LEGOs are, quite simply, one of the most successful toys of all time. The uncomplicated multicolored plastic blocks interlock and can be rearranged in endless combinations. The durable LEGOs have provided endless hours of creative play for millions of children around the world.

LEGO began in 1932 with carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen (1891–1958) in Billund, Denmark. Christiansen's business manufactured simple wooden products, including toy blocks he made with leftover wood. In 1934, he adopted the name "LEGO" from the Danish words Leg Godt which means "play well." The phrase also means "I study" or "I put together" in Latin. This business did well enough for a while, but it really took off in the late 1940s when the company bought a plastic injection-molding machine to make plastic bricks. By 1949, the company was producing two hundred different plastic and wooden toys. In 1955, the company began selling LEGO bricks in organized sets, which...