Passion for Québec and Elsewhere

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What is the connection between a former President of the United States, a German lady afflicted with polio , a more than 100 year-old store and a social history Museum in Montreal?

Plush toys!

Many Montrealers, Quebecers and tourists will remember with nostalgia the animated windows of the Ogilvy store located at the corner of Ste-Catherine West and de La Montagne. A must-see holiday destination for many families who loved seeing time and again The Enchanted Village and The Mill in the Forest, which had been showcased at this famous downtown address since December 1947.

A host of stuffed animals animated by various mechanisms go about their daily activities in these two fairy-tale sceneries inspired by Bavaria, a beautiful region of Germany located at the foothills of the Alps.

Following the merger of the Ogilvy and Holt Renfrew stores, the tradition of animated windows ended on Ste-Catherine Street West. But it didn’t die out because the two enchanted worlds were bequeathed to the McCord Stewart Museum in Montreal for the greatest pleasure of all.

You can see them on display until January 8, 2023, by visiting the McCord Stewart Museum on Sherbrooke Street West facing McGill University. One of the display is on Victoria Street and the other one is inside the museum. It is free for children, although for adults a voluntary contribution is appreciated if you only want to see the display inside the museum.

Since you are already at the museum, why not take the opportunity to buy a ticket at the entrance and visit the other permanent and temporary exhibits that are taking place. It is possible to get a discount or a obtain a free ticket for certain group of people or on certain days, check the ticketing page on the McCord Stewart Museum website to see if it applies to you.

At the beginning of this article, I asked you the following question: what is the connection between a former President of the United States, a German lady afflicted with polio and an institution in Montreal? I suggest a little trip down the history of these two individuals as well as this Montreal institution to illustrate the interaction among them.

Margarete Steiff

Margarete Steiff (1847-1909), founder of the Steiff plush toys company, was born in the small town of Giengen an der Brenz in Germany. At 18 months of age, she was affected by polio, which left her partially paralyzed. Margarete was a determined woman and despite her disability, she undertook sewing and opened a shop for clothing and articles made with felt. She even employed a few seamstresses.

In 1880, while browsing a fashion newspaper, she saw a pattern for a small pin cushion in the shape of an elephant made of fabric. She made a few copies and gifted them. The small elephants were the rage, not with ladies, but with the children who were fascinated by the small felt animal.

It ignited her imagination, eventually she published a catalogue containing several felt animals: monkeys, donkeys, horses, camels, pigs, mice, dogs, cats, rabbits and giraffes. In 1893, she incorporated her toy factory, she was then employing 14 seamstresses, most of them were working remotely. She also presented her toys for the first time at the toy fair in Leipzig.

In 1897 her nephew, Richard, joined the firm. He was armed with his diploma in applied arts. He became the creative force behind the company’s success. In 1902, he created a bear with articulated legs. The material for this bear was a plush material made of mohair that he had found in a German fabric factory. The bear was presented at the toy fair in Leipzig and it was a hit. An American broker was won over by the bear and placed a purchase order for 3,000 units, which proved to be a great commercial success in the United States. Five years later, the bear will become the famous ‘Teddy Bear’!

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), nicknamed Teddy, was elected President of the United States in 1901 and held this position until 1909. In addition to his political involvement, Roosevelt worked as a museum curator, naturalist, ornithologist, and was also gifted in writing and in history. He is recognized as having been the President with the greatest environmental impact in the history of the United States.

Under his leadership, several national parks were opened, he declared 18 ecological sites as national monument including the Grand Canyon and he created 51 ornithological reserves. He is one of the greatest defenders of nature and a conservation program was one of his top priority on his presidential agenda.

Roosevelt had been a big hunting fan since he was young. In 1902, while he was at a hunting party in Mississippi, he spotted a bear, took a shot and missed his target. The people who were with him, managed to find the bear, put a rope around his neck to hold him so that Roosevelt could shoot him. Roosevelt, realizing that the animal was attached and defenseless, refused to shoot the bear. The incident was reported by the Washington Post cartoonist.

The Steiff family in Germany having seen the cartoon, made the link with their articulated plush bear already very popular in the United States. They baptized it Teddy, the nickname of the American President. You can guess the end of the story. The famous Teddy Bear was produced by the millions in the years that followed. This Teddy Bear was the favorite companion of children for several generations.

Ogilvy store

Ogilvy Store, a Montreal institution, was founded in 1866 by James Angus Ogilvy, a Scotsman. Today it is located on West Ste-Catherine street at the corner of rue de la Montagne. Renowned as a place offering a range of well known brands and luxurious products, this store was one of the first to offer specialized shops under its roof.

In 1926, Arthur Nesbitt, a financier, bought the building and his 19-year-old son James Aird Nesbitt operated the store for 54 years. He had a unique flair for marketing and allowed Ogilvy to stand out from the competition. Driven by a strong sense of respect for Scottish traditions dear to the store founder and to the Nesbitt family, he introduced the tartan motif for bags and gift boxes as well as the bagpipe player who played through the store every day at noon.

In 1947, he launched a new tradition by ordering two animated scenes to decorate the store windows from the Steiff toy company in Germany. The Enchanted Village and the Mill in the Forest, both containing several dozen of stuffed animals with over a hundred mechanized parts. In 2008, both scenes were refurbished due to their many years of service.

In 2011, Galen Weston acquired Ogilvy and a merger with the Holt Renfrew store took place. Holt Renfrew moved to the Ogilvy location and now operates under the Holt Renfew Ogilvy banner. In 2018, both mechanical displays were donated to the McCord Stewart Museum in order to allow families to pursue this beautiful family tradition during the Holiday Season of admiring the superb plush animals going about their Bavarian occupations.

I hope you enjoyed learning about these Holiday windows and know that you can still enjoy seeing them in Montreal. That plushed toys were the link between great characters that lived a century ago while providing joy to an incalculable number of children.

McCord Stewart Museum
690 West Sherbrooke street
Montreal, Quebec H3A 1E9
Canada

Telephone : +1 (514) 861-6701