A few years ago, I had the opportunity to combine my interest in both toy trains and history when I visited "The Official Marx Toy Museum of Glen Dale, West Virginia".   If you are a child of the 1950s, 1960s or even the 1970s, Louis Marx and Company and its Marx Toy trademark were very familiar as they produced so many of our toys.  From when you walk in the museum's doorway, it's like you're stepping back into your childhood.

The Rock-em Sock-em Robots that my friends had are here...

...as well as some of the Marx trains and accessories.  (I still have some of the red-green button controllers like the one at the bottom of this photo.  When I was in high school, I used them to control the direction of some of my Marx track switches.   Please excuse the photo quality -- I shot this picture through the plexiglass side wall of the display case.)

When I finished looking through the museum, I asked where the toys and trains were manufactured in the area.  The museum docent told me the toys were made a short distance away, but the trains were made at another factory in Girard, PA.  When I asked where the local factory was, I was told to drive north on West Virginia Route 2, turn left on Marx Lane and the factory was at the end of the street.  Pointing my then-car, a 1998 Firebird, north, I headed over to the factory site, expecting to see nothing but the usual Rust Belt ruins of falling down factory walls.  Imagine my surprise when I pulled into a parking lot and saw both the factory and its water tank bearing the 1970s Marx logo!

The factory building is now the site of a flea market that's open only on weekends.  While I would have loved to have walked through the building to see if any signs of Marx were still visible inside, I was there on the wrong day of the week.  That bit of historical sightseeing will have to wait for another trip!  In any event, before I left the source of so much of my childhood toys, I preserved some toy history by photographing the now rusting water tank with its Marx logo.

As I drove out of the parking lot, back down Marx Lane and turned slowly onto WV Route 2, dozens of childhood memories ran through my mind including all the Marx toys that arrived on Christmas Days past!