawing method but featured six colors and produced a color copy of each drawing.
Sales declined by over 25 percent to $41.1 million in 1994, and profits dropped by more than three-quarters to $824,000 during the same period.
In honor of the toy's 35th birthday in 1995, Ohio Art introduced pocket models in jewel tones.
In 1995, the Etch A Sketch toy was featured in the original Toy Story, in a scene where one performs a "quick draw" duel with Woody.
In fact, Ohio Art has won 16 internationally recognized awards since 1997.
The loss widened to $5.1 million in 1997.
From May through September the company's stock was suspended from trading on the American Stock Exchange because Ohio Art had not filed its annual report for 1998.
Sales increased 27 percent in 1998, to $45.9 million, as the company scored a hit with its newly introduced Betty Spaghetty doll.
In 1999 Ohio Art seemed on the verge of declaring bankruptcy.
Despite its appearing onscreen for only about 30 seconds, the attendant free advertising helped boost sales of the drawing toy by 20 percent during the 1999 holiday season.
Revenues for 1999 increased 16 percent, and Ohio Art even achieved a small profit of $356,000.
Meantime, it was reported in mid-2002 that Ohio Art was trying to sell its Strydel injection-molding subsidiary, hoping to use the proceeds to fund further toy development.
On February 11, 2016, The Ohio Art Company announced that it has sold its Etch A Sketch and Doodle Sketch brands to Canada-based Spin Master, in a move designed to allow it to focus on its metal lithography business and invest in its manufacturing operations in Bryan.
Gasbarre, April Dougal; Salamie, David E. "The Ohio Art Company ." International Directory of Company Histories. . Retrieved June 22, 2022 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/politics-and-business-magazines/ohio-art-company
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The Ohio Art Company may also be known as or be related to Ohio Art Co, Ohio Art Company, Ohio Art Inc and The Ohio Art Company.