Fisher-Price
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Fisher-Price is a well-known brand of toys, with headquarters located in East Aurora, New York. The company is a division of Mattel. One of the better-known lines of Fisher-Price is their Little People toys, which include various sets of buildings and vehicles with their respective "people" figures, which used to be made of wood but are now made of plastic. The "Little People" characters are armless and legless, and have holes in the bottom allowing them to be used as finger puppets. Fisher-Price also had, during the 1970s and 1980s, a series of full bodied action figures.
History
Fisher-Price is named after two of the company's three founders, Herman Fisher and Irving Price (the third, Helen Schelle, is unmentioned). In 1930, the three founders went to the International Toy Fair in New York City, bringing 16 toys with them. Fisher-Price was basically dedicated to the making of wooden toy dogs at that time. That tradition continued on for the next four decades.
During the 1960s, Fisher-Price began to produce their famous "Little People" line, with items such as schoolbuses, farms, etc. hitting the markets. The Little People toys gained much popularity and quickly replaced the wooden dogs on Fisher-Price's production line. In 1969, Quaker Oats Company bought Fisher-Price.
During the 1970s, Little People expanded to include Sesame Street characters on its line, and also the Sesame Street buildings.
In 1991, Fisher-Price became independent from Quaker, and in 1993, it merged with Mattel.
In 1997, after Mattel acquired the Tyco Toys brand, Mattel decided it would market all of its infant and preschool products under the Fisher-Price name.