Lego History

Ole Kirk

The LEGO Company was formed in 1934 in the village of Billund in Denmark, by a Carpenter called Ole Kirk Christiansen. The name LEGO was derived from the Danish phrase "Leg Godt" which means "Play Well". It was later realized that in Latin the word LEGO means "I construct (or study)".

The principle LEGO toys were made of wood and it wasn't until 1949 that the first plastic building bricks, with the snappy name 'Automatic Binding Bricks' were sold. The Automatic Binding Bricks were a success and were renamed 'LEGO Mursten' or 'LEGO Bricks' in 1953. Foreign sales of LEGO bricks followed in '56 and in 1958 modifications to the original design resulted in the LEGO brick as we know it. Ole Kirk Christiansen died in the same year leaving the Company to Godtfred Kirk Christiansen.

1960 saw the termination of all wooden toys when the wooden toy warehouse was gutted by fire. By 1963 ABS plastics had replaced the old Cellulose Acetate in the production of the LEGO Brick and by 1967 up to 19,000,000 sets were being sold a year.

'74 saw the LEGO Figure appear and '78 saw the arrival of the mini-figs and base plates, completing the range of LEGO as we know it. Finally of course the culmination of all this came in 1984 with the launch of the Castle Range