You probably had a sock monkey at some point
during your childhood, but did you know that the wiry stuffed toy
originated in Rockford, Ill.?
The story begins with John Nelson, a Swedish
immigrant who invented a sock-knitting machine in 1869.
Nelson’s company, Nelson Knitting, along with a later
manufacturer, Forest City Knitting, became famous for red-heeled
socks, popularly known as “Rockford socks.”
In the 1940s and ’50s, Ed Eisner, president
of Forest City, was sending 50 dozen pairs of the red-heeled socks to
nuns in Wisconsin for Christmas. The nuns turned the socks into monkey
dolls to raise money. Eisner persuaded Sears stores to include a doll
pattern with each of the seamless work socks they sold, then Nelson
Knitting convinced Montgomery Ward to do the same with its stock of
red-heeled socks. By 1953, when the town of Rockford acquired patents
for both the red-heeled socks and the dolls, the sock monkey was
already famous.
Since April, Rockford’s Midway Village
& Museum Center has been celebrating Rockford’s unique
role in American history with a special exhibit devoted to the sock
monkey. Barbara Gerry, great-granddaughter of John Nelson, gets the
credit for getting the ball rolling on this exhibit, which has
attracted visitors such as Cece Bell, author of Sock Monkey Goes to Hollywood,
and Mary Jane Stewart, a teacher who has used a sock monkey named
Oscar to teach her students.
The mascot for this endeavor has been a
7-foot-2 stuffed monkey created by Dee “Sock Monkey
Lady” Linder. It took Linder 42 hours to construct the monkey
“Nelson” using 44 red-heeled socks. Nelson, who weighs 15 pounds,
has traveled all over the country, making appearances at events and
even the Today
show and Good Morning America. “Nelson’s travels have included Orlando,
Fla.; Las Vegas, Nev.; a dinosaur dig in Montana; an art exhibit in
Chicago,” says Joan Sage, marketing director at Midway Village.
“Nelson has been through X-ray machines and done it
all.”
Along with the exhibit, the sock monkey also
is being celebrated all over Rockford with displays of 6-foot-tall
fiberglass monkeys. Artists have decorated several and are still
working on what will total 18 monkeys.
In addition to sock monkeys, the Midway
Village museum features an exhibit of old dolls, among other
displays. The village comprises 26 historic structures, including a
hardware store, general store, print shop, blacksmith shop,
one-room schoolhouse, fire station, two historic barns, police
station, hospital, bank, carpenter shop, law office, and homes.
For directions to Midway Village & Museum
Center, hours, and other information, call 815-397-9112 or visit www.midwayvillage.com.
This article appears in Aug 11-17, 2005.
