Joshua Lionel Cowen
Joshua Lionel Cowen (August 25, 1877 – September 8, 1965), born Joshua Lionel Cohen, was an American inventor and cofounder of Lionel Corporation, a manufacturer of model railroads and toy trains that gained prominence in the market before and after World War II.
Joshua Lionel Cowen | |
|---|---|
 circa 1903 | |
| Born | August 25, 1877 |
| Died | September 8, 1965 (aged 88) Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | co-founder of Lionel Corporation |
| Spouses | Cecelia "Mimia" Liberman
(m. 1904; died 1946)Lillian Appel Herman
(m. 1949) |
| Children | 2 |
| Parent(s) | Rebecca Kantrowitz Cohen Hyman Nathan Cohen |
| Family | Roy Cohn (great-nephew) |
Early life
Joshua Lionel was born in New York on August 25, 1877 to Hyman Nathan Cohen and his wife Rebecca (Kantrowitz) Cohen; he had eight siblings.[1] His parents were Jewish immigrants from Germany.
Cohen had built his first toy train at age seven, attaching a small steam engine to a wooden locomotive he had carved. The engine exploded, damaging his parents' kitchen. He studied at Columbia University and the City College of New York.
Business career
Cohen received his first patent in 1899, for a device that ignited a photographer's flash. The same year, he was awarded a defense contract from the United States Navy to produce mine fuses, earning $12,000.[2]
Lionel Corporation
Cohen and one of his partners founded Lionel Corporation in New York City in 1900. Sources disagree on what inspired this action. According to The New York Times, he devised a battery-powered fan for his shop, then connected the fan's motor to a small model train.[3] The Record (Hackensack, New Jersey) states that Cowen designed his model train after seeing another, stationary, train in a shop window.[4] A Manhattan shopkeeper bought Cowen's first electric train in 1901 and used it as a storefront display. After customers indicated that they wanted to buy the display, the shopkeeper bought six more trains.[2]
After expanding the production of toy trains and building his business, in 1910 Cohen legally changed his surname to "Cowen", for reasons unknown.[1] There had been waves of Jewish immigrants from Germany and eastern Europe to the United States, and many others also adopted anglicized names. Cowen often gave his birthdate as 1880, but he was recorded three years earlier.
After World War I, Lionel had become one of the top three manufacturers in the United States of electrical trains. It competed with American Flyer and Louis Marx and Company. By the early 1950s, Lionel had expanded into other lines and become the world's largest toy manufacturer. But interest in model trains declined in the postwar period with the decline in passenger travel, rise of automobiles, and development of the space program. Despite efforts, the company continued to lose money.[2]
Cowen retired in 1959, selling his 55,000 shares of Lionel stock to his great-nephew Roy Cohn.[2] He died on September 8, 1965, in Palm Beach, Florida.[3][2] His body was returned to New York, where he is interred at Union Field Cemetery in Brooklyn.[2]
Marriage and family
In 1904 he married Cecilia Liberman, known as "Mimia". They had two children together. After her death in 1946, he later married again, to Lillian (Appel) Herman in 1949.
References
- Morris, Hank (2002). "He fed our dreams ... Happy 125th Birthday, Joshua Lionel Cowen". National Railway Historical Society. Archived from the original on March 11, 2007. Retrieved March 1, 2023. Reprinted by permission from The National Railway Bulletin, Volume 67, Number 2, 2002.
- Campbell, Cal (August 27, 2018). "Joshua Lionel Cowen". Journal Gazette. Matton, Illinois – via Newspapers.com
. - "Joshua Cohen, 85, Lionel Inventor". The New York Times. 1965-09-09. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
- Debnam, Betty (December 23, 2008). "All Aboard the Model Train". The Record. Hackensack, New Jersey – via Newspapers.com .
Further reading
- Benson, Alvin K. (2010). Great Lives from History. Inventors & Inventions. Vol. 4. Salem Press. p. 237. ISBN 9781587655227.
- Fischel, Jack (2008). Encyclopedia of Jewish American Popular Culture. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9780313087349.
- Grams, John (2003). Toy Train Memories. Kalmbach Books. ISBN 9780871161987.
- Green, David B. (September 8, 2013). "1965: Pioneer of Model Trains Dies". This Day in Jewish History. Haaretz. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
- Greenberg, Bruce C. (2022). "Lionel Standard Gauge 1906-1940". Joshua Lionel Cowen. Journal of Antiques & Collectibles. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
- Hollander, Ron (2000). All aboard!:The Story of Joshua Lionel Cowen & his Lionel Train Company. Workman Publishing. ISBN 9780761121336.
- Lane, Raymond N. (December 22, 2013). "Trains have been Christmas toys for more than a century". The Naples Daily News. Naples, Florida: Washington Post – via Newspapers.com .
- McGehee, Larry (January 14, 2001). "Lionel Trains ... the making of a legend and a passion". The Index Journal. Greenwood, South Carolina – via Newspapers.com .
- O'Brien, Richard (1999). O'Brien's Collecting Toy Trains. Krause Publications. ISBN 9780873417693.
- Roth, Anna Herthe (1954). Current Biography Yearbook. New York City: H.W. Wilson Company. p. 212. OCLC 1565606.
- "Keeping Track of Model Trains". Standard Speaker. Hazleton, Pennsylvania. December 23, 2008 – via Newspapers.com .
- "The Stork Keeps Toy Train Makers in Boom Business". Lansing State Journal. Lansing, Michigan. March 15, 1953 – via Newspapers.com .
- "There Would Be No Electric Toy Trains Under Your Christmas Tree If It Were not for Joshua Lionel Cowen". StrausMedia. February 16, 2015. Retrieved August 5, 2022.