A Brief History of the Plastic Pink Flamingo - New England Historical Society

A Brief History of the Plastic Pink Flamingo - New England Historical Society

"Then in the 1930s another invention put Leominster on the path of birthing the plastic pink flamingo. A German-American named Samuel Foster started a company called Foster Grant. In 1931 he visited a New York factory and saw an injection molding machine. He immediately ordered several and had them shipped to Worcester. He then had a team of mechanics and engineers spend two years modifying them so they worked.

"In 1937, Foster Grant churned out 20 million sunglasses. The next year, Tupperware started up in Leominster....

"Featherstone designed the pink flamingo based on photographs in National Geographic Magazine. Sold in pairs, they went on sale in 1958 for $2.76. The Sears catalogue carried them, with the instructions, 'Place in garden, lawn, to beautify landscape.'"