Joshua Lionel Cowen

Joshua Lionel Cowen (August 25, 1877 – September 8, 1965), born Joshua Lionel Cohen, was an American inventor and the cofounder of Lionel Corporation, a manufacturer of model railroads and toy trains.

Joshua Lionel Cowen
circa 1903
Born(1877-08-25)August 25, 1877
Queens, New York, U.S.
DiedSeptember 8, 1965(1965-09-08) (aged 88)
Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Known forco-founder of Lionel Corporation
Spouse(s)
Cecelia "Mimia" Liberman
​
​
(m. 1904; died 1946)​

Lillian Appel Herman
​
​
(m. 1949)​
Children2
Parent(s)Rebecca Kantrowitz Cohen
Hyman Nathan Cohen
FamilyRoy Cohn (great-nephew)

Early life

Cowen was born in New York on August 25, 1877; he had eight siblings.[1] His parents were Jewish immigrants from Germany. Although Cowen often gave his birthdate as 1880, he was actually born three years earlier. Cowen legally changed his last name from Cohen in 1910 for reasons unknown.[1]

Cowen studied at Columbia University and the City College of New York. Cowen built his first toy train at age seven, attaching a small steam engine to a wooden locomotive he had carved. The engine exploded, damaging his parents' kitchen.

Cowen received his first patent in 1899, for a device that ignited a photographer's flash. The same year, Cowen received a defense contract from the United States Navy to produce mine fuses, earning $12,000.

Lionel Corporation

Cowen and one of his partners founded Lionel Corporation in New York City in 1900. Sources disagree on what inspired Cowen to establish the Lionel Corporation. According to The New York Times, he devised a battery-powered fan for his shop, then connected the fan's motor to a small model train.[2] The Hackensack, New Jersey, Record states that Cowen designed his model train after seeing another, stationary, train in a shop window.[3] A Manhattan shopkeeper bought Cowen's first electric train in 1901 and used it as a storefront display. After customers indicated that they wanted to buy the display, the shopkeeper bought six more trains.[4]

Lionel had become the world's largest toy manufacturers by the early 1950s, even as interest in model trains had declined.[4] Cowen retired in 1959, selling his 55,000 shares of Lionel stock to his great-nephew Roy Cohn.[4] He died on September 8, 1965, in Palm Beach, Florida,[2][4] and is interred at Union Field Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.[4]

References
  1. Morris, Hank (2002). "He fed our dreams ... Happy 125th Birthday, Joshua Lionel Cowen". National Railway Historical Society. Archived from the original on March 11, 2007. Retrieved March 1, 2023. Reprinted by permission from The National Railway Bulletin, Volume 67, Number 2, 2002.
  2. "Joshua Cohen, 85, Lionel Inventor". The New York Times. 1965-09-09. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  3. Debnam, Betty (December 23, 2008). "All Aboard the Model Train". The Record. Hackensack, New Jersey – via Newspapers.com open access.
  4. Campbell, Cal (August 27, 2018). "Joshua Lionel Cowen". Journal Gazette. Matton, Illinois – via Newspapers.com open access.

Further reading
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