Tonka

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Tonka

for other uses see Tonka (disambiguation)
Tonka (disambiguation)

Tonka may refer to*Tonka - American toy company*Tonka bean -spice.*Tonka -rocket fuel*DJ Tonka - German DJ*Tonka, Mali -town and commune in Mali...

Tonka is an American

United States

Toy

A toy is an object used in Play . Toys are usually associated with children and pets, but it is not unusual for adult humans and some non-Domesticationated animals to play with toys....
company most known for its signature toy truck

Truck

File:Red truck USA.JPGA truck is a type of motor vehicle commonly used for carrying goods and materials. Some light trucks are relatively small, similar in size to a passenger automobile....
s and construction equipment

Construction Equipment

Construction Equipment is a trade publication and web site owned by Reed Business Information serving the information needs of construction contractors, materials producers, and other owners and operators of construction equipment....
.

eptember 19, 1946 Mound Metalcraft was created in Mound, Minnesota

Mound, Minnesota

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Encyclopedia

Tonka is an American

United States

Toy

Truck

Construction Equipment

History

On September 19, 1946 Mound Metalcraft was created in Mound, Minnesota

Mound, Minnesota

Mound is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, Minnesota, United States. ZIP code: 55364. The population was 9,435 at the 2000 census. Mound is the birth place of the Tonka truck, which is named after Lake Minnetonka....
with three men as partners, Lynn Everett Baker (1898-1964), Avery F. Crounse, and Alvin F. Tesch. The first products produced by the fledgling company were two versions of a metal tie-rack. Their original intent was to manufacture garden implements. However when their building's former occupants, the Streater Company, attempted to market two metal toys and failed, the three men at Mound Metalcraft thought they might make a good side line to their other products.

After some modifications to the design by Alvin Tesch and the addition of a new logo created by Erling Eklof with the Dakota-Sioux word "Tonka", which means "Great" or "Big", the company began selling metal toys. This soon became the primary business. On November 23, 1955, Mound Metalcraft changed its name to Tonka Toys Incorporated. The logo at this time was an oval, showing the Tonka Toys name in red above waves, presumably honoring nearby Lake Minnetonka

Lake Minnetonka

Lake Minnetonka is a lake in the United States state of Minnesota. Throughout its recorded history, the lake has been a resort destination. It is located west-southwest of Minneapolis-St....
.

The impact of the Tonka truck concept has been enduring and pervasive. The all-metal "Tonka trucks" were sold throughout the world and earned a reputation as being indestructible.

The company was purchased by Hasbro

Hasbro

Hasbro is an United States toy company. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world, second only to the toy giant Mattel. Hasbro is also the publisher of the world's most popular board game, Monopoly ....
of Pawtucket

Pawtucket, Rhode Island

Pawtucket is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 72,958 at the United States Census, 2000....
, Rhode Island

Rhode Island

Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a U.S. state in the New England region of the United States....
in 1991.

Other products

Tonka has produced a wide variety of toys over the years, including doll

Doll

A doll is an object that represents a baby or other human being, but includes likenesses of animals and imaginary creatures. Dolls have been around since the dawn of human civilization, and have been fashioned from a vast array of materials, ranging from stone, clay, wood, bone, cloth and paper, to porcelain, china, rubber and plastic....
s (Star Fairies
Star Fairies

Star Fairies was a doll toy series of the 1980's made by the Tonka company.The dolls had different costumes and personalities. Star Fairies also had a cartoon tv movie made by Hanna-Barbera, in 1985....
, Bathing Beauties
Bathing Beauties

Bathing Beauties was a 1980s toy series of the Tonka company. The dolls were designed to be taken within the bath by children. Their distinctive feature was their hair, which changed color in warm water....
and Hollywoods
Hollywoods

Hollywoods was a doll toy series of the 1980s made by the Tonka company.The dolls had streaked hair. Half of it was a neon color and the other half was gray but changed colors in warm and cold water....
) and other toys aimed at girls like Keypers
Keypers

Keypers are toys from the 1980s era. Keypers toys were made by Tonka Corp. The Keypers characters depicted animals . The Keypers toys had small comparments that you could hide things in....
and aimed at boys like Gobots
Gobots

Gobots was a line of transforming robot toys produced by Tonka from 1983 to 1986, similar to Transformers ....
, Rock Lords
Rock Lords

Rock Lords was a spin-off toyline to the Challenge of the GoBots from Tonka in 1986 after the movie GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords. They were transforming rocks that came with weapons such as axes, guns and swords....
and Steel monsters
Steel monsters

Steel monsters were a toy series from the Tonka company in the 1980sProduced in 1986 and 1987 by Tonka, they were well-made and colorful 3-3/4" figures, each having their own mini-comic....
. They were also the original manufacturers of the Pound Puppies

Pound Puppies

Pound Puppies was a toyline sold by Hornby in the 1980s. It later inspired an animated TV special, an animated TV series, and a feature film. Shipments of the toys over five years generated sales of $300 million in 35 countries....
toyline.

They have also produced a variety of computer games, including Tonka Raceway, and purchased the rights for the Sega Master System

Sega Master System

The Sega Master System is an 8-bit cartridge-based video game console that was manufactured by Sega and was first released in 1986 in video gaming....
after Sega

Sega

is a Multinational corporation video game software and hardware development company, and a home computer and console manufacturer headquartered in Ota, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan....
decided to stop competing against the Nintendo Entertainment System

Nintendo Entertainment System

The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe and Australia in . In most of Asia, including Japan , the Philippines, China, Vietnam and Singapore, it was released as the ....
in the U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
. However, the Master System's market share declined, since Tonka didn't have experience with video games or how to market them.

Hasbro sold the digital gaming rights for various properties (including My Little Pony
My Little Pony

My Little Pony is a line of colorful toy pony marketed primarily to young girls and produced by the toy manufacturer Hasbro. Following the related My Pretty Pony toy, introduced in 1981, "My Little Pony" was launched in 1983....
, Magic: The Gathering
Magic: The Gathering

Magic: The Gathering is a collectible card game created by mathematics professor Richard Garfield and introduced in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast....
, Tonka, Playskool

Playskool

Playskool is a toy brand owned by Hasbro. The toys are intended for children and babies who are up to five years old.Playskool brands include:...
, and Transformers) to Infogrames

Infogrames

Infogrames Entertainment SA is an international France holding company headquartered in Villeurbanne, Lyon, France. It is the owner of Atari, Inc , headquartered in New York City, and Atari Europe....
for USD$100 million in 2000, buying back the rights for USD$66 million in June 2005.

In 1964, Tonka acquired the Mell Manufacturing Company in Chicago, Illinois, allowing Tonka to expand into producing barbecue

Barbecue

Barbecue or barbeque is a method and apparatus for cooking food, often meat, with the heat and hot gases of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of charcoal and may include application of a marinade, spice rub, or Basting barbecue sauce to the meat....
grill

Grill (cooking)

There are multiple varieties of grills, with most falling into one of two categories: gas-fueled and charcoal. There is a great debate over the merits of charcoal or gas for use as the cooking method between grillers....
s, eventually under the "Tonka Firebowl" label.

The Winifred Museum in Winifred, Montana

Winifred, Montana

Winifred is a town in north-central Fergus County, Montana, Montana, United States. The population was 156 at the 2000 United States Census. Winifred was founded in 1913 as the terminus of a newly-built branch line of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St....
, has a collection of more than 3,000 Tonka toys, possibly the largest collection in the world, according to the museum.

External links

- Comprehensive collector site
- Site with large amount of information on Tonka history
- Collector guide for the Rock Lords toyline from Tonka/Bandai
- Vintage Tonka action figures guide, message boards and online store.
- Tonka Toy Store
- Toy Store and collector site
- Shop Tonka Toy