Judy's Old Wood Toys

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N.D.Cass Co.

The N.D. Cass Company of Athol, Massachusetts, made toys from 1896 until through the 1960s and likely into the 1990s - a very log run. Their warehouse burned to the ground in 1996 (see article below) and that seems to be the end of the company. The company made a great variety of wooden toys including doll house furniture, blackboards, tool chests, ten pins, pull toys, cradles, high chairs, cedar chests, drums, and pianos to name a few. Many Cass toys are numbered - 105, 402, 209 for example.

I am looking for photos of Cass toys for this article and much more information on the company. Can you help me? I get a lot of questions on Cass toys.



Beautiful example of a Cass step back kitchen cupboard or hutch.  This one is very similar to the one shown in the 1926 Cass ad below.

Photo courtesy of  T. L. Kiggins.

This view shows how much detail is built into this piece.

Photo courtesy of  T. L. Kiggins.

Detail of Cass Toys label from the hutch at right.

Photo courtesy of 
Ben & Carol Nelson.

This Cass kitchen cabinet, as Cass called them, differs from the one at left in the number of drawers it has below.

Photo courtesy of 
Ben & Carol Nelson.

CassAdDec1926.jpg (219854 bytes)
Click on Dec
1926 Cass Ad
to enlarge image

  



Cass Tiny Town Tip Truck probably from the late 1940s or the 1950s. All wood.

Photo courtesy of Jeff


Photo courtesy of Jana Townsend


This is an excerpt from the Worcester Telegram and Gazette story that ran on Friday morning, May 17, 1996.

ATHOL, MA - 16 MAY 1996

A spectacular fire burned the large N.D. Cass Toy Co. warehouse to the ground, destroyed a home next to it, and damaged six other occupied homes on South Athol Road early Thursday. The blaze, visible for miles, sent embers rising hundreds of feet. The embers drifted east onto distant midtown properties and rooftops, including Town Hall on Main Street and the Club 3 tavern at South and Exchange streets, damaging both, officials said. Police and passers-by pounded on doors to alert sleeping residents, who got out without apparent injury, Fire Chief Lee Lozier said. Twenty-one adults and two children were evacuated from seven affected homes.