The History of the Radio Flyer Red Wagon

Wooden Beginnings

• In 1917 Antonio Pasin, an Italian immigrant, left the cabinet-making business and began manufacturing handcrafted wooden wagons in Chicago. He expanded multiple times, hiring additional craftsmen to meet the country’s growing demand for his wagon.

Liberty Coaster Company

• Pasin founded the Liberty Coaster Company in 1923. The company used the same metal stamping technology used in manufacturing automobiles to mass-produce wagons for children. This wagon, known as the Liberty Coaster was, according to Radio Flyer, the first metal wagon for children.

Radio Flyer

• The company was later renamed Radio Steel and Manufacturing. During the Depression, demand for the product did not wane and the company continued to produce 1,500 wagons per day. It was during this era that Pasin gave the wagon the name Radio Flyer.

War Efforts

• During the 1940s, the company produced fewer wagons so that it could join in the war effort. They manufactured 5-gallon metal fuel jugs, known as Blitz Cans, for the military.

Second Generation

• In the 1950s, Pasin’s son took over the company and began to extend its product line to include garden carts, and other toys. The company also began making coaster wagons, which had higher sides and were designed for parents to use to pull their children.

Wagon Changes

• In the late 1980s the company name was changed to Radio Flyer and the product line was expanded to include the “Town and Country” wagon and plastic designs. In 2003, Antonio Pasin was inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame just before production of his famed wagon was moved from Chicago to China.