Our Story starts in the 1890's. Ole Kirk Christiansen was a Danish carpenter whose business was running out of money. He just laid off his last worker.

I'm sorry sir. We just don't have enough money to keep you.

His wife tried to cheer him up by giving support.

At least it can't get much worse from here!

Things did get worse as his wife died soon after.

But Ole never gave up. He went to work with his extra wood and tried to make a new idea.

 He was out of ideas, so he made a toy for his sons. His four sons loved it and thought he should make toys.

As he started the company, the sales weren't great and the production was slow.

But one of his sons, Gotfrey, would help him after school. With his help, Ole was able to get his company up and running again.

Production may have been high, but sales weren't. Ole had to go to the city to sell his toys. Christmas was coming up and they were running out of food.

He didn't get as much money as he wanted, but he got enough food for his family for Christmas.

Ole knew he needed a name for his new company, and he thought about his name for a while.

Ole picked "Lego" which comes from the Danish words, "Leg godt" or playing well. He wanted his company name to reflect his objective of children playing well.

LEGO

Just as things were looking good for Ole, his workshop caught on fire. All the models and toys were burned to the ground.

He was devastated. There was nothing left for him. No wood, no plans, no sales.

Ole was distraught, but he never gave up. His ingenuity helped him get his sales back and a source of income.

Eventually, he was able to rebuild his factory bigger and better than before.

After some time, sales were doing well and Ole went to an industrial convention. He was very fond of the plastic molding machine.

The businessman gave Ole a brick as a sample of the machine. This made Ole think of all the possibilities of the machine.

Ole decided that he would buy the plastic molding machine. This would help him expand his company to plastic toys.