Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

RADIO SPECIAL

Date Range From

1965

Date Range To

1967

Materials

STEEL, RUBBER

No. Pieces

1

Height

28.3

Length

146

Width

40.5

Description

RED METAL BASKET WITH ROUNDED CORNERS AND FOLDED LIP AROUND TOP EDGE. BODY HAS BEEN REPAINTED AROUND ORIGINAL LOGO WITH VARIOUS CHIPS AND SCRATCHES. PAINTED WHITE LOGO ON TWO LONG SIDES READS, “RADIO SPECIAL”. FOUR WHEELS WITH RUBBER TIRES THAT HAVE SPLIT WHERE RUBBER HAS SHRUNK. RIMS ARE WHITE WITH RED PAINTED CIRCLE. VARIOUS STAINS AND DISCOLOURATIONS. ALUMINUM HUB CAPS ON EACH WHEEL. REAR TIRES ARE FIXED, FRONT TIRES SWIVEL ON PARALLEL AXIS. PAINTED BLACK METAL HANDLE EXTENDS FROM AXIS OF FRONT TIRES.

Subjects

TOY

Historical Association

LEISURE

History

WAGON MODEL “RADIO SPECIAL” WAS PRODUCED BY THE RADIO STEEL & MANUFACTURING IN CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. IT USED BY DWIGHT DONALD RASMUSSEN AND SCOTT MURRAY RASMUSSEN IN THEIR SUBURBAN CUL-DE-SAC LOCATED AT 2563 - 17TH AVENUE SOUTH IN THE 1960S. GALT STAFF CONDUCTED AN INTERVIEW WITH DONOR ELISHA RASMUSSEN AT THE TIME OF DONATION. RASMUSSEN SAID, “I HAVE TWO SONS (DWIGHT DONALD RASMUSSEN AND SCOTT MURRAY RASMUSSEN) AND WHEN THEY WERE VERY SMALL, WE DECIDED WE WOULD GET A WAGON AND PUT THEM IN THE WAGON, AND THEY WERE HAULED AROUND AND WE LIVED IN A CUL-DE-SAC AND THAT WOULD BE OUR LITTLE ROUTE THAT WE WOULD GO. AND AS THE BOYS GREW, THE WAGON BECAME A TRANSPORTER OF ANIMALS, TOYS, SAND, CRAFTS - WHATEVER IT WAS THAT THEY WERE DOING IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD. AND IN OUR CUL-DE-SAC WE HAD SOME VERY CREATIVE PEOPLE THAT WOULD PUT ON PLAYS, AND IT WAS A CUL-DE-SAC PLAY AND WE WOULD ALSO PUT ON PARADES, AND SO IT WAS HENCEFORTH THAT THIS WAGON WAS IN MANY A CUL-DE-SAC PARADE. AND SO THE KIDS WOULD DRESS UP AND PULL EACH OTHER AND THERE WOULD BE MAYBE TWO OCCUPANTS IN THE LITTLE RED WAGON, PULLED BY AN OLDER CHILD OR WHATEVER. SO IT’S BEEN WELL-USED, LET’S PUT IT THAT WAY.” WHEN ASKED ABOUT THE MEMORIES EVOKED BY THE SIGHT OF THE WAGON RASMUSSEN SAID, “IT BRINGS BACK A MYRIAD OF MEMORIES, OF SEEING THE BOYS IN THERE AND PULLING THE WAGON, AND SOMETIMES DUMPING THE OCCUPANTS, YOU KNOW, WHEN THEY LIFTED UP THE, THEY’D FALL, AND IT WAS PART OF THE TREAT OF HAVING A WAGON. IT WAS USED IN MANY DIFFERENT PLAYS. ONE THAT I RECALL WAS A WESTERN PLAY, AND SO THE WAGON WAS USED AS A TRANSPORTER OF PIONEERS TO THE LANDS AND SO FORTH. AND IT WAS JUST UTILIZED CONSTANTLY. SOMETIMES IT WAS THE CHILDREN, AND WE HAD A LOT OF CHILDREN IN THE CUL-DE-SAC AT THAT TIME. IT SEEMED LIKE IT WAS MADE UP OF A LOT OF YOUNG FAMILIES, AND SO THE WAGON WAS OFTEN UTILIZED BY OTHER CHILDREN IN THE CUL-DE-SAC AS WELL. THEY WOULD HAVE USED THE WAGON IN ABOUT 1965, ’67, IN THERE SOMEWHERE. IT ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE IT’S IN ROUGH SHAPE. AS I SAY, IT WAS WELL-USED, BUT I THINK IN TERMS OF WHERE IT WAS . . . IT WAS IN A STORAGE SHED THAT WE HAD, WHERE WE STORED OUR LAWN MOWERS AND OUR RAKES AND THINGS LIKE THAT, AND WHEN THE EXHIBIT, THE TOY EXHIBIT CAME UP AND WE WERE ALL ASKED IF WE HAD SOME TOYS TO EXHIBIT, IF IT FELL WITHIN THE CRITERIA, WELL, THE WAGON CERTAINLY WAS THERE AND IT WAS BECKONING ME TO USE IT FOR THAT. SO I WAS DELIGHTED TO SEE IT ON DISPLAY, AND I KNOW IT’S GOING TO HAVE A GOOD HOME.” REFLECTING ON THE CUL-DE-SAC PARADES THAT THE WAGON WAS USED IN, RASMUSSEN ARTICULATED, “MARY WATKINSON, WHO IS NO LONGER WITH US, WOULD DIRECT THESE CHILDREN IN THESE PLAYS, AND THE WAGON WOULD BE INCORPORATED AS PULLING ON SOMETHING, OR EXITING SOMETHING, OR WHATEVER. THERE WAS LOTS OF SINGING GOING ON, THEY WOULD LEARN SONGS, THEY WOULD HAVE THEIR LINES WHICH THEY WERE TO MEMORIZE, NOT ALWAYS EFFECTIVELY, BUT IT WAS A GREAT TIME. AND OF COURSE, IN THE PARADE, IT WOULD BE DECORATED UP WITH STREAMERS AND FLOWERS THAT THEY WOULD MAKE UP WITH KLEENEXES AND OTHER THINGS OF THAT NATURE, AND THEN THEY WOULD BE IN COSTUME AS WELL. AND THE RESIDENTS IN THIS CUL-DE-SAC, WE REALLY DID HAVE A VERY SPECIAL CUL-DE-SAC, AS THESE CHILDREN WOULD GO BY EACH HOME, WE WOULD ALL GIVE THESE KIDS APPLAUSE AND THEY WOULD (DEMONSTRATES A BOW). AND THAT WAS THE KICK-OFF FOR THE FOOD TO FOLLOW, SO TO SPEAK, WHERE IT WOULD BE POTLUCK AND WE WOULD ALL BRING SOMETHING. DICK LEWIS, WHO WAS A PIANO TUNER, AND USED TO LIVE AT THE VERY END OF THE CRESCENT, WAS A HEINZTMAN PIANO TUNER, AND HE WOULD BACK UP HIS TRUCK WITH A PIANO, AND HE WOULD PLAY UP IN HIS TRUCK AND WE WOULD ALL SING AND WE WOULD DANCE AND WE WOULD PLAY IN THIS CUL-DE-SAC. AND SO IT WAS EAT AND ENJOY OUR CHILDREN, AND, AS I SAID, THE CHILDREN WOULD DO THE KICK-OFF PARADE AND THEN WE HAD THE PLAY AND EVERYTHING WAS JUST WONDERFUL.” RASMUSSEN’S SONS DWIGHT AND SCOTT EXPRESSED THEIR DELIGHT ABOUT THE WAGON’S DONATION TO THE MUSEUM SAYING, “IT WILL BE A WONDERFUL PLACE TO VISIT SOMEDAY AND BRING OUR GRANDCHILDREN AND SHOW THEM THE WAGON THAT WE PLAYED WITH.” FOR MORE INFORMATION, INCLUDING TRANSCRIBED INTERVIEW WITH ELISHA RASMUSSEN, PLEASE SEE PERMANENT FILE.

Catalogue Number

P20120017000

Acquisition Date

2012-05

Collection

Museum

Less detail