The Wagon That Crossed a Century

From Venice to Chicago

In 1914, 16-year-old Antonio Pasin sold his family’s only mule and sailed from Italy to America. In Chicago, he took any job he could—hauling water, cleaning celery, building pianos—until he saved enough to open a workshop in 1917. There, he began making wooden wagons to move phonograph cabinets. Customers wanted the wagons more.

The World’s Fair Gamble

By the 1930s, Pasin’s company was mass-producing metal wagons under the name “Radio Flyer.” In 1933, he took a $30,000 loan to build a 45-foot statue at the Chicago World’s Fair, selling miniature wagons underneath. Over 100,000 were sold.

War, Boom, and Baby Carriages

During World War II, the factory made steel gas cans. In the postwar baby boom, wagon sales soared again. The company later expanded into garden wheelbarrows.

Plastic Rivals and a Family Comeback

By the 1990s, plastic wagon makers like Little Tikes threatened Radio Flyer’s survival. Antonio’s grandson, Robert Pasin, took over in 1997. After several failed plastic models, new designs finally succeeded. By 2014, Radio Flyer was generating over $100 million in revenue—still rolling strong more than a century after it began.

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