McEnteer’s ‘Timeless Toys’ to benefit local youth foundation

The public is invited to tour a phenomenal toy collection on May 13, and it is housed right here in Tioga County. Notably, the owner believes it is the largest and most varied, privately owned toy collection in the country.

The collection, a 50-year accumulation, includes thousands of toys and child-related items in every category imaginable.

The tour is scheduled for Saturday, May 13, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. The last admittance will be at 4:30 p.m. Thousands of toys will be on display, and more than you’ve ever seen in any one place. You’ll want to consider taking at least an hour for the tour.  

Local resident Tom McEnteer, an avid collector of all things related to toys, and also a history enthusiast, is offering this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the public to view his collection for the very first time.

McEnteer is a retired OA Schools teacher, and has been a volunteer and trustee of the Tioga County Historical Society for nearly five decades. McEnteer, along with his late wife Sally, owned and operated an antique business in downtown Owego for over 20 years. 

If you have been to the annual O’Tannenbaum Exhibit at the Tioga County Historical Society Museum, then you most likely have seen a small portion of McEnteer’s vast toy collection. For 20 years, McEnteer has displayed toys from his collection during the popular holiday event.

And, McEnteer noted, “There was a different toy theme each of the twenty years of O’Tannenbaum, and no toy was ever repeated.”

McEnteer shared about the May 13 tour, “There are toys for all to enjoy, and every category you can think of is well-represented,” adding, “There are one hundred years’ worth of toys to see in nearly each category.”

There are toys traditionally geared toward the interests of boys, and then toys traditionally for girls, as well as toys made for all children, like games and character toys.

McEnteer said, “Adults of all ages, from great-grandparents to the current generation will certainly see things that will bring back childhood memories,” and, interestingly, he added, “Today’s teenagers whose only toys might be from a virtual world will have the chance to see the first hand-held electronic games.”

To view a preview of the toy collection, McEnteer suggests you watch a series of short videos available via the local PBS station, WSKG. The 18 episode series, Timeless Toys, can be viewed at https://www.wskg.org/timeless-toys.

Categories of collection areas within McEnteer’s world of toys include, in part, character toys, advertising toys, automotive and trains, aircraft and boats, science and science fiction, food and clocks, military action figures, westerns and warriors, construction and building toys, mechanical and farm toys, circuses, dolls and dollhouses, stuffed toys and television-themed toys, and so much more.

McEnteer remarked, “There are items in the collection that are over 200 years old, and some that are almost brand new.” 

Guests at the tour will not only be amazed at the amount of toys, but some will also enjoy learning the incredible history behind them.

From the history of the telephone to glass toys from the WWII era, and then watches like Mickey Mouse and Dick Tracey from the 1930’s to a backwards Goofy watch, many items on display are timeless, pun intended.

Toys on display touch upon local history as well, such as miniature soldiers, sailors, airmen and farm figures made by the Manoil Toy Company of Waverly, N.Y., a company that started in New York City in the 1920’s and relocated to Tioga County in 1940.

Another local company once housed in Broome County, Ansco, can be found on the tour with their early cameras and other photography related items. And yet another example, two women from Ithaca, N.Y. patented the first cloth fabric dolls, like a tabby cat known as the Ithaca Kitty.

From teddy bears to robots, Hot Wheels to fire trucks, robots to space-related toys, and then wooden blocks made by a company out of Albany, N.Y., to circus-style toys, and even a model biplane, the Curtiss Jenny, styled from an early Hammondsport, N.Y. airplane company, guests will undoubtedly experience many “wow moments” during the expansive tour.

Tour tickets can be purchased on the day of the tour, and proceeds will benefit programs and activities for the Charles H. Bassett Youth Foundation. The foundation conducts local youth leadership programs and offers scholarships to students in Tioga and Broome Counties.

Tickets at the door are $10 for adults and youth age 12 and up. Children under 12 are free when accompanied by a parent or guardian. There will be a family rate of $25. The address for the event is 3646 Waverly Rd. in Owego, N.Y.