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74 PACES
HE 9KGAN 9
o
VOL. XVIII. No. 47.
published Every Saturday.
THE
EVOLUTION OF THE
flUSIC TRADE IN
THE WEST.
Brief Sketches of Noted Firms
Who Have Been Prominent
in the Development of the
Piano and Organ
Industry in
Chicago.
Famous Firms.
evolution of the music trade in the
West, and particularly in the city of
Chicago, has been so rapid and pronounced
that it forms an interesting chapter in the
history of the great commercial and artistic de-
velopment which has taken place in our country
within a score of years.
We can date the musico-industrial progress of
Chicago from the great fire in 1871, which gave
new life as it were to that city. It took formal
shape about 1876, a year significant in the in-
dustrial history of the United States at large for
the stimulus the arts and industries of the na-
tion received through the Centennal Exposi-
tion, and it continued to develop to a remark-
able extent, as illustrated in the splendid show-
ing made at the Columbian Exposition last
year, which was a triumph of Western enter-
prise and genius.
The important advantages derived from the
Columbian Exposition cannot be over-estimated.
It is true many well-known men will not agree
with this statement, but look at the results : It
has made Chicago famous throughout the world ;
it has impelled artistic, musical and literary
culture; it has given it rank as a centre of
capital. Chicago is to-day the brain of the great
West, from whence materialize originality,
force and that American spirit of enterprise
which has made our nation, and built up that
city commercially, until it holds second place
to New York, and stands as a formidable rivat
in the art of piano manufacturing.
•
*
*
When we look back some ten or fourteen
years and consider Chicago, and look at it to-
day, what a contrast is presented ! The statis-
tics of the manufacturing interests of this
country according to the last United States
Census, recently published, furnish us with
some strong figures on this point that are of
interest. They are worthy of study.
We find that in 1880 there were nine organ
factories, with capital of $81,500, employing 199
people, and paying in wages $114,672. The
• flew YorKJuoe 23 1894.
cost of material used was $195,028, and the
value of products was $376,650. There were
five piano manufacturers, with capital of $20,300,
employing twenty-seven, paying wages of $16,-
902. The cost of material was $11,800 and the
value of products $37,675.
Ten years later, in 1890, the number of organ
factories was the same, but the capital employed
had grown to $2,784,200, with employees num-
bering 1,258, who received wages aggregating
$697,334. The cost of material was $974,558,
and the value of products was $2,425,950 The
piano factories had increased to eight, with capi-
tal of $333,900; number of employees 459, earn-
ing wages of $249,092. Cost of material was
$352,222, and value of products $755,450. The
number of manufacturers of other musical in-
struments besides pianos and organs in 1890 is
given at fourteen, paying $114,672 in wages,
and producing goods valued at $239,960.
Since these figures were collated there has
been even a still greater growth. These, how-
ever, give us no small idea of the marvellous
development of Chicago. It has no parallel in
the world's history.
* *
*
Chicago is equipped to day with some of the
finest factories and music house * on the continent.
In the manufacture of organs it long has led, and
many of the pianos manufactured there, especially
during late years, are fast winning a high repu-
tation. It must not be overlooked that the wave
of activity which has made Chicago what it is
to-day, and which resulted in the establishing
there of important art and industrial enterprises,
left its influence also upon many other sections
of the great West. For we can find here and
there many noted concerns and many instru-
ments manufactured that are meritorious and
worthy of commendation.
It is already evident that Chicago can mark
a new era of progress—commercial and artistic
—from the Columbian Exposition held last
year. Its future is a matter of surmise, but if
it grows in proportion to its development for the
past ten years, we can foresee a commercial
centre that will be a powerful rival to the com-
mercial capital of the United States—the one
and only New York City.
Rivalry between the West and East is in the
main characterized by a broad and liberal feel -
ing that reflects honor upon both. It is a
friendly rivalry that stimulates both to good ef-
forts and materially tends to the advancement
and benefit of our c immon country. We of New
York, proud of our city, proud of its commer-
cial supremacy, and as optimistic about its
future as a New Yorker might be, hold out the
hand of good fellowship encouragement an I
goodwill, to the metropolis of the West, proud
of its achievements in the past and hopeful of
its brilliant future—and, casting to the winds
sectional feeling, rejoice at the prosperity of
$3 00 PER YEAR.
SINGLE COPIES. 10 CEITTS.
the West, for it means the prosperity of the
country at large.
The W. W. Kimball Co.
The progress of W. W. Kimball personally,
and the Company of which he is president, is
virtually a history of Chicago. Mr. Kimball is
one of the old time factors who arrived in the
fifties in that city with nothing, comparatively,
at his back except a stock of latent mental force
and a personality characteristic of the sons of
New England. His progress in the retail trade
which he immediately engaged in, the destruc-
tion of his property at the great fire in 1871,
which left him a poor man once more, and his
triumph over fire and ill-luck, are too well known
to readers to need detailed recapitulation. In
1876 Mr. Kimball became a manufacturer and
placed the Kimball reed organ on the market-
On July first, 1882, was consummated what has
since proved to be a master stroke :—the con-
solidation of many master minds, through the
incorporation of the W. W. Kimball Company.
Under the directorship of such clear-headed and
active men as Mr. Albert G. Cone, Mr. E S.
Con way, and its aggressive and go-ahead presi-
dent, Mr. W. W. Kimball, the Company has
sailed along ever since on a tidal wave toward
prosperity.
In 1888 the Kimball piano made its appear-
ance, and it has been growing in favor ever
since. Impelled by artistic aims, the W.
W. Kimball Co. have sought to add to the
character of their instruments, and the Kimball
grand which recently made its appearance is a
demonstration of their efforts in that direction.
Mr. Liebling, who played on th s instrument on
a recent tour, displayed its possibilities and ex-
hibited its resources to enthusiastic audiences
in the principal cities of this country. The
Kimball concert grand has won a success, and
in Washington and other social and musical
centres the opinions of critics and auditors were
effusively laudatory. The Kimball pianos have
attracted the favorable notice of musicians, and
in addition to the strong awards—for strong
they were in every respect—received at the
World's Fair,the highly complimentary opinions
of the eminent artists of the Italian Opera Com-
pany, who have lately been visiting our shores,
are certainly something to be proud of.
The W. W. Kimbill Company are to-day ap-
plying comprehensive measure* toward the dis-
tribution of their goods and the dissemination
of their influence all over the land. With intelli-
gence and enthusiasm they are reaching out and
founding branches that easily foretell a future
of still fur'her achievements.
In the W. W. Kimball Company we see a
house splendidly organized
With a local
artistic influence exercised through Kimball
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