Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1894 Vol. 18 N. 34

Page 9 Text:

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
Dealers of the Far West and South
^
TRADE SKETCHES.
Some of the Men Who Have Made
Music Trade History on the
Pacific Slope from Wash-
ington to the Gulf.
HE bands of steel have so closely link-
ed the Pacific Coast with the East that
the journey to San Francisco or to
Tacoma is looked upon nowadays as a
matter of not startling import. In the
early days it was different. The long
journey across the plains to the great unknown
country was a matter fraught with serious-
ness. It was no ball-room task to accomplish
such a journey. The traveler -of that time
had much to undergo before he had '' seen
his trade." The almost phenomenal develop-
ment of that country lying beyond " The Great
Divide " has naturally given an impetus to and
an increased sale of almost every line of manu-
factured goods. With the increased population
came the increased demand for musical instru-
ments. Then there came the line of specialty
stores, and as the musical culture was diffused
by the establishment of schools and conservator-
ies the music stores expanded into huge com-
mercial institutions until to-day the annual sales
in musical instruments alone on the Pacific
Coast swells into large figures. It is our aim in
presenting the following sketches to show some-
thing of the personality of some of the men
who have assisted towards the upbuilding ol
the music trade, and who have made music
trade history west of the '' Rockies '' and in the
great State of Texas. The limited space at our
disposal prevents us treating the subject with
the exhaustiveness which it merits. Many of
the individuals dealt with in the following
sketches readers will recognize as men of na-
tional fame.
WILEY B. ALLEN,
Portland, Oregon.
Wiley B. Allen is a native Oregonian, born
in the year 1855, in a log hut on the " Abiqua,"
a mountain stream running in the '' Wilds of
Oregon." While yet a child he took to music,
first playing on a cornstalk, and then urging
his parents to buy him an accordeon, which he
learned to play, and then he wanted an organ.
His father visited a music store for the purpose
of buying one, and after looking over the stock
iSKSSSSSX^g^^
was unable to decide for himself, and said he
would get the services of a music teacher he
knew to select an instrument for him. The
professor was a most obliging man, in fact
astonishing in his efforts to oblige Mr. Allen,
senior, who is still living and kicking himself
for being so "all-fired green," in those days
before he learned of the '' commission evil.''
Winter & Harper. The corporation also have
a branch at Salem, the capital of Oregon, so that
with the three houses combined they absorb a
large proportion of the entire music business in
the Northwest. The Wiley B. Allen Co. con-
trols the Oregon agencies for the Bradbury, the
Fischer, Krell and Opera pianos, and the Estey,
Chicago Cottage and Farrand & Votey organs.
The officers of the corporation are Wiley B.
Allen, President and Treasurer ; Rudolph Wan-
geman, Vice-President, andj. E. Whitney, Sec-
retary.
CALDER'S MUSIC PALACE,
Salt Lake City, Utah.
WILEY B. ALLEN.
Wiley B. Allen started in the music business
in the year 1877, a t S a n Jose, Cal., with a
capital of $600. Half of this amount he spent
in the purchase of a Pease piano and a parlor
organ and the other half he invested in small
goods, sheet music, etc. He sold out his San
Jose business in the year 1880 and moved to
Portland just prior to the completion of the
Northern Pacific R. R., and as times were lively
in those days, known as the " Villard boom,"
he made money rapidly ; then the collapse came
and the business went back a notch or two.
About this time he commenced his dealings
with Lyon & Healy, and to this day he attri-
butes much of his success in life to the advice
and succor he received at the hands of Lyon &
Healy. He classifies P. J. Healy, C. N. Post and
Geo. E. Griswold as his '' Four-leaf Clover." P.
J. Healy himself he considers two leaves, Post
and Griswold making the other two.
At the present time Wiley B. Allen is presi-
dent of The Wiley B. Allen Company, a cor-
poration doing business with a capital stock
of $100,000. They have two well regulated
stores in Portland, one of which is their own
four-story building at 211 First street, and the
other at 271 Morrison street; they having re-
cently purchased the Morrison street store from
This house was established in i860 by D. O.
Calder, and the stock did not exceed $500 first
cost. It was the first importation of this kind
into the territory, and although small, was suf-
ficient to meet all demands during the next
twelve months. About the same time Mr.
Calder organized vocal classes and taught 800
pupils, giving several concerts in the Tabernacle
and theatre, all of which created a market for
the sale of musical goods. During the follow-
ing years of 1861 to 1868, Mr. Calder imported
a number of pianos and organs from New York
and Boston. Notwithstanding they had to be
conveyed in wagons—no railroad at that time—
from the Missouri River, over the plains,
through rivers and over the Rocky Mountains,
at an expense of $270 for a transportation of a
D. G. CALDER.
piano and $80 for an organ, Mr. Calder\s busi-
ness so increased during those years that it be-
came necessary to enlarge his premises, and the
result was the erection of a two-story house on

Page 10 Text:

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
IO
Main street in 1871. Again in 1883 the Main
street house proving too small for the steady
increasing business, Mr. Calder erected a mag-
nificent building on 45 and 47 1st South street.
The building is 30 X90 feet in dimension, with
three stories and a basement. The first and
second floors, with 16-foot ceilings, and beauti-
after the details of his business. He is a hard
worker, is at his desk at eight o'clock every
morning and can always be found in his store
until six P.M. He always believes in treating
his employees with respect and as men, and he
gives them encouragement when they fail, in-
stead of fault-finding, consequently he has the
reputation of getting more work and better re-
sults out of his men than many other dealers.
He believes in handling only a very few makes
of pianos, and then pushes them for all they
are worth. He aims to have a personal talk
with his salesman and solicitors every morning
over the business transacted the day before and
on what is to be done during the day. If a
salesman or solicitor feels down-hearted and blue
he gives them encouragement, and often gives
them a pointer that helps them out. Will not
allow misrepresentations to be made; he says that
he is " a crank " on this. Has traveled exten-
sively in the State in years past and has a large
number of personal acquaintances. He has been
approached a number of times by capitalists
to put his business in a large stock company
and take the management of the same. But he
es E. DELNO.
fully decorated, makes a beautiful effect. The
small goods, guitars, mandolins, banjo, band
instruments, strings, etc., occupy one side on
the ground floor arranged in glass cases, while
on the opposite side is the sheet music and book
department. The pianos and organs are also
on the ground floor. The second floor is used
as a concert hall where private or social niusi-
cales are given, and has a seating capacity of
about 350 persons. The third floor is divided
into ten apartments, and used as a Conservatory
of Music, where singing and playing on the
various instruments are taught by competent
professors. The pianos carried comprises the
Steinway, Steck, Mason & Hamlin, Kimball,
Vose & Sons, also Mason & Hamlin and Kim-
ball organs. Since the death of D. O. Calder,
which occurred on the 3d of July, 1884, the
business was conducted under the name of D.
O. Calder's Estate, until the 1st of September,
1892, when it was handed over to Calder's sons,
the firm name now being D. O. Calder's Sons,
with Mr. D. G. Calder as manager.
W. W. MONTELIUS,
Denver, Colo.
One of the best known members of the music
trade in Colorado is W. W. Montelius. In re-
ply to our query as to some points of his career,
Mr. Montelius writes characteristically : " I
was born in Freeport, 111., in 1852. My aged
looks and bald head was caused solely by the
panic and the repeal of the Sherman Silver Bill.
Before that I was considered quite young ? and
attractive looking ? See ? I came here in 1876
(was five years in the piano business in Illinois).
I am the oldest piano dealer in Colorado. Have
been in the piano business here longer than any
of them. I have a large personal acquaintance
throughout the State, as in past years I have
traveled all over the State extensively."
Mr. Montelius is a great stickler for looking
capital city, since which time he has associated
himself with Isaac Bledsoe.
H. N. COCKRELL,
Spokane, Wash.
THIS enterprising music dealer started in the
young and thrifty city of Spokane, in November,
1891. His first establishment was very small,
but Mr. Cockrell was endowed with good
health, strength, and a goodly share of what
in his make-up is known in the Northwest as
"hustle." Subsequent events have demon-
strated that he put his shoulder to the wheel at
the right Spot, the wheel turned and quickly too
and to-day Mr. Cockerell's warerooms are said
to be the finest in Spokane, the growing young
metropolis of the Pacific Northwest. The in-
struments he handles are, in pianos—Decker
Bros., Hallet & Davis, Fischer, Kimball, and
Shaw ; in organs, Estey, Kimball, and Lyon &
Healy.
SHERMAN, CLAY & CO.,
San Francisco, Cal.
On the southwest corner of Kearny and Sutter
streets—the latter street named for the man who
first discovered gold in California—is the busi-
ness establishment of the well known Pacific
Coast house of She-man, Clay & Co. This
house has been established over twenty years,
and enjoys a very high standing over all the
Pacific Coast. The line of instruments which
they have to offer to the music lovers of San
Francisco and vicinity are Steinway, Weber,
Emerson, Estey, Gabler and Pease pianos, and
the Estey and Story & Clark organs. Indeed
with such a line it is not difficult to imagine
that their sales annually reach large figures.
E. N. JENKINS,
Salt Lake City, Utah.
The subject of this sketch, E. N. Jenkins, is
an Ohioan by birth, and first began in the piano
W. W. MONTELIUS.
says, " I have so far bee a able to resist the
temptation, as I prefer to do a moderate and
careful business in my own way, and be my
own master in all things." His friends say
that he has a faculty to grasp a business (in
pianos) problem quick, and generally hit the
nail on the head. In pianos he handles the
Chickering, Kranich & Bach and Sterling.
C. E. DELNO,
Austin, Texas.
ONE of the best all-round popular music men
in the I^one Star State is C. E. Delno, of Austin.
Mr. Delno was in the music business East, but
like many others, he was smitten with the
'' Texas fever,'' and at the beginning of the
Eighties he went to Dallas and took a position
with the then popular firm of Frees & Son.
Later he accepted a proposition from Thos.
Goggan & Bro. to open and establish a branch
house for them in Austin, remaining several
years with them—in fact until they had suc-
ceeded in being the only music house in the
E. N. JENKINS.
and organ business, in a very modest way, in
Springfield, Ohio, in the year 1871. He con-
tinued in the business there until 1881, when
he went to Denver, Col., where he entered in
the same business in partnership with E. F.
Merriam, the firm name being E. F. Merriam &

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