CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — It's a slice of Americana, beloved by generations for more than a hundred years.
“My grandpa started the company in 1917,” said Robert Pasin, Chief Wagon Officer at the Chicago-based Radio Flyer and grandson of the toy company’s founder Antonio Pasin.
“He was an Italian immigrant who came to Chicago in search of a better life,” Robert Pasin said.
A carpenter by trade, Antonio Pasin's first business was a furniture company, but he loved to tinker and one day created a wooden wagon he named the "Liberty Coaster" — after the Statue of Liberty, which welcomed him to America.
As sales of the wagon took off, the Liberty Coaster Company was born.
It eventually became Radio Steel and Manufacturing, and the first steel wagon was called "Radio Flyer," named for Pasin's fascination with the invention of the radio and his wonderment of flight.
“The original little red wagon; it’s become so iconic,” Robert Pasin said.
What makes it so special to so many?
“I think it’s because Radio Flyer brings people back to their childhood, and it’s usually to the best parts of their childhood,” Pasin said.
Pasin said he thinks his grandfather would be proud of how far the company has come since 1917, and of all the new wagons and products — including electric bikes for adults.
“He’d be really excited about it,” Pasin said. “I mean, he was always all about the future. The newest product. The newest technology, so he loved all that.”
“Our goal is to be a family business,” he said. “Be around for another hundred years and be in Chicago.
Radio Flyer, Made in Chicago.
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