-
Ole Kirk Christiansen is born
-
Ole Kirk Christiansen purchases the small woodworking shop in Billund.Denmark
-
Godtfred Kirk Christiansen is born
-
Ole Kirk's shop burns down when a fire ignites some wood shavings. Ole Kirk builds a larger workshop, renting out most of the space, and using the rest for his own shop.
-
Ole Kirk Christiansen's shop nearly goes bankrupt . With a lack of normal carpentry jobs, Ole Kirk starts producing toys, many of which were wooden pull toys.
-
The company name Lego is coined by Christiansen from the Danish phrase leg godt, meaning "play well". Coincidentally, "Lego" also means "I assemble" in Latin.
-
Godtfred Kirk Christiansen starts creating models.
-
The company grows to 10 employees.
-
A fire breaks out in the factory, forcing the company to rebuild.
-
The company grows to 40 employees.
-
Ole Kirk purchases the first plastic moulding machine in Denmark, and the company begins manufacturing plastic toys. The Christiansens are inspired by samples of the "Kiddicraft Self-Locking Building Brick", a design patented by the Briton Mr. Harry Fisher Page.
-
December 27 - Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen is born.
-
The company grows to 50 employees.
-
1949: Lego begins producing similar plastic bricks, calling them Automatic Binding Bricks.
-
Automatic Binding Bricks are renamed Lego Bricks
-
The word Lego is officially registered in Denmark.
-
Godtfred Kirk Christiansen becomes junior managing director of Lego, and soon has the idea to turn Lego bricks into a toy system.
-
The Lego brick design is improved to allow better versatility and locking ability.
-
The company grows to 140 employees.
-
Ole Kirk Dies,Godtfred inherits leadership of the Lego Company.
-
Production of wooden toys is discontinued; the company changes its focus to the plastic building bricks.
-
Another warehouse fire consumes most of Lego inventory of wooden toys.
-
the company grows to 450 employees
-
The company grows to more than 600 employees.
-
The company grows to 1,000 employees.