The history of Skyline Manufacturing Company may be traced back to Albert Schoenhut, producer of wooden toys and models in Philadelphia, including a line of model buildings for Lionel, c1920. Schoenhut's business ceased trading in 1935, shortly after which a group of ex Schoenhut employees formed Skyline Manufacturing Company of Philadelphia, producing buildings, some of which were used by Lionel on their 1938 T Rail showroom layout, as evidenced by a Skyline catalog photograph.
Following the Second World War, Skyline continued the production of model buildings, many scaled to suit both S and 0 scale layouts. Initial production used a combination of wood, composition board and card, together with a modest range of tinplate buildings and, later, plastic buildings, at least one of which (the church) formed part of Bachmann's Plasticville range, following the demise of Skyline.
Skyline appeared to operate from a number of addresses within Philadelphia, addresses from Model Railroader magazine include October 1938 2054 Castor Avenue, July 1940 21st and Arch Streets, 1941 713 Spring Garden Street and 1946 1413 Vine Street.
The products of Skyline Manufacturing Company are not related to the similarly named American Skyline building sets made by Halsem/Elgo, in Chicago.
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