Background and Identification
Founded in 1946, Tonka is an American brand that manufactures toy trucks. Known for its steel toy models of construction toy trucks and machinery, Tonka provides children with smaller and safer versions of real-life construction vehicles. Since 1991, Tonka has been a division of Hasbro Inc.—the U.S.’s largest toy company.
Tonka began as a small metal manufacturing company, named Mound Metalcraft, in Mound, Minnesota that produced toy trucks on the side. However, after ten years when trucks became its preeminent product, Mound Metalcraft changed its name to Tonka Toys in 1955. The brand’s name, Tonka, was inspired by Lake Minnetonka in Minnesota and the Sioux word, “tanka” which means “great” or “big”.
The first Tonka Trucks were very realistic, made from heavy, automobile-gauge steel, and were extremely durable. Now, the Tonka Mighty Dump Truck is a toy well associated with the company. However, this dump truck was not released until 1964. Other yellow dump trucks were made by Tonka before the Mighty Dump Truck, but 15 million of those were not sold over the years. Another fun fact about the Mighty Dump Truck was that it was initially too heavy for children. In its first year and a half of production the Mighty Dump Trucks were made of solid rubber tires. Later, to make these more kid-friendly, Tonka, drilled into the tires to remove excess material and weight.
