If you walk into a toy store today, you’re greeted by a wall of plastic. There’s Star Wars, massive Technic cars with working gearboxes, and floral bouquets that never wilt. But before the billion-dollar franchises and the complex engineering, there was a tiny, unassuming wooden box. Most people think they know the history of the first LEGO set, but the reality is messy. It’s a story of house fires, a global depression, and a guy named Ole Kirk Christiansen who was just trying to keep his woodworking shop from going bankrupt in Billund, Denmark.
Honestly, the "first" anything is usually a bit of a debate among collectors. Are we talking about the first toy the company ever made? The first plastic brick? Or the first actual "set" with instructions and a box?
To get it right, you have to go back to 1932.
The Wooden Era and the 1949 Pivot
LEGO wasn’t always plastic. Ole Kirk Christiansen started out making stepladders and ironing boards. When the economy tanked, he pivoted to toys. We’re talking wooden ducks, cars, and trucks. They were beautiful, sure, but they weren't the "sets" we recognize today. The real shift happened in 1949. This is when the company released the Automatic Binding Bricks.
If you’re looking for the true ancestor of every LEGO set in your house, this is it.
These weren't sold in the elaborate boxes we see now. They were sold in simple, partitioned boxes that looked more like something you'd find in a hardware store. They were colorful, but they had a major problem: they didn't really stick together that well. They lacked the "clutch power" that makes LEGO... well, LEGO. These early bricks were hollow underneath. If you built a tower and someone breathed on it too hard, the whole thing would just slide apart.
The Set That Changed Everything: No. 700/1
By 1953, the name changed from "Automatic Binding Bricks" to "LEGO Mursten" (LEGO Bricks). But the landmark moment—the one historians usually point to as the first LEGO set in a standardized format—is the 700/1 Gift Package.
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It wasn't a Star Destroyer. It was a box of blocks.
It sounds boring, right? But for kids in the early 1950s, this was radical. Before this, toys were static. You had a lead soldier, and it stayed a lead soldier. You had a wooden horse, and it was always a horse. Suddenly, you had a box of 200+ bricks that could be a house, then a bridge, then a weird-looking dog.
Why the 700/1 is the Holy Grail
The 700 series was the foundation. It featured a variety of brick sizes, mostly in red, white, yellow, and blue. Green was actually quite rare in the very beginning because Ole Kirk Christiansen reportedly didn't want kids building tanks or military vehicles. He had lived through the Nazi occupation of Denmark and wanted his toys to be peaceful.
Think about that. The reason your early LEGO sets didn't have camouflage or olive drab bricks was a direct result of a carpenter’s moral compass in post-war Europe.
The packaging was simple. It featured a hand-drawn illustration of children playing. It didn't have a "piece count" on the front. It didn't have an age rating like "4-99." It was just an invitation to create.
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The "System of Play" Revolution
In 1954, Ole’s son, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, had a conversation with a toy buyer on a ferry. The buyer complained that toys lacked a "system." They were one-off purchases. Godtfred took this to heart. He realized that if every first LEGO set bought by a family could connect to every future LEGO set, they wouldn't just be selling a toy—they’d be selling a platform.
This led to the 1955 launch of the LEGO System of Play.
The flagship of this new era was Set No. 1210, the Town Plan. This is where things got really cool. It wasn't just bricks; it included little plastic cars and a playmat. It was meant to teach children about urban planning and safety. It was arguably the first time LEGO felt like a "world" rather than just a pile of building material.
The 1958 Patent: The Real Birth
If you want to be pedantic—and LEGO fans love being pedantic—the modern LEGO set didn't exist until January 28, 1958. At precisely 1:58 PM, the patent for the "stud-and-tube" coupling system was filed.
This is the secret sauce.
By adding tubes to the hollow underside of the bricks, they created a vacuum-like grip. Now, you could build a house, pick it up by the roof, and it wouldn't fall apart. Every first LEGO set produced after this moment is compatible with the sets on shelves today. You can take a brick from 1958 and snap it onto a 2026 set perfectly. That level of precision in manufacturing was unheard of in the 50s.
Common Misconceptions About Early Sets
- The Minifigure was there from the start: Nope. The "yellow guy" we love didn't arrive until 1978. Early sets used "faceless" figures that didn't have movable arms or legs, or they just used the little 1:87 scale plastic cars to populate the towns.
- They were always plastic: As mentioned, the company made wood toys alongside plastic ones until a massive warehouse fire in 1960 destroyed their wooden toy inventory. The family took it as a sign from the universe to go all-in on plastic.
- Instructions were detailed: Early instruction manuals were more like "suggestions." They were single sheets of paper with a few grainy photos. You were expected to look at the picture and figure it out yourself. No step-by-step hand-holding.
Finding an Original 700/1
If you find an original, unboxed first LEGO set from the early 50s in your attic, don't throw it away. Collectors pay thousands for these. But be careful. Many "vintage" sets people find are actually from the 60s or 70s.
To identify a truly early set, look for the "LEGO" logo on the studs. On the very first bricks, the logo was often missing or looked very different from the modern font. The plastic was also made of Cellulose Acetate (CA) rather than the modern ABS plastic. CA has a tendency to warp over decades, so if the bricks look slightly bowed or smell a bit like vinegar, you might be looking at a piece of genuine history.
What You Can Do Now
Understanding the history of the first LEGO set isn't just for trivia nights. It changes how you look at the hobby. If you’re a collector or just a casual fan, here is how you can apply this knowledge:
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- Check the Studs: Go through your old "bulk bins." Look for bricks with no logo or the "open O" logo. These are your historical anchors.
- Verify the Material: If you’re buying vintage sets on eBay or at flea markets, check for warping. Cellulose Acetate bricks don't play well with modern ABS bricks because their dimensions have shifted over 70 years.
- Focus on the 1958 Threshold: If you want a "playable" vintage collection, only buy sets produced after 1958. Anything earlier is a display piece, not a building toy, because the clutch power just isn't there.
- Visit the Sources: For the real deal, the LEGO House in Billund has the "Vault." It contains a copy of almost every set ever made. It’s the only place you can see the 700/1 and the Town Plan sets in mint condition.
The first LEGO set was a gamble. It was a wooden toy company trying to survive in a world that was rapidly changing. It wasn't perfect, and it barely stayed together. But it established a "system" that would eventually become the world's most popular toy. Every time you snap two bricks together today, you're experiencing a design that was perfected over 70 years ago in a small Danish workshop.