Secret Life of LEGO Bricks author Daniel Konstanski shares the untold tale of the original LEGO factory and how it came to shape the town of Billund.
The story of the LEGO Group’s rise from a small woodworking shop to a global toy powerhouse begins in an unlikely place – a small stretch of land in rural Billund. Long before plastic bricks and theme parks, the town’s very existence was shaped by water. Early farmers channelled marshland into irrigation streams and settlements grew along those waterways. The foundations of the LEGO story were laid at the very centre of this modest agricultural community,
In 1916, Ole Kirk Christiansen purchased a small house and workshop on a strangely shaped triangular plot — a quirk of local farm tracks that still defines the area today. From this simple wooden building, he began his woodworking business. After a devastating fire in 1924 destroyed the original workshop, he rebuilt, constructing what would become known as the Lion House. That rebuilding effort marked the first of several pivotal turning points in LEGO history.
The Great Depression hit Denmark hard, forcing Ole Kirk to adapt. He shifted from larger carpentry projects to producing small wooden toys, selling them door-to-door and walking some serious miles to do so. Billund in the 1930s was a fraction of its current size, making his early sales efforts all the more remarkable.
Another fire in 1942 reshaped the company’s future. In response, a new, more modern factory was built. Systemvej, originally known as LEGO factory, became synonymous with the LEGO Group’s early growth.
Here, the company expanded rapidly through the 1940s and 1950s, continually adding extensions in response to increasing demand. The factory and the town grew side by side in a uniquely symbiotic relationship. New houses were built for employees, roads were formalised and the population surged.
The introduction of plastic elements and the revolutionary System in Play concept transformed LEGO from a wooden toy maker into an innovative plastic construction company. Following a final fire in 1960 — which ended wooden toy production entirely — the plastic brick became the company’s sole focus. By the early 1960s, the original Systemvej factory had reached its maximum size, sprawling across joined buildings and former residential plots.
Learn the full, detailed story, illustrated by images of Billund through the decades, in Blocks Book of Retro LEGO Sets Volume III.
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