Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters

Take your next trip with Atlas Obscura!

Our small-group adventures are inspired by our Atlas of the world's most fascinating places, the stories behind them, and the people who bring them to life.

Visit Adventures
Trips Highlight
Macchu Picchu
Peru • 10 days, 9 nights
Peru: Machu Picchu & the Last Incan Bridges
from
Balkans road trip
Bosnia and Herzegovina • 9 days, 8 nights
Balkans Road Trip: Serbia, Croatia & Bosnia and Herzegovina
from
View all trips
Top Destinations
Latest Places
Most Popular Places Random Place Lists Itineraries
Add a Place
Download the App
Top Destinations
View All Destinations »

Countries

  • Australia
  • Canada
  • China
  • France
  • Germany
  • India
  • Italy
  • Japan

Cities

  • Amsterdam
  • Barcelona
  • Beijing
  • Berlin
  • Boston
  • Budapest
  • Chicago
  • London
  • Los Angeles
  • Mexico City
  • Montreal
  • Moscow
  • New Orleans
  • New York City
  • Paris
  • Philadelphia
  • Rome
  • San Francisco
  • Seattle
  • Stockholm
  • Tokyo
  • Toronto
  • Vienna
  • Washington, D.C.
Latest Places
View All Places »
Slide Memorial
Grande Caryatid
Oblazy Mills
Baguio Museum
Ibaloi Fire Mummy
Latest Places to Eat & Drink
View All Places to Eat »
Caru' cu Bere
The sign declares this the number-one gumbo shop in town.
Gumbo Hut Shioya
The pavlova comes crowned with jewel-like fruit.
Central Park Boathouse
The Village Tavern of Long Grove - exterior.
The Village Tavern
Hunter House Hamburgers
Recent Stories
All Stories Video Podcast
Most Recent Stories
View All Stories »
An illustration of Port Royal from the book “On the Spanish Main.”
Port Royal: The Rise and (Literal) Fall of a Booming Pirate City
about 2 hours ago
Museum founder Paul Stewart often traveled to local classrooms, like this Denver elementary school, to share the stories of Colorado’s Black Cowboys.
The Black American West Museum Celebrates the Black Cowboy
1 day ago
Charlie’s Place: Music, Mystery & Civil Rights.
Charlie’s Place Episode 1: Whispering Pines
2 days ago
The Golden Gate Bridge as seen from the Marin Headlands at sunrise.
Listener Stories of Leaving Home: From San Francisco to Japan
4 days ago

No search results found for
“”

Make sure words are spelled correctly.

Try searching for a travel destination.

Places near me Random place

Popular Destinations

  • Paris
  • London
  • New York
  • Berlin
  • Rome
  • Los Angeles
Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Sign In Join
Places near me Random place
All the United States Connecticut Bridgeport The Frisbie Pie Company
The Frisbie Pie Company is permanently closed.

This entry remains in the Atlas as a record of its history, but it is no longer accessible to visitors.

Gastro Obscura

The Frisbie Pie Company

The location of the pie company that gave a classic toy its name is now a parking lot.

Bridgeport, Connecticut

Added By
Luke Spencer
Email
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list
A Frisbie Pie truck (in the Museum of Connecticut History)   Luke J Spencer / Atlas Obscura User
A Frisbie Pie truck (in the Museum of Connecticut History)   Luke J Spencer / Atlas Obscura User
A Frisbie Pie pan (in the Museum of Connecticut History)   Luke J Spencer / Atlas Obscura User
A Frisbie Pie bag (in the Museum of Connecticut History)   Luke J Spencer / Atlas Obscura User
The Frisbie Pie Company (in the Museum of Connecticut History)   Luke J Spencer / Atlas Obscura User
Frisbie’s Pies delivery truck from 1920   Connecticut State Library on Wikipedia
William Morrison’s Patent for his flying toy (in the Museum of Connecticut History)   Luke J Spencer / Atlas Obscura User
Walter Frederick Morrison promoting his Pluto Platter, c. 1950s   Connecticut State Library on Wikipedia
The famous Wham-O Frisbee   Petey21 on Wikipedia
An original Frisbie Pie Pan (in the Museum of Connecticut History)   Luke J Spencer / Atlas Obscura User
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list

About

The Frisbie Pie Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut was started in 1871 by a Civil War veteran, and by the 1950s they were selling around 80,000 pies a day.

William Russell Frisbie returned to his home state of Connecticut after the Civil War and eventually settled into business, turning a division of the Olds Baking Company into a thriving eponymous pie empire. But as popular as the Frisbie pies became, the containers they came in—stamped Frisbie’s Pies in bold type on the bottom—would prove infinitely more so.

A circular, flat metal pan, Frisbie’s tins had the requisite raised rim to not only hold in the pie, but they proved to be aerodynamic as well. Soon workers at the bakery on Kossuth Street, maybe inspired by local kids, noticed their aerodynamic quality, and during lunch breaks they took to throwing them around.

Frisbie supplied his pies to restaurants and grocery stores throughout the Northeast, and also to nearby Yale University. There the metal pies pans were liberated from the cafeteria and thrown all over campus, where Frisbie-ing became a popular study diversion. (There is a competing theory about the Frisbie name that’s been “tossed around.” Some say it wasn’t the pie tins, but instead the lids of the Frisbie sugar cookie containers that really flew – but either way Mr. Frisbie’s bakery still gets the credit.)

It would take the efforts of another man to help turn the popular campus pastime into an international craze and toy juggernaut. Across the country, in California, World War II fighter pilot Walter Morrison was no stranger to the subtleties of aerodynamics. He created a flying toy, similar in looks to the Frisbie pan, called the Whirlo-Way, which he changed to the Flying Saucer, and eventually to the Pluto Platter, in keeping with the popularity of science fiction in post-war America.

But sales of Morrison’s flying saucer toys were relatively modest until he was approached by the Wham-O Company in California, proud creators of the Hula Hoop. Acquiring the rights from Morrison, Wham-O’s founders Richard Knerr and Arthur "Spud" Melin recalled a recent trip to Connecticut where they had seen students on Yale’s illustrious campus tossing Frisbie pie pans to each other, yelling “Fris-bie!!” when there was an incoming tin. Knerr and Melin were struck by the name, altering the spelling slightly to Frisbee in 1957 (so as to avoid any pesky trademark problems). Wham-O would go on to eventually sell nearly 300 million Frisbees, and counting.

The very next year, in 1958, the bakery that lent its name to the Frisbee (whether they knew it or not) closed its doors and was sold to Table Talk Pies of Worcester, Massachusetts. Today the old location of the Frisbie Pie Company is a parking lot, right next door to an old elementary school. (Maybe it was those kids who first inspired the tossing of the pie tins…)

Related Tags

Food Toys

Community Contributors

Added By

Luke J Spencer

Edited By

AF

  • AF

Published

November 9, 2015

Edit this listing

Make an Edit
Add Photos
Sources
  • http://www.whatisultimate.com/history/of-frisbeesflying-discs/
  • http://www.whatisultimate.com/history/of-frisbeesflying-discs/
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frisbie_Pie_Company
  • http://www.wham-o.com/history.html
  • http://www.wfdf.org/history-stats/history-of-fyling-disc/4-history-of-the-frisbee
The Frisbie Pie Company
363 Kossuth Street
Bridgeport, Connecticut, 06608
United States
41.183342, -73.182931
Get Directions

Nearby Places

Remington Shot Tower

Bridgeport, Connecticut

miles away

P.T. Barnum Museum

Bridgeport, Connecticut

miles away

Pleasure Beach

Bridgeport, Connecticut

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Bridgeport

Bridgeport

Connecticut

Places 8
Stories 3

Nearby Places

Remington Shot Tower

Bridgeport, Connecticut

miles away

P.T. Barnum Museum

Bridgeport, Connecticut

miles away

Pleasure Beach

Bridgeport, Connecticut

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Bridgeport

Bridgeport

Connecticut

Places 8
Stories 3

Related Stories and Lists

The Return of the Pie Company That Gave the Frisbee Its Name

toys

By Michele Herrmann

Related Places

  • The sign declares this the number-one gumbo shop in town.

    Naoshima, Japan

    Gumbo Hut Shioya

    Enjoy traditional Louisiana-style gumbo and the spirit of Southern hospitality 7,000 miles from New Orleans.

  • It’s hard to believe these replicas aren’t actually edible.

    Tokyo, Japan

    Sampuru Shops of Kappabashi Street

    Tokyo’s “Kitchen Town” hosts a number of shops selling intricate food replicas.

  • Cacio e pepe lasagna combines two classics.

    Rome, Italy

    C'è Pasta... E Pasta!

    Fried artichokes and other Roman–Jewish classics are executed with care at this no-frills cafeteria.

  • Spaghetto taratatà is named for the sound of rattling sabers.

    Rome, Italy

    Giano Restaurant

    Inventive Sicilian specialties are executed with flair at this restaurant overseen by chef Ciccio Sultano.

  • The gnocchi here get blanketed in a sugo with braised oxtail.

    Rome, Italy

    Cesare al Pellegrino

    Chef Leonardo Vignoli subtly updates Roman classics in a storied space.

  • Romans insist you should feel the cracked peppercorns and cheese grains on your tongue.

    Rome, Italy

    Flavio al Velavevodetto

    For one of Rome’s finest renditions of cacio e pepe, head straight to this osteria.

  • Tripe is fried to a crisp.

    Rome, Italy

    L’Osteria della Trippa

    Everything from fried brains to stewed lungs are on the menu at this nose-to-tail spot.

  • Pizza al taglio is done right here.

    Rome, Italy

    Fratelli Trecca

    Roman-style pizza al taglio arrives here with magnificent, crackly crust.

Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
Atlas Obscura Membership

Become an Atlas Obscura Member


Join our community of curious explorers.

Become a Member

Get Our Email Newsletter

Follow Us

Facebook YouTube TikTok Instagram Pinterest RSS Feed

Get the app

Download the App
Download on the Apple App Store Get it on Google Play
  • All Places
  • Latest Places
  • Most Popular
  • Places to Eat
  • Random
  • Nearby
  • Add a Place
  • Stories
  • Food & Drink
  • Itineraries
  • Lists
  • Video
  • Podcast
  • Newsletters
  • All Trips
  • Family Trip
  • Food & Drink
  • History & Culture
  • Wildlife & Nature
  • FAQ
  • Membership
  • Feedback & Ideas
  • Community Guidelines
  • Product Blog
  • Unique Gifts
  • Work With Us
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Advertise With Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
Atlas Obscura

© 2025 Atlas Obscura. All Rights Reserved.