The “Baby Bunny” toy was manufactured by Tykie Toy Company of Piqua, Ohio, in the 1940s and early 1950s. The first Tykie toys were produced by Richard B. and Sarah L. Grosvenor in their home in Piqua, Ohio. The couple made the toys when their son, Michael, nicknamed “Tykie, ” began teething.
Grosvenor then organized a family business to manufacture toys.
The business operated out of the former machine shop of Grosvenor’s father, and the family lived upstairs. By 1944, the firm had fifteen employees and was shipping their products to Saks in New York and Marshall Field’s in Chicago. Product names included “Baby Bunny, ” “Tom-Tom- Rattles” and “Billy the Bellboy.”
After World War II, the company expanded but production was brought to a halt during the coal strike of 1946, since the Catalin plastic used in the toys was made from coal tar. Tykie Toys re-opened in 1947 and continued to manufacture toys until around 1952.
