Toy Town Rocking Horse, (sculpture).

Toy Town Rocking Horse, (sculpture).

Labarge, Sherman, sculptor.

Toy Town Rocking Horse, (sculpture).

Original 1914. Copy 1988.

Digital Reference:

Approx. 15 x 10 x 4 ft.

(On rocking horse and base:) S. Labarge July 4, 1988 (On sides of base:) TOY/TOWN signed

A large toy rocking horse resting on a wooden frame. The rocking horse is painted grey and white, and the frame is painted red.

Object -- Toy -- Rocking Horse

Outdoor Sculpture -- Massachusetts -- Winchendon

Administered by Town of Winchendon, Winchendon, Massachusetts

Located Route 202 & Route 12, Winchendon, Massachusetts

The inscription on a nearby plaque reads: The Toy Town horse is home again. This is a reproduction of the/original Toy Town Horse that stood for so long in Winchendon and/helped identify Winchendon as "Toy Town."/The original Toy Town Horse was constructed in 1914 as a float for the town's 150th anniversary. Winchendon was the home of the/Converse Company and the world's largest wooden toy factory./Workers from the Converse Company -- Fred Dwelley, designer;/Charles Tenney, carpenter; Jesse Bezio, wood turner; John Damon,/painter; spent five months constructing the horse which was a four/time enlargement of the Converse Company's No. 12 rocking horse./

(Inscription continues) The original horse took 3,200 feet of two inch pine nailed together/to complete./The horse rested at the town's railroad station for twenty/years as a landmark for travelers passing through Winchendon./In 1917 the horse appeared in the Sunday edition of the "Boston/American." In 1934 the horse was moved to the Toy Town Tavern/property (now the Winchendon School) for thirty years. At that/location it was climbed on by children and well photographed./The horse made two other notable appearances for which it was/refurbished. In 1964 it was paraded in the town's bicentennial parade,/and again in 1976 for the nation's bicentennial. After that if fell/into disrepair and ruin./

(Inscription continues) Recently, the Winchendon Chamber of Commerce, in cooperation/with the Winchendon Historical Society, spearheaded a drive to/bring back the horse as a symbol of civic pride and a focal point of/our historical identity. Through the earnest efforts of two/organizations and many townspeople, funds were raised and the project became a reality./The craftsman found to create the new horse was Sherman/Labarge of Fryeburg, Maine. It took him 18 months to complete the/horse here in front of you. The new horse made its public debut/at Winchendon's 1988 Toy Town Fourth of July celebration. It now/stands in a gazebo constructed through the efforts of the Chamber/of Commerce and the donations of labor and materials from Chamber members.

(Inscription continues) The horse that stands before you is a symbol of pride to the/citizens of Winchendon that we wish to display to all. As it once/stood at the railroad station, it now stands at the junction of two well traveled roads passing through Winchendon for all to see./With the help of modern technology and the shelter we hope that/people can enjoy the Toy Town Horse with us for another seventy/five years to come.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Massachusetts survey, 1997.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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