Maker record
Marx & Co.
The Louis Marx Company was an American toy maker founded in New York by brothers Louis and David Marx in 1919. Its products included toy soldiers, dinosaurs, guns, tinplate buildings and trains, as well as the Big Wheel ride-on toy. The company became known for offering a broad range of toys at low prices, and by 1950 it was the world’s largest toy manufacturer. Marx sold the company in 1972; the brand’s later production history is distinct from the history of the original company.
- Founded
- 1919
- Final year
- 197
- Countries
- United States
- Locations
- New York City, New York, USA · 1919
- Founders
- Louis Marx · David Marx
The story of Marx & Co.
Louis and David Marx founded the Louis Marx Company in New York in 1919. The company pursued a low-price approach while producing a wide range of toys. Its output included toy soldiers, dinosaurs, guns, tinplate buildings and trains, alongside toys based on popular culture. The Big Wheel became one of its best-known products of the 1970s.
The company grew into a major American toy manufacturer and was the largest toy manufacturer by 1950. Louis Marx sold it to Quaker Oats in 1972. Quaker later sold Marx to British company Dunbee-Combex, which became Dunbee-Combex-Marx in 1975. That business filed for bankruptcy in 1980. Some Marx toy rights, including those for trains and the Big Wheel, later remained in production under other companies.