The stock market crash of 1929 shook the foundations of the industry, and the Great Depression that followed nearly buried it.Īfter the Second World War, when soldiers came home and took advantage of the G.I. The fleuressence of American piano firms abated about 1920. Picture Great Aunt Bessie pumping away furiously with her feet while the congregation of 20 raw-boned farmers and cowboys, beside by their stalwart women-folk and almost-bedraggled children, bellowed praise as best they could. These companies also sold reed organs (also known as pump organs, melodeons, and, incorrectly in most cases, harmoniums). Such pianos may have had an extra-rough life because of their extra journeys.
Makers of mail-order piano include: Beckwith, Beethoven, Schmoller & Mueller, and D.F. The next flyer emerged as an eight-page pamphlet, and soon the enterprise blossomed into a catalog of several hundred pages, complete with woodcut illustrations. He decided that to reach more people than he could visit single-handedly, he would print some fliers listing some of his most popular items. One of these salesmen was Montgomery Ward. For these people, traveling salesmen satisfied - though barely - shopping needs.
The ever-enterprising Benjamin Franklin offered a catalog in 1744, listing almost 600 books, which he offered "satisfaction guaranteed." After the Civil War, the population began to move west once more, swelled greatly by the refugee families from the South and unemployed soldiers from both sides of the conflict. The first documented mail-order operation was in 1499 in Italy (books), followed by catalogs for seed (England, 1667) and saplings (U.S., 1771). To the traditional shopping expeditions to Chicago or "back East" was added the mail-order catalog. For those living in far-flung areas of the U.S., however, help was coming, wearing a white hat. 1900), the explosion sparkled to a close, moving westward no farther because the population dropped off sharply beyond Chicago and transportation of materials further west would drive up the price beyond what the economies of the area could bear. Starting in the Northeast (Boston, upstate New York, and especially New York City), piano manufacturing moved westward through Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Ohio toward Chicago.Ībout the time it reached the mid-West (ca. The economy of the North had been strong throughout the conflict and continued to grow after it. This manufacturing explosion was scarcely interrupted by the Civil War. I do not list American brands out of patriotic preference but because in the hundred-year period between 1820-1920, there was an explosion of piano building in America, so many of those 12,500 brands were American. My technician (make sure you deal with a Registered Piano Technician, not a "tuner") told me that in the last 200 or so years, there have been about 12,500 different brands of pianos made (not model names - brands)!Īs you read my comments on piano brands, below, you will note that many are American.
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