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MARCH 20,
THE
1926
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
9
Vose & Sons Piano Go. Celebrating
Its Seventy-fifth Year
Founded in 1851 by James Whiting Vose in Boston, Mass., the Firm Has Remained Under the Direction of
the Founder and His Immediate Descendants Up to Its Diamond Jubilee—Rigid Adherence to
Founder's Ideals and Standards the Basis of Its Remarkable Progress
N 1851, seventy-five years ago, James Whit-
ing- Vose made the first Vose piano in a
small factory in Boston, and since that time
three generations of the Vose family have con-
I
of members of the Vose family nearly 100,000
instruments bearing that name.
After James Whiting Vose, as head of the
business, came Willard A. Vose, who still at-
tory was located on Washington street in the
south end and later on Massachusetts avenue,
where the company operated for a number of
years until building and occupying the present
Seventy-fifth Anniversary of the Vose & Sons Piano Co.
1. James Whiting Vose. 2. Willard Atherton Vose. 3. George Anthony Vose. 4. Atherton Cushing Vose. 5. The Factory in which James W. Vosi built the first square
Vose Piano in 1851. 6. The first square Vose Piano built in 1851. 7. The present Vose Factory in Watertown, Mass.
tributed, and are contributing, their full share
to the maintenance of the ideals of piano quality
so well laid down by the founder of the busi-
ness, with the fourth generation shortly to be
represented in the company's activities.
James Whiting Vose, a native of Milton,
Mass., early showed artistic tendencies and was
apprenticed to an expert cabinet maker. After
acquiring proficiency in that art he began the
study of the piano, giving special attention to
action and key making. In his early efforts he
won a reputation for ability to execute fine
work, which encouraged him to start building
pianos.
With his experience as a cabinet maker, and
his thorough study of piano action and key
making, Mr. Vose entered this new field partic-
ularly well equipped, and it was not long before
Vose pianos won a distinct place for themselves
in the music world of the period. From the little
factory in which the first Vose pianos were
made, there has developed a great piano manu-
facturing business with a most modern plant
located on the shores of the Charles River in
Watertown. Since the first Vose piano was in-
troduced on the market there have been pro-
duced and distributed under the direct auspices
tends to his active duties at the factory each day
although much of the more strenuous directing
work has fallen on the shoulders of James Ath-
erton Vose, son of Willard A., and representing
the third generation of the family.
It is significant that Williard A. Vose was
born in 1851, the same year that the first Vose
piano was produced, which for the Vose family
and the many personal friends of the present
head of the business, gives an opportunity for
a double celebration.
There is every indication that Vose pianos
will long continue to be made under the per-
sonal direction of the descendants of the
founder, for of the fourth generation there is
Atherton Cushing Vose, the son of George A.
Vose, who was born in 1911, and, who upon
the completion of his education, plans to take
up his duties at the factory.
The first Vose factory was on Washington
street, Boston, opposite the Adams House.
When that factory was badly damaged by a fire
that destroyed the factory of Chickering & Sons
adjoining, the plant was removed to a site out
on Tremont street, then far from the center of
things, although now considered close to the
heart of Boston. Subsequently, the Vose fac-
extensive and modern structure which is in
Watertown.
The Vose piano, throughout its history, has
been a credit to the trade and to its home city
of Boston, for it has been the constant aim of
those in charge of the interests of the com-
pany to build as best they know an instrument
that represented to the purchaser genuine value
received. No better proof of this maintenance
of Vose quality standards can be found than in
the loyalty of the dealers who have represented
the Vose in their respective territories for long
periods. At no time has the Vose & Sons Piano
Co. been given to radical and sensational
changes. Improvements in piano construction
have been steady and pronounced, but when
changes have been made that action has been
taken with the certainty that they were sound,
permanent and of an assured definite value to
the product.
Pride of name has been one of the funda-
mentals of the Vose & Sons business and the
result has been business success and prosperity.
The present plant of the company stands as a
monument to the ideals established by the
founder and adhered to rigidly by those who
came after him.