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Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic SiteA picture of the Memorial Building Dedication Ceremony in 1911
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Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site
Lincoln Logs
Children of all ages enjoy playing with Lincoln Logs
Children have enjoyed playing with Lincoln for over ninety years.

Lincoln Logs were first produced sometime between 1916 and 1917 by John Lloyd Wright, son of the notable architect Frank Lloyd Wright. They are toys consisting of notched miniature logs, about 1-2 cm in diameter. In addition, a Lincoln Logs set has windows and doors to make the building more realistic. More modern sets also come with figures of humans and animals that match the scale of the building. The logs can easily produce a structure resembling a log cabin, hence the association with President Lincoln who grew up in a log cabin in Kentucky and Indiana.

Records show that the J. L. Wright Company of Chicago, Illinois, obtained a patent for the design on August 31, 1920 and had the Lincoln Logs name registered on August 28, 1923. Building logs of similar designs had been produced by several other toy companies since the civil war but John L. Wright's version was very successful from the beginning and has remained so to this day.

A picture of Robert Todd Lincoln  

Did You Know?
Only one of Abraham’s and Mary Todd Lincoln’s sons lived to adulthood. The Lincoln’s had four sons Robert, Edward, William, and Thomas. Robert Todd lived to be 83 years old.

Last Updated: January 10, 2007 at 16:12 EST