Music Trade Review
Issue: 1954 Vol. 113 N. 14 - Page 6
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
After 58 Years in New York, Kohler & Campbell, Inc.
Moves to New One Story Factory in Granite Falls, N. C.
1 Z OHLER & CAMPBELL, Inc., man-
ufacturers of pianos in New York
City for 58 years, is moving its factory
to Granite Falls, North Carolina.
The firm, founded by Charles Kohler
and J. C. Campbell in a loft on Man-
hattan's 14th Street in 1896, has twice
before moved its plant to acquire more
space and better facilities. In 1904, they
moved uptown to 50th Street and 11th
Ave. and expanded to over a million
square feet of floor space and a produc-
tion of 32,000 pianos and 50,000 player
actions per year. In 1946 they moved
THE NEW GROUND FLOOR PLANT OF KOHLER & CAMPBELL, INC. AT GRANITE FALLS, N. C.
well to the assembly-line mass produc-
tion methods.
The North Carolina location was care-
fully chosen for its many advantages
to the manufacture and distribution of
pianos. It is a lumber-supply center and
the heart of a furniture-building area
that offers a plentiful supply of skilled
labor; it has a climate that is ideally
suited in temperature and humidity to
piano -building; and it is centrally-lo-
cated, with railroad and trucking lines
making it readily accessible to all parts
of the country.
complete facilities for making their own
core stock and the most efficient ar-
rangements for a conveyorized mill,
with a railroad and a main highway
adjoining.
The Kohler & Campbell "Heirloom
Quality" tradition of over 50 years will
be carefully adhered to in the new plant
by key artisans who have devoted
their lives to the art of building in-
struments of superior quality in modern
and period designs.
Offices Remain in New York
Production of "Heirloom Quality",
commenced this month in the new
Kohler & Campbell plant.
JULIUS A. WHITE, President
to a huge, modern plant on 163rd St.
and Melrose Ave. in the Bronx.
The present move, announced by
Julius A. White, President of the cor-
poration, is to an ultra-modern, stream-
lined building, shown in the accompan-
ing illustration, designed to take advan-
tage of the latest production and plant-
management developments and to effect
economies that can be passed on to both
dealer and consumer.
Matter of Production Cost
Mr. White pointed out that the great-
est problem in the piano industry today
was to keep the cost of each unit down
to the average family's budget in an
era of skyrocketing production costs,
while at the same time maintaining the
traditional standards of an instrument
that is largely handmade by skilled ar-
tisans and which does not lend itself
GERARD M. THOMPSON, Vice President
12 Acres For Future Expansion
The plant itself is a modern, single-
story structure, divided into two units—
a mill building and an assembly build-
ing, all with modern windows and light-
ing, and situated on 12 acres of land,
available for future expansion. It is
equipped with dry kilns, lumber yards,
CHARLES KOHLER WHITE, Vice President
The main offices of the company
will remain at the present address in
New York City at 401-425 East 163rd
St., at Melrose Ave.
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, NOVEMBER, 1954
After 58 Years in New York, Kohler & Campbell, Inc.
Moves to New One Story Factory in Granite Falls, N. C.
1 Z OHLER & CAMPBELL, Inc., man-
ufacturers of pianos in New York
City for 58 years, is moving its factory
to Granite Falls, North Carolina.
The firm, founded by Charles Kohler
and J. C. Campbell in a loft on Man-
hattan's 14th Street in 1896, has twice
before moved its plant to acquire more
space and better facilities. In 1904, they
moved uptown to 50th Street and 11th
Ave. and expanded to over a million
square feet of floor space and a produc-
tion of 32,000 pianos and 50,000 player
actions per year. In 1946 they moved
THE NEW GROUND FLOOR PLANT OF KOHLER & CAMPBELL, INC. AT GRANITE FALLS, N. C.
well to the assembly-line mass produc-
tion methods.
The North Carolina location was care-
fully chosen for its many advantages
to the manufacture and distribution of
pianos. It is a lumber-supply center and
the heart of a furniture-building area
that offers a plentiful supply of skilled
labor; it has a climate that is ideally
suited in temperature and humidity to
piano -building; and it is centrally-lo-
cated, with railroad and trucking lines
making it readily accessible to all parts
of the country.
complete facilities for making their own
core stock and the most efficient ar-
rangements for a conveyorized mill,
with a railroad and a main highway
adjoining.
The Kohler & Campbell "Heirloom
Quality" tradition of over 50 years will
be carefully adhered to in the new plant
by key artisans who have devoted
their lives to the art of building in-
struments of superior quality in modern
and period designs.
Offices Remain in New York
Production of "Heirloom Quality",
commenced this month in the new
Kohler & Campbell plant.
JULIUS A. WHITE, President
to a huge, modern plant on 163rd St.
and Melrose Ave. in the Bronx.
The present move, announced by
Julius A. White, President of the cor-
poration, is to an ultra-modern, stream-
lined building, shown in the accompan-
ing illustration, designed to take advan-
tage of the latest production and plant-
management developments and to effect
economies that can be passed on to both
dealer and consumer.
Matter of Production Cost
Mr. White pointed out that the great-
est problem in the piano industry today
was to keep the cost of each unit down
to the average family's budget in an
era of skyrocketing production costs,
while at the same time maintaining the
traditional standards of an instrument
that is largely handmade by skilled ar-
tisans and which does not lend itself
GERARD M. THOMPSON, Vice President
12 Acres For Future Expansion
The plant itself is a modern, single-
story structure, divided into two units—
a mill building and an assembly build-
ing, all with modern windows and light-
ing, and situated on 12 acres of land,
available for future expansion. It is
equipped with dry kilns, lumber yards,
CHARLES KOHLER WHITE, Vice President
The main offices of the company
will remain at the present address in
New York City at 401-425 East 163rd
St., at Melrose Ave.
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, NOVEMBER, 1954
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