William Knabe
Encyclopedia
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
manufacturing company in Baltimore, Maryland from the middle of the nineteenth century through the beginning of the 20th century, and continued as a division of Aeolian-American
Aeolian Company
The Æolian Company was a manufacturer of player organs and pianos.- History :It was founded by New York City piano maker William B. Tremaine as the Æolian Organ & Music Co. to make automatic organs, and, after 1895, as the Æolian Co. automatic pianos as well. The Æolian Company was a...
at East Rochester, New York
East Rochester, New York
East Rochester is a coterminous town and village located southeast of the City of Rochester in Monroe County, New York. The village, home to about 6,587 people, is bounded by Pittsford to the west and south and Perinton to the north and east. The southern boundary is delimited by New York State...
until 1982. It is currently a line of pianos manufactured by Samick Musical Instruments
Samick
Samick is the name of a Korea-based musical instrument manufacturer, one of the largest in the world.The name refers to the entire Samick Musical Instruments, which owns several manufacturers of pianos, guitars, and other instruments. The company started as 'Samick Pianos' in 1958, manufacturing...
.
History
Wilhelm Knabe was born in CreuzburgCreuzburg
Creuzburg is a town on the Werra river in the Wartburgkreis in Thuringia, Germany.-Geography:Creuzburg is in the area known as the Muschelkalk...
, Saxe-Weimar
Saxe-Weimar
Saxe-Weimar was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty in present-day Thuringia. The chief town and capital was Weimar.-Division of Leipzig:...
, on June 3, 1803. The French campaigns in Germany in 1813
War of the Sixth Coalition
In the War of the Sixth Coalition , a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, Spain and a number of German States finally defeated France and drove Napoleon Bonaparte into exile on Elba. After Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia, the continental powers...
prevented him from studying to become an apothecary
Apothecary
Apothecary is a historical name for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses materia medica to physicians, surgeons and patients — a role now served by a pharmacist and some caregivers....
like his father, and instead he apprenticed with a cabinet maker
Cabinet making
Cabinet making is the practice of using various woodworking skills to create cabinets, shelving and furniture.Cabinet making involves techniques such as creating appropriate joints, dados, bevels, chamfers and shelving systems, the use of finishing tools such as routers to create decorative...
, after which he worked two years as a journeyman cabinet maker, then for three years for a piano maker in Gotha
Gotha (town)
Gotha is a town in Thuringia, within the central core of Germany. It is the capital of the district of Gotha.- History :The town has existed at least since the 8th century, when it was mentioned in a document signed by Charlemagne as Villa Gotaha . Its importance derives from having been chosen in...
, before working as a journeyman piano maker in different cities in Germany.
Saxe-Meiningen
The Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine line of the Wettin dynasty, located in the southwest of the present-day German state of Thuringia....
to the United States, but the head of the family died during the voyage and Knabe and his bride remained in Baltimore instead of continuing to Hermann, Missouri
Hermann, Missouri
Hermann is a city designated in 1842 as the county seat of Gasconade County, Missouri, United States. It is near the center of the Missouri Rhineland and south of the Missouri River. The population was 2,674 at the 2000 census....
, where a brother had settled several years earlier. Knabe worked for the well-known pianomaker Henry Hartge, and eventually abandoned his plans to become a farmer. Four years later he started selling and repairing used pianos from his house at the corner of Liberty
Maryland Route 139
Maryland Route 139, known locally for most of its existence as North Charles Street, runs through Baltimore City and through the Towson area of Baltimore County. On the north end it terminates at a traffic circle with Bellona Avenue near Interstate 695 and at the south end it terminates in Federal...
and Lexington Streets.
Knabe & Gaehle
In 1839 Knabe formed a partnership with Henry Gaehle for the purpose of manufacturing pianos and by 1841 they moved to larger workshops at 13 South Liberty street. In 1843 they opened warerooms at the corner of Eutaw streetEutaw Street
Eutaw Street is a major street in Baltimore, Maryland, mostly within the downtown area. Outside of downtown, it is mostly known as Eutaw Place....
and Cowpen alley, and four years later removed their warerooms to 9 Eutaw street, opposite the Eutaw house, selling pianos priced between $180 and $400. By 1852 they had expanded to 4, 6, 8, 9 and 11 Eutaw streets. Knabe & Gaehle won first premiums for square piano
Square piano
The square piano is a piano that has horizontal strings arranged diagonally across the rectangular case above the hammers and with the keyboard set in the long side. It is variously attributed to Silbermann and Frederici and was improved by Petzold and Babcock...
s from the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of Mechanic Arts in 1848, 1849 and 1850, as well as for grand pianos in 1849.
In 1852 the company reorganized as Knabe, Gaehle & Co. with the admission of Edward Betts as partner, and by 1853 advertised their establishment was the largest in the south, employing over 100 workmen. They manufactured six to seven octave pianos with "a double action
Action (piano)
The piano action mechanism, or the key action mechanism, or simply the action of a piano or other musical keyboards, is the mechanical assembly which translates the depression of the keys into rapid motion of a hammer, which creates sound by striking the strings. Action can be referred to a pianos...
, like Chickering's" selling for between $200 and $500.
In November 1854 their factory at Cowpen alley at the rear of Eutaw House burned, at an estimated loss of $190,000, and five weeks later their factory at Baltimore street near Paca Street
Baltimore-Washington Parkway
The Baltimore–Washington Parkway is a highway in the U.S. state of Maryland, running southwest from Baltimore to Washington, D.C. The road begins at an interchange with U.S. Route 50 and Maryland Route 201 near Cheverly in Prince George's County at the D.C...
burned, reportedly with little insurance coverage.
Wm. Knabe & Co.
Proceedings started early 1855 in order to dissolve the partnership. Henry Gaehle died, and Knabe advertised he had purchased all the remaining stock and materials and would continue in business as Wm. Knabe & Co. at the old stand at 1, 3, 5, and 7 North Eutaw street, opposite the Eutaw house. William Gaehle, who had become the senior partner, advertised he was in business as Wm. Gaehle & Co., manufacturing grand and square pianos at the corner of Pratt and Green streets and with warerooms at the corner of Eutaw and Fayette streets.
Maryland Institute College of Art
Maryland Institute College of Art is an art and design college in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. It was founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, making it one of the first and oldest art colleges in the United States. In 2008, MICA was ranked #2 in the nation...
in 1855, 1856, 1857 and 1858 silver medals from the Metropolitan Institute in Washington, D. C. in 1857, a medal from the Franklin Institute
Franklin Institute
The Franklin Institute is a museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and one of the oldest centers of science education and development in the United States, dating to 1824. The Institute also houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial.-History:On February 5, 1824, Samuel Vaughn Merrick and...
in Philadelphia in 1856, and first premiums from the Mechanics' Institute, Richmond, Virginia in 1855 and 1856.
In 1860 Knabe started building a new five story factory on Eutaw and West streets, but had only completed one of its wings at the outbreak of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, which compelled them to seek new trade in the West to make up for the loss of their principal market in the South. William Knabe died May 21, 1864, and was succeeded by his sons William and Ernest J. Knabe , and son-in-law Charles Keidel.
In 1866 Wm Knabe & Co. introduced their agraffe treble with agraffe
Agraffe
An agraffe is a part found on some pianos. The agraffe is a guide at the tuning-pin end of the string, screwed into the plate, with holes through which the strings pass. It anchors the strings, ensures proper height and determines the speaking length of the string. Quality agraffes are usually made...
s threaded into a heavier piece of brass instead of directly into the iron frame.
Cupola
In architecture, a cupola is a small, most-often dome-like, structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome....
completed the factory in 1869, fronting 210 feet (64 m) on Eutaw street and 165 feet (50 m) on West street. Their sales ranked third in the United States, after Steinway & Sons
Steinway & Sons
Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway , is an American and German manufacturer of handmade pianos, founded 1853 in Manhattan in New York City by German immigrant Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg...
of New York and Chickering & Sons
Chickering and Sons
Chickering and Sons was an American piano manufacturer located in Boston, known for producing award-winning instruments of superb quality and design. The company was founded in 1823 by Jonas Chickering and James Stewart, but the partnership dissolved four years later...
of Boston, and by 1870 their output was estimated to be about forty pianos a week, priced between $600 and $2,000.
In 1873 Wm. Knabe & Co. established their own warerooms at 112 Fifth Avenue in New York. They exhibited grand, square, and upright pianos as well as a Tschudi & Broadwood harpsichord at the 1876 Centennial Exposition
Centennial Exposition
The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. It was officially...
in Philadelphia, and due to the revised awards system they claimed highest honors along with many of their coexhibitors. In 1882 they delivered a rosewood concert grand to the White House for President Chester A. Arthur
Chester A. Arthur
Chester Alan Arthur was the 21st President of the United States . Becoming President after the assassination of President James A. Garfield, Arthur struggled to overcome suspicions of his beginnings as a politician from the New York City Republican machine, succeeding at that task by embracing...
.
Ernest J. Knabe died in 1894 and was succeed by his sons, both of whom had trained at the factory. Ernest J. Knabe, jr. was elected president and William Knabe, vice president and treasurer.
Wm. Knabe & Co. established agencies in Canada and England by 1903, and mortgaged the factory for the purpose of extending the business further. By 1906 the factory occupied seven buildings with the original buildings extensively expanded, with a total of about 300000 square feet (27,870.9 m²) of carefully planned floor space and 765 employees. Although the plant included modern appliances such as individually powered machines and a dust collection system connected with the boiler, Knabe advertised their standards required their pianos to be carefully handcrafted, so that a plain upright took six months and a grand two years to complete.
American Piano Co.
In 1908 Wm. Knabe & Co., with Chickering & Sons and the Foster-Armstrong Co., of East Rochester, New YorkEast Rochester, New York
East Rochester is a coterminous town and village located southeast of the City of Rochester in Monroe County, New York. The village, home to about 6,587 people, is bounded by Pittsford to the west and south and Perinton to the north and east. The southern boundary is delimited by New York State...
, formed the American Piano Co. under the laws of New Jersey, headed by Ernst J. Knabe, Jr., president, and C. H. W. Foster of Chickering & Sons, and George G. Foster, of Foster-Armstrong, controlling their respective companies as well as Haines Brothers, Marshall & Wendell, Brewster, and J. B. Cook & Co. with a combined output of about 18,000 pianos a year.
Knabe Brothers
Ernest and William Knabe resigned their positions in 1909, and following a series of business troubles in New York they incorporated Knabe Brothers in Ohio in 1911, with offices at CincinnatiCincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
, manufacturing upright and grand pianos at a former Smith and Nixon factory in nearby Norwood
Norwood, Ohio
Norwood is the second most populous city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. The city is an enclave of the larger city of Cincinnati. The population was 21,675 at the 2000 census. Originally settled as an early suburb of Cincinnati in the wooded countryside north of the city, the area is...
, "free from the yoke of a commercialism that figured out pianos by square inches of wood and decimal points in the allotment of wires". American Piano Co. filed suit over the use of the name but the resulting injunction only prevented Knabe Brothers from using their original nameboard label, and required the brothers to indicate this was a new company. The plant burned in January 1912, but they quickly resumed production at a temporary factory before building a modern factory on the old site. The company went into receivership
Receivership
In law, receivership is the situation in which an institution or enterprise is being held by a receiver, a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights." The receivership remedy is an equitable remedy that emerged in...
late in 1916 on account of an unpaid loan, and the brothers declared bankruptcy by the end of the year.
Ernest J. Knabe died in 1927, and William Knabe died 1939.
Ampico
In 1927 Wm. Knabe & Co. removed their New York warerooms from Fifth avenue at 39th street to 657 Fifth avenue, corner of 52nd Street52nd Street (Manhattan)
52nd Street is a long one-way street traveling west to east across Midtown Manhattan.-Jazz center:The blocks of 52nd Street between Fifth Avenue and Seventh Avenue were renowned in the mid-20th century for the abundance of jazz clubs and lively street life...
, and in 1928 moved to Ampico Tower at Fifth avenue and 47th street as part of American Piano Co.'s move to consolidate the sales of all their brands in an unsuccessful attempt to make up for a sharp decline in profits. American went into receivership in 1929, and Knabe's liabilities were listed as $286,000 and assets $415,000.
In 1930 American's assets were purchased by the American Piano Corporation, newly incorporated under the laws of Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
, whose officers included former executives from American as well as executives from the Aeolian Corporation. The Knabe factory was closed, as well as the Chickering factory in Boston, and their production ultimately transferred to East Rochester, New York, where they were established as separate divisions. The old factories, including Mason & Hamlin
Mason and Hamlin
Mason & Hamlin is a piano manufacturer based in Haverhill, Massachusetts.-The nineteenth century:Mason & Hamlin was founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 1854 by Henry Mason, son of Lowell Mason, the American hymn composer and musical educator, and Emmons Hamlin, a mechanic and inventor who had...
in Boston and the Amphion in Syracuse, New York
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
, were put on the market.
Aeolian-American
In 1932 the American Piano Corp. merged with the Aeolian Company, Aeolian-Weber's piano subsidiarySubsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
, to form the Aeolian American Corporation which consolidated the control of more than 20 piano brands, as well as action manufacturing and plate casting divisions. In 1936 it ranked as the fourth largest producer in the country, after Kimball
Kimball International
Kimball International is a manufacturer of furniture and electronic assemblies, serving customers around the world. Kimball International consists of two groups: the Furniture Segment and the Contract Electronics Segment. It is the successor to W.W...
, Baldwin
Baldwin Piano Company
The Baldwin Piano Company was the largest US-based manufacturer of keyboard instruments, most notably pianos. It remains a subsidiary of the Gibson Guitar Corporation, although it ceased domestic production of pianos in December 2008.-History:...
and Winter & Co.
Berthold Neuer, who had been vice president and general mangager from 1927 died in 1938, and his successor Richard K. Paynter died in 1940
In 1942 the East Rochester factories were contracted to manufacture military aircraft parts, keeping the plants and personnel in operation, but by late 1949 piano production returned to full capacity. The Aeolian Company and the American Piano Corporation recapitalized and merged with the Aeolian-American Corporation in 1951, and in 1957 was purchased by the owners of Winter & Co., based in Bronx, New York.
By 1981 the combined divisions at the East Rochester factory employed about 300, and it closed the following year.
Sohmer & Co.
In 1985 Sohmer & Co. purchased the Knabe and Mason & Hamlin trademarks and their patterns and equipment from Citicorp Industrial Credit Co., Aeolian's principal creditors. Sohmer & Co. had planned to resume production of the existing models from both divisions but was itself sold and the companies reorganized with Sohmer and Knabe as subsidiaries of Mason & Hamlin.Notable Knabe Testimonials
Today
Wm. Knabe & Co. pianos are manufactured by Samick Musical Instruments, Ltd.Samick
Samick is the name of a Korea-based musical instrument manufacturer, one of the largest in the world.The name refers to the entire Samick Musical Instruments, which owns several manufacturers of pianos, guitars, and other instruments. The company started as 'Samick Pianos' in 1958, manufacturing...
, which acquired the name from PianoDisc, owners of Mason & Hamlin, in 2001.
As of 2007, Knabes are offered in three sizes of vertical pianos - a 119 cm (47 inches) in three furniture case styles, as well as 121 cm (48 inches) and 131 cm (52 inches) models - and four sizes of grand pianos - three case styles each of 158 cm (5 feet 3 inches) the WKG53, 173 cm (5 feet 8 inches) the WKG58, 193 cm (6 feet 4 inches) the WKG64, and 215 cm (7 ft) WKG70 models.
In early 2006 Samick Music Corporation, distributor for Samick in the United States and Canada announced they had started building a 210000 square feet (19,509.6 m²) distribution center and factory in Gallatin, Tennessee
Gallatin, Tennessee
Gallatin is a city in and the county seat of Sumner County, Tennessee, United States, along a navigable tributary of the Cumberland River. The population was 23,230 at the 2000 census. Named for U.S...
where they plan to manufacture Knabe as well as J. P. Pramberger lines beginning late 2006 or early 2007.
As of 2010, Samick Music Corporation has reported that several Knabe models are having their rims constructed and assembled in their Korean facility and actions are assembled and regulated in Gallatin, Tennessee.
External links
- Knabe Pianos
- Samick Musical Instruments, Ltd.
- Samick Music Corporation
- Knabe Pianos, 148-152 5th Ave., SW corner of 20th St. (2004) New York City Signs - 14th to 42nd Street
- James Bartel Knabe Pianos WGMS-Classical 103.5, Washington, D. C. 2002