Happy International Lego Day! Today is the anniversary of the Lego brick being patented in Denmark in 1958. Lego began in 1932 in the carpentry workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen, a Danish furniture maker. His business suffered during the Great Depression, so he pivoted to making toys. He named his company Lego from a Danish phrase meaning “play well”. When plastics were introduced in Denmark after World War II, the company bought a plastic injection molding machine in 1947. Lego started making an early version of their interlocking blocks in 1949, calling them “Automatic Binding Bricks”. In 1958, Lego perfected the brick with tubes on the bottom to help tighten the connection. Today, Lego produces around 36 billion bricks every year. The largest set the company sells is the Lego Art World Map, which has 11,695 pieces. In 1998, Lego was the one of the first inductees into the National Toy Hall of Fame. Learn more in the audio below.