The Milwaukee Toy Loan project opened in March 1938 under the sponsorship of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors and the Juvenile Court. The first distributing center was opened a month later in the basement of a public school. Over the next two years, nineteen other centers opened in a variety of locations in the greater Milwaukee area.
The project supplied the leisure-time needs of school children by providing them with renovated toys collected from homes, schools, churches, clubs, and places of employment. Participants borrowed toys for a two-week period, at the end of which time the loan could be renewed or the item exchanged for another toy. The project incorporated radio, newspaper, billboard, and creative publicity to increase donations and generate support for the centers. The popularity of the centers led other cities to attempt to duplicate the program, which gave about 350 Milwaukeeans jobs collecting, restoring, and lending toys to children. Supporters believed it helped prevent juvenile delinquency, traffic accidents, and taught children valuable social skills. Critics were concerned that the toys might not be safe, would spread germs, and were only being lent to children whose parents worked for the WPA.
In June 1941, an appropriation bill passed the House of Representatives limiting the budget of WPA. The first group of programs to be cut included toy making, lending, and repairing.
