NORTH BEND — Only old-timers may remember Coquille’s toy company.

In the 1950s, Sturdi-Bilt produced metal logging trucks for children — that is until cheaper toys appeared on the market, said Vicki Wiese, collections manager and interim director of the Coos Historical & Maritime Museum.

One of Sturdi-Bilts cast aluminum trucks will be on display beginning Saturday in the exhibit “150 Years of Toys.”

“For me, being able to tell this story is the highlight of the exhibit,” Wiese said Thursday, as she gently placed dolls into a farmhouse crib. “Most of the toys in the exhibit are things children in Coos County would have played with. But there aren’t a lot of communities that can say they had their own toy company and we did.”

Sturdi-Bilt operated a manufacturing plant in Norway near Myrtle Point from 1950 to about 1956.

The Sturdi-Bilt truck is on loan from the owner’s son, Larry Dornath, who still lives in Coquille.

Through the yearlong exhibit, which showcases a wide variety of toys from the 1800s to present day, Wiese said she is attempting to show that toys aren’t just playthings. They are a reflection of society. They are evidence of America’s views on child rearing and their place in the world. And, as with art, music and fashion, the toy market has been impacted by current events.

For example, following the launch of Sputnik, toy store shelves soon became crowded with rocket ships and robots.

“It got everybody’s attention,” Wiese said. “It’s fascinating to think that because something happened half-way around the world, it changed toy manufacturing.”

The advent of television also completely changed the toy industry, Wiese noted. “The Mickey Mouse Club,” she said, served as an hour-long advertisement for Disneyland, which opened shortly after the show kicked off. Other TV programs, such as Mattel’s “He-Man,” were produced by toy companies to help sales.

Toys on display are either part of the museum’s collection or are on loan from community members. They include a nearly 100-year-old handmade wooden rocking horse, a porcelain head doll, a lithographed Noah’s Ark with animal cut-outs, a jar of glass and clay marbles, old superhero action figures and board games, along with hand-carved toys, which were obviously made my parents or relatives to please children.

Holding up a carved wooden pig from the late 1800s, Wiese laughed as she turned it over.

“The little boy who was given this as a gift, cut the pig’s legs off so that it wouldn’t run away,” she said, recalling the story given by its donor.

The collections manager said she enjoyed the year’s worth of research she did with volunteer Karen Lind.

One point she found interesting is how toys were used to train children for their future careers.

“One hundred years ago, children were considered little adults, so the toys that they were given prepared them for adulthood,” Wiese said.

Little boys were given erector sets to teach them how to build. Little girls got dolls and doll houses to help them become good mothers.

“Dollhouses were not about playing with dolls,” Wiese said.

Lind, who collects toys for her home, said she recently purchased a tin lithograph dollhouse that is almost identical to one received she on Christmas Day in 1948 when she had the measles and a broken arm. The house will be included in the exhibit.

She said she’s excited to see historic toys put on display, especially the ones that look well used.

“That’s because they really meant something to the children,” Lind said.

The exhibit also includes a hands-on aspect never seen before at the museum. Children and adults will be able to play cat’s cradle and other small playthings, said Wiese, who expects the show to be popular.

“Everybody loves toys,” she said. “I think this is something grandparents can bring their grandchildren to and share something of their childhood with them.”