EAST AURORA, N.Y. -- Whether it was your first pet, your first phone call, or your first set of wheels, chances are, Fisher-Price was part of your childhood.

"Fisher-Price was founded in East Aurora in 1930 and this was in the midst of the Great Depression, so not necessarily a time when businesses are flourishing," said Amber Pietrobono, Fisher-Price Senior Marketing Associate.

Herman Fisher wanted to start a toy company, and as mayor of the Buffalo-area village of East Aurora, Irving Price was looking for an investment opportunity to help his community, so along with retailer Helen Schelle, the three established a business model for Fisher-Price which set the stage for decades of success.

"There's been so many changes, innovations over the years from making our toys out of really high-quality wood to actually halting toy production altogether in the 40s to support the war effort, to being the first toy manufacturer with plastic, we were the first toy company to ever make audio-visual toys, the first licensed toys ever, that was all Fisher-Price."

Throughout it's growth and accomplishments, the company has remained committed to its roots. After starting with just 15 employees, it now has about 800 at its headquarters in East Aurora.

"The marketing, design and engineering of all of our products all happen here, as well as handling all of the customer service calls. People who have issues or concerns or questions about their products, we have people on staff here in East Aurora that answer all the calls for the U.S."

Fisher-Price also gets some of the youngest Western New Yorkers involved, from featuring local kids on packaging to offering a very special job in the Play Lab.

"That's where kids preschool age, 3 to 5, come for 6 weeks at a time, and they actually participate in kind of like a preschool program, but they're actually toy testers."

Just as its founders intended, Pietrobono says Fisher-Price is more than a toy company.

"Whatever we're creating, we're always thinking how is this going to help a child develop the skills that they need for preschool, for kindergarten and throughout life." 

Fisher-Price sells products in 150 countries and 38 languages.