Building togetherness Marshfield family creates wooden toy building sets

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The brown, red and green wooden sticks scattered on the floor could have come from any era. So could the children intently trying to coax a structure out of the rectangular and notched pieces.

That’s the beauty of the Roy Toy building sets – they’re timeless. The products, manufactured in the far-flung Down East town of Marshfield, originally were the brainchild of Roy Dennison, who manufactured them from the 1930s to 1964. They have been brought back to life by Roy’s grandson, Bruce, over the past decade.

Susan Dennison, Bruce’s wife and the company’s sales manager, admits nostalgia is a driving force behind the toys’ success.

“This type of item has taken off,” she explained. “Parents are tired of violence in video games and electronic toys that they don’t know how to use. With what’s happened [Sept. 11], families are spending more time together. Also, there are grandparents who want to share memories with their grandchildren.”

The Roy Toy line, sold by specialty toy and gift stores and catalogs, and the Wood-Links line, sold by mass-market retailers, are turned out on unique machines created by Roy Dennison nearly 70 years ago.

Roy, a state legislator, started the company about the same time Lincoln Logs came out. He saw flaws in that product, which he exploited.

“He had six sons, and they had frustration with Lincoln Logs,” Susan said. “They were round and didn’t lock. They just lay on top of each other, so it wasn’t sturdy. He built a sturdier, interlocking toy, which made a more realistic-looking building.”

The finished sets would be loaded onto a buggy and hauled to Machias by horse, to be loaded onto a train bound for New York City, where Roy’s broker would distribute them around the country.

Roy fell ill in 1960. None of his adult sons was interested in continuing the business, so when Roy died in 1964 the doors of Roy Toy were closed, Susan said.

That would have been the end of the Roy Toy building sets if Bruce Dennison hadn’t heard a news item about wooden toys making a comeback. An amateur woodworker, he vaguely recalled the sets his grandfather used to make, so he and Susan decided to look into reviving Roy Toy as a hobby.

But, like the sets themselves, the biggest challenge was finding all the pieces. The toy-making machinery had been scattered around the area among the uncles, and Bruce had to pull it all together.

“They were all in parts and pieces,” Bruce recalled. “I was bringing them back and putting them together, trying to figure out how they did it. They weren’t very good at record keeping.”

In another year, Roy Toy was back in business. Bruce and Sue decided to replicate Roy’s red, green, brown and white packaging and his original product line of small and large log-cabin and fort sets.

Their original offering took off better than they expected.

“They did really well, and we were kind of surprised,” Susan said. “Our hobby became a full-time job.”

The Dennisons see Roy Toy as an opportunity, not just for general employment, but for their children as well.

“There’s not much for children to do in Washington County,” Susan said. “After they grow up, they end up having to move away. We thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be kind of neat to have something for our children?'”

Their oldest son, Cory, is their national sales manager, working out of his home in Virginia Beach, Va. Middle son Troy, 25, does the design work for their packaging, while youngest son Joey, 23, works in the cutting room.

The Dennisons take care of as much of the manufacturing as they can themselves as orders come in. They brought in seasonal help at the first of November this year to prepare for the holidays.

The manufacturing process begins in the cutting room, where pine lumber is cut first into big blocks, then into smaller pieces. “We couldn’t do anything but make these pieces,” Bruce noted wryly.

The pieces are sorted into plastic laundry baskets, then dipped into vats of food coloring. A machine in the same room later smoothes, then waxes, them. The pieces destined for the Roy Toy line are then embossed with small, dashlike lines.

The parts then are sorted into containers for the various kits, then packaged for shipping. Many sets get warehoused at the Blue Bird Ranch in Jonesboro.

The Dennisons add new products every few years, and now offer 17 sets between their two lines. About 98 percent of the sets go to wholesalers, with only 2 percent sold through the Roytoy.com Web site. Included among their retailers are L.L. Bean and Toys ‘R Us.

Bruce feels good about carrying on his grandfather’s legacy.

“I hardly knew him, because he passed away when I was very, very young,” Bruce said. “My father says we’re alike and he’s not surprised. My father always said that [Roy] would be very excited.”

For more information, call Roy Toy at 1-800-530-0003.