LEGO Brick celebrated their 50th anniversary on January 28, 2008. Google honored the anniversary.

It all began in 1916, when Ole Kirk Christiansen bought a woodworking shop that had been in business for 21 years. Christiansen was the 13th son of a poor farmer family from Jutland in Denmark. He trained as a carpenter, and after losing his job due to the depression, started making wooden toys in 1932. He started out making wooden pull toys, cars, and many other toys that were popular at the time, including the yo-yo. In 1934, Christiansen held a contest among his staff to see who could come up with the best name for the company. (The winner would receive a bottle of homemade wine.) The term “LEGO,” a contraction of the Danish phrase “leg godt” (play well) was coined.

In the next few years, plastic started to become widely used, and LEGO was up with the times. They switched from making wooden toys, to plastic ones. In 1947, LEGO acquired samples of a plastic building brick invented by British citizen Hilary Fisher Page, and manufactured by the company called “Kiddicraft.” LEGO would later acquire the rights to the design and produce the similar “Automatic Binding Bricks,” featuring the trademark studs and hollow bottom that would allow the bricks to connect. Unfortunately for Ole Kirk and his son Godtfred, many shipments of the bricks were returned, due to poor sales and the common mentality that plastic toys would never replace the traditional wooden ones. They kept at it and in 1958 the modern LEGO brick was designed (with the famous stud and tube connectors), opening up a world of opportunity. In the same year, Ole Kirk passed away, and his son inherited management of the company. The next decade would be a period of humongous growth for the fledgling company. Construction manuals first started appearing in sets in 1964 and in 1966 the LEGO Train System was first released, and became one of the LEGO groups most successful series. In 1968, over eighteen million LEGO sets were sold. June 7, 1968 saw the opening of the first Legoland park in Billund, Denmark, which featured models of miniature towns built out of LEGO bricks. The three acre park attracted over half a million visitors in that first year. In the next 20 years, the first Legoland park would grow to eight times its original size and have almost a million visitors every year.

The seventies saw the inclusion of Godtfred’s son, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen in the management scene. Kjeld opened up manufacturing facilities, development, and research departments to keep production methods up to date. In 1974 the predecessor of the minifigure, or “minifig” was created, and was released in “Lego family” sets. The “minifigs” were made of several bricks put together, with large, round heads and jointed arm pieces. Four years later, the modern day minifigure would be introduced, complete with the yellow head and friendly smile that we still have today. The LEGO Technic precursor, “Expert Series” was introduced in 1975. The sets included moving parts and technical pieces such as gears, axles, joints, and levers. These new types of LEGO pieces allowed for the building of complex objects such as an automobile with fully functional steering. In 1982, the line became known as Technic, and it is still sold under that name. Kjeld became the head of LEGO in 1979 and is currently the richest person residing in Denmark. In 2004 he was succeeded by Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, although his family still owns the company.

Lego continued to be very popular even after 50 years in business. However, in 1997, the company had posted a loss for the first time in its history. Lego wanted to produce a line to satisfy the kids who at the time, didn’t want “boring old bricks,” but a story to go with it, that they could meld together with their own imagination. However, this would come later. LEGO got a licensing agreement with Lucasfilm, and began creating LEGO STAR WARS sets, that went on to become a smash hit. Of course, LEGO had to pay much of the royalties to Lucasfilm to keep the licensing agreement. At that point in time, LEGO went to the drawing board and tried to make their own story to base sets off of. The unexpected good sales of the “Throwbots” line, a Technic extension, and the story behind the next line called “Roboriders” would eventually lead to the creation of BIONICLE.

The story came together, and the first BIONICLE sets were released in late 2000 in Europe. They came to America in 2001 and were an instant hit. The years passed, the story grew, and the sets grew more advanced. Today, in its eighth year of production, BIONICLE continues to be one of LEGO’s best sellers. It even has a large teenager-adult fan base (of both genders), despite the fact that young boys are the targeted group.