The City of Irving and the Irving Heritage Society dedicated the M-A-L Hobby Shop Historical Marker on November 15th.
Located at 108 South Lee Street in Irving, the hobby shop was opened in 1948 by Edgar Seay, Sr. Seay grew up fascinated with airplanes and sold his first model in 1927. In 1932, he rode a motorcycle from Arkansas to a Detroit air show, where he took orders from over 400 airplane owners to create scale models of their planes.
In 1935, Seay moved to Dallas to work for Golden Aircraft Corp., a model airplane company. Here he learned to cut balsa wood, a skill he used for the rest of his career. After World War II, Seay continued to create models. His balsa wood glider and rubber-band-powered planes were very popular. For decades Edgar Seay cut balsa wood and made kits under his M-A-L brand. From this site, M-A-L Hobby Shop has catered to generations of model aircraft enthusiasts.
