In 1976, Xavier Roberts invented 'Little Person' dolls, the first Cabbage Patch Kids. Roberts was a teenager when he started the Babyland General Hospital in Cleveland, Georgia, where people could adopt a baby (the hand sewn dolls were never called dolls) complete with adoption papers. Roberts and five friends started the Original Appalachian Artworks company to produce the dolls. The Coleco toy company liked Roberts' ideas and began mass-marketing the dolls in 1983, under the new name of 'Cabbage Patch Kids.'

Cabbage Patch Kids Official Website
Cabbage Patch Kids
Whatever Happened To Cabbage Patch Kids?