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VOL. XLIII. No. 6. Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill at 1 Madison Ave., New York, August U , 1906.
SINGLE COPIES. 10 CENTS
*2.00 PER YEAR.
FIRE AT CHANDLER & HELD'S.
BUILT FIRST PIANO IN DETROIT.
PREPARING FOR A BUSY FALL.
Policeman Exercises Good Judgment and Does
Not Send in Alarm Owing to Danger in Lo-
cality—Little Damage Done.
G. J. Schwenk, Now 91 Years of Age, Built
Not Only Pianos, But Organs, Way Back in
the '40s.
Manufacturers in the Bronx and Harlem Look
Forward to an Unusual Degree of Activity
This Year, Judging from Reports Submitted.
Certain that the appearance of the fire appa-
ratus at Jay, Smith and Fulton streets, Brooklyn,
a point where work on the subway has caused
the worst congestion in the borough, would bring
together an immense crowd and probably lead to
panic, Policeman James Quinn, of the traffic
squad, Saturday tied a rope about the box to pre-
vent an alarm being sent in and then went about
the work of putting out the fire which was
threatening the piano warerooms of Chandler &
Held, 4159 Fulton street. He worked with such
energy that within five minutes all danger was
averted.
It was a fire that had a promising start and
might have become serious were it not for the
quick work of the policeman. A spark from the
third rail of the elevated structure had dropped
on the awning above Chandler & Held's store and
quickly spread to the woodwork. Quinn was one
of the several persons who saw it, and when two
men rushed to the fire-box to send in an alarm
he outran them and ordered them to let the box
alone.
"We can put this little blaze out without any
trouble," said he. "Why collect a big crowd at
this danger point?"
With that he took a rope from one of the sub-
way workmen, and fastening it about the box,
which is one of the keyless kind, he turned his
attention to the fire.
With Policeman William Holland, of the
mounted squad, Quinn tore down the burning
awning and threw it into the street. Then, dash-
ing upstairs, he took a hand extinguisher and in
another minute had the fire out.
In the meantime word of the fire had reached
the sergeant at the Adams street police station
and he sent out the reserves to prevent a crowd
blocking the street.
In spite of Quinn's precautions, a crowd did
gather, but so promptly did the reserves work
that the people were kept moving, and when the
fire was finally put out few other than those
having business there were in the vicinity.
Quinn was complimented by Captain Shaw on
his good judgment in not summoning the fire-
men. It was within a short distance from this
point that the sidewalk adjoining the subway
caved in ten days ago and imperilled the elevated
railroad structure.
The man who first constructed a piano or a
pipe organ in Detroit, and who, although 91 years
old, is hale and hearty, and works at his cabinet
bench, "just for amusement," is Geo. J. Schwenk,
and his home is a handsome modern house at
324 Hurlbut avenue.
Mr. Schwenk was born in Germany, April 14,
1815, three months before the battle of Waterloo.
He worked in dhferent cities at cabinet-making,
until he came to America in 1842. He settled in
Detroit, and was married in 1847. His wife, with
whom he has lived nearly sixty years, is a native
of Switzerland. In 1843 he made his first piano,
which he sold to a Buffalo physician. The follow-
ing year he made a small organ for the first St.
Mary's Catholic Church, and later made a larger
one for the same church. He was residing in
Saginaw when the organ for the present St.
Mary's was built. He made a small organ for
one of the German Lutheran churches, and when
the congregation built a new church it sold the
organ to a Saginaw church, where it is still in
commission. An organ he built for a French
Catholic church in Maiden, now Amherstburg,
Ont., in 184G, is still furnishing music for the
worshippers. He built a second, and larger organ
for the Luthern Church in Detroit, which had a
disastrous ending.
"Money was so scarce," said Mr. Schwenk, "that
I couldn't collect my pay from the churches
for the organs I built for them. The big organ
I built for the Lutheran church never was set up.
I wouldn't set it up until they could raise the
money. It was all in the church, packed in
boxes, when the church burned, and jny organ
with it. I have never been fully paid for several
organs I built in the '40s. The people were not
to blame. The money couldn't be had. So I
stopped organ building."
Mr. Schwenk showed a reporter of the Detroit
News several pieces of furniture he made after
he had passed his ninetieth birthday. They were
made for presents to his numerous grandchildren
and seven great-grandchildren.
It is vacation time in the Bronx and Harlem
districts, and most of the manufacturers are
either away or are going away at the earliest
opportunity. A few have been, and they are now,
making preparations for what promises to be the
busiest fall the district has ever known. Orders
from the west continue to come in with every
mail, and but few of the manufacturers say that
they are at all slack. The New England business
has been rather slow during the past month, and
a revival is not anticipated before September.
Southern trade has held up remarkably well and
has broken the record for the month of July. In
fact, the average business has been in excess of
any previous July, and August opened with big
shipments and orders received. But few dealers
were reported, and the general opinion is that
most will wait until the Music Trade Exhibit in
September before paying the city their fall visit.
The action manufacturers continue to be over-
whelmed with orders, and all report that their
customers are increasing their standing orders
for delivery during the next few months. There
are instances where the orders have been
doubled. They say that number of pianos built
during 1906, judging from present appearances,
will be considerably in excess of last year, and
equal to the banner years of the trade. The
hardware manufacturers render the same report,
and the makers of wound strings are all behind
in their orders. The case manufacturers also
report a greatly increased demand, and that the
piano manufacturers are asking for a better
grade of case, both in veneer and finish than
formerly.
RETAIL MERCHANTS PROTEST.
About three hundred members of the Retail
Merchants' Association of Canada recently pro-
tested against the anti-combine clause of the
criminal laws of Canada. As the laws now
stand it is illegal for retailers of any trade to
meet for the discussion of matters of mutual in-
terest, as, for instance, the conventions of the
various trade associations.
Horace Spade is the latest addition to the piano
dealers of Portland, Ind.
THE POOLE PIANO IN CANADA.
W. H. Burnett Co., Ltd., of Toronto, Can., will
in future handle the Poole piano in connection
with their other lines. This firm have recently
altered their premises considerably and had them
redecorated. They have leased additional quar-
ters for the storage of second-hand pianos, and
their main wareroom will be given over to new
instruments entirely.
Holland Bros., who have handled the Story &
Clark pianos in Ninety-Six, S. C, for some time
past, will remove to Greenwood, S. C, on Sep-
tember 1.
W. F. Frederick, the piano dealer of Altoona,
Pa., has installed a branch in the furniture store
of the Kirk-Camp Co. in Tyrone, Pa,
THE BARNES & BUHL ORGAN CO.
(Special to The Review.)
Utica, N. Y., Aug. 4, 1906.
The organ business of Barnes & Buhl yester-
day passed into the hands of the surviving
partner of the firm, P. C. Buhl, who expects to
continue it under the name of the Barnes & Buhl
Organ Co. The business was sold at auction at
the company's office, 204 Columbia street, Tues-
day morning, Charles G. Irish acting as auc-
tioneer. It was bid in by a third party, who
acted for Mr. Buhl, and evidently turned it over
to him. Mr. Buhl believes that the prospects of
the business are excellent and intends to make
it as successful as possible. He expects to make
a specialty of tubular-pneumatic organs and to
do fine tuning and repairing. The business was
established in September last.
LAWRIE BROS. TO HANDLE PIANOS.
Lawrie Bros., who conduct a general house-
furnishing and undertaking establishment ins
Erie, Pa., have decided to put in a line of pianos,
and a member of the firm has spent some time in
Chicago examining various makes. His choice
has not been announced as yet.