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The Straube Piano Company (1895–1937) and its successor Straube Pianos Inc. (1937–1949) were American piano manufacturers of uprights, grands, players, and reproducing grands. == History == ; Market perspective The years 1875 to 1932 were a golden age of piano making, a time when pianos had few competitors for home entertainment. Straube manufactured pianos for the last thirty-seven of those years. Industry-wide, nearly 364,545 pianos sold in the United States at the peak in 1909, according to the National Piano Manufacturers Association.〔 By comparison, in 2011, 41,000 were sold, along with 120,000 digital pianos and 1.1 million keyboards, according to ''Music Trades'' magazine.〔 The Straube Piano Company had its own golden era, from about 1904 to 1935, from several perspectives. The company flourished as an innovator of player pianos, rapidly grew into a high-volume producer of premium and affordable pianos, and earned acclaim for its concert grands. Straube Piano Company developed influential business models based on innovative management, promotion, advertising, and pricing. Its company executives and plant superintendents, particularly E.R. Jacobson (president) and William G. Betz (superintendent and inventor/innovator), were influential industry exponents who held leadership roles in industry organizations. The company produced premium pianos under the Straube name—but also manufactured Hammond, Gilmore, and Woodward brands, some of which sold at lower prices, but were still of high quality. It distributed all models nationally, and its players internationally, particularly in Australia. ; Founders — Van Matre & Straube The Straube Piano Company was the outgrowth of Van Matre & Straube ''(aka'' Straube & Van Matre), a partnership formalized in February 1895 by Williard Naramore Van Matre, Sr. (1851–1939), and William Straube ''(né'' Straub;〔("The Name of Straube" ), Vol. 33, No. 8, August 24, 1901, pg. 12〕 1857–1928). That same month, Van Matre and Straube leased a factory near Chicago at Downers Grove, Illinois, on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad,〔 at the present intersection of Warren and Forest Avenues.〔 The original wareroom was at 24 Adams Street, Chicago.〔 Straube manufactured its first piano in June 1895 at that factory,〔〔 which was also the factory of Van Matre & Co.〔〔〔 W.N. Van Matre & Co. was a music dealer at 105 State Street in Rockford, Illinois. Around July 1896, Van Matre and Straube dissolved the partnership, after Straube purchased Van Matre's share. Straube continued the business under his own name.〔 ; Alternate founding years attributed to the Straube Piano Company In 1907, Straube Piano Company executives publicly recognized 1895 as the founding year. However, in 1911, Alfred Dolge published an influential reference book, ''Pianos and Their Makers,'' that gave 1878 as the founding year.〔 The December 19, 1914, issue of ''Music Trade Review'' began using the 1878 founding date.〔 At some point, Straube Piano began casting the numerals "1878" in the piano plates ''(aka'' iron frames). Straube Piano in 1924 attributed 1879 as the founding year.〔 In 1996, a book author provided 1859 as the founding year.〔 ; Incorporation of Straube Piano Company William Straube, an investor, not a piano expert, incorporated Straube Piano Company in 1897 as an Illinois entity.〔 ; Initial executives James (Jim) Francis Broderick (19 August 1854 Philadelphia – 17 November 1920 Chicago) became president on January 1, 1898,〔 and served in that role until March 1911. Before joining Straube Piano, Broderick had been a traveling salesman for Steger & Company and the B. Shoninger Co.〔 William Straube (1857–1923)〔 had sold all his interest around 1901〔 and signed a 5-year non-compete agreement.〔 But in 1901, Straube, his two brothers, Herman Charles Straube (1867–1921) and Martin Straube, Jr. (1869–1934), and an associate, Charles Jacobsen (no relation to the Jacobsons of Straube Piano Company), formed another piano manufacturing company and leased the Club Block in Downers Grove, Illinois.〔 The Straube Piano Company challenged and won an injunction on December 16, 1901, in Cook County Circuit Court forbidding the Straubes and Jacobsen from using the Straube name in the manufacturing of pianos.〔〔 Ernfrid (Ernest) Reinholdt Jacobson (25 December 1877 Gothenburg, Sweden – 19 June 1976 Chicago) — who began at Straube in August 1898 as a bookkeeper and stenographer — purchased the entire interest of the remaining partner and became president in March 1911.〔 In 1901, Straube Piano Company was one of 31 Chicago area piano manufacturers that were recognized nationally. ; New factory, Hammond, Indiana In 1904, the Straube Piano Company moved its manufacturing and executive offices from Chicago to a newly built piano factory in Hammond, Indiana — in the Calumet Region — on five acres served by the Monon and the Chicago, Cincinnati & Louisville railways. The new factory was custom designed and owned by the company. It was a 3-story facility, with a basement, with 34,000 sq. ft. of factory space.〔 The exterior of the building was a light gray colored brick, made in Michigan City, Indiana, known as Oehlmacher brick. The factory was of mill construction. The main structure was 160 x 50 feet, two stories high. The engine house was 50 x 35 feet, detached, and the boiler house was 60 x 45 feet and detached. The Monon dry kiln was 35 x 65 feet and held 20,000 feet of lumber over six days. It had shipping facilities. And it was equipped with automatic fire doors and fire walls. It had standpipes throughout the structure with separate hose attachments and concrete floors in the basement engine and boiler rooms.〔〔〔 At full capacity, the new factory required 200 employees and was capable of producing 3,000 finished pianos a year.〔 Straube Piano introduced its first player piano in November 1909. ; Straube Piano under the leadership of E.R. Jacobson After initially purchasing a small interest in the company, Ernfrid Reinholdt Jacobson became secretary, and continued to acquire stock from time to time. When Ernfrid Reinholdt Jacobson became president in March 1911, he appointed his brothers as executives: Charles (Carl) Herman Jacobson Thorby (1875–1946),〔 vice-president; and James Frithiof Jacobson (1885–1968), secretary, who all became owners and were actively involved with the further development of the business. According to Fred E. Cooper, contributor to the ''Presto-Times'', prior to E.R. Jacobson presidency, the Straube Piano Company was just an ordinary piano manufacturer. But under Jacobson and his associates, Struabe Piano became one of the most successful contenders in the high quality piano field.〔 ; Third addition to the factory In 1913, construction began on the 3rd addition to the original Straube factory erected in 1904 at 205 Manila Avenue. On January 30, 1930, the Hammond City Council enacted dozens of street name changes – including the change from Manila Avenue to Wildwood Street.〔 The architect was J.T. Hutton (Joseph T. Hutton; 1861–1932) and the contractor was Mahlon Abraham Dickover (1856–1932)〔 ; Straube re-incorporates in Indiana In late 1914 or early 1915: The Straube Piano Company was incorporated in Indiana by E.R. Jacobson, J.F. Jacobson, and C.H.J. Thorby with $150,000 capital stock.〔〔 Around that time, the factory was producing about 12 finished pianos a day worth about three-quarters of a million dollars a year and employed about one hundred and fifty men, paying them wages of about $125,000 a year.〔 ; 1916 Around 1916, the Straube Piano Company was manufacturing ten to twelve finished units a day.〔 ; Record monthly production The company reached a new all-time high monthly production volume in November 1922, surpassing its previous monthly high in March 1920.〔 It has been estimated that, of the some 360,000 pianos produced in America in 1909, 56% were players. ; Fifth addition to the factory In 1925, construction began on the fifth and largest addition to the original Straube factory. The architect was J.T. Hutton & Son, the son being William Sturgeon Hutton (1890–1975). The structure was four stories with a basement. The new addition was devoted largely to the manufacturer of grand and re-producing grand pianos.〔"Begin New Addition to Big Piano Plant", ''Gary Evening Times,'' Vol. 18, No. 209, February 23, 1925, pg. 1〕 June 1925, Straube moved into the new plant. The new plant added 70,000 square feet of manufacturing space and provided a suite of new executive offices. The total floor-space, including the addition, was about a hundred and sixty thousand square feet. The new space was especially designed for a new unit that could produce 2,500 Straube grands a year to meet demand. William G. Betz — Straube's plant superintendent since 1917, piano design engineer, and inventor who was highly regarded by the industry — had spent several years perfecting the construction and design of the new Straube grands. Straube also hired William David McIlwrath ''(né'' McIlwraith; 1872–1931), a veteran piano factory superintendent and piano engineer with years of experience in the production of grands, to take charge a department in the new unit.〔 McIlwrath had been the manufacturing superintendent of Jesse French & Sons Piano Co. of New Castle, Indiana, since February 16, 1920, and had been employed there since 1913. McIlwrath learned the profession in Canada, having been associated with many of the leading factories in the East.〔〔 ; Straube enters radio manufacturing In 1929, Straube began producing radios.〔 ; 1930 advertising In 1930, Straube was using the advertising firm of Lamport, Fox & Co., Irvin Sylvester Dolk (1891–1981), ad executive of South Bend, Indiana.〔 ; 1935 friendly receivership Sales of pianos and player pianos, industry-wide, began to slip in the early 1920s, due partly to the rising popularity of radio as an alternative for home entertainment〔 and due partly to the rising popularity of automobiles, which cost about the same as premium Straube pianos ($325). And, like pianos, automobiles were commonly purchased on installment. After the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and into the Great Depression, sales declined further and Straube began to struggle financially. In 1925, 80% of pianos sold by the retail trade were done so on installment plans.〔 In an attempt to survive, the Straube Piano Company sold its Hammond factory in 1931 to the J.L. Metz Furniture Co. for $125,000 and leased back a large portion of the building. In May 1934, the Straube Piano Company went into a friendly receivership. Roy Francis McPharlin (1893–1980) was appointed as receiver.〔 On January 4, 1935, McPharlin distributed a "first and final" dividend of 8/10 of 1 cent of one dollar ''(i.e.,'' 86¢ for $100) to the creditors.〔 During the summer of 1935, the company reorganized. By then, it was still producing pianos, but occupied only a portion of the factory it once owned. The remainder of the plant was occupied by J.L. Metz Furniture Co. In 1935, the Straube Piano Company was being operated by the Fidelity Security Company, John Leonard Keilman (1867–1946), president. Fidelity Security was the finance arm of Straube Piano — dealing in piano paper and other securities. When Straube went into receivership, all of its officers departed, including E.R. Jacobson, president; C.H.J. Thorby, vice-president; and Alfred Theodore Schuldes (1892–1981), secretary-treasurer.〔 Also, in 1935, William G. Betz (1871–1957), longtime superintendent with over 50 patents, left the company. In the interim, after the departure of Betz and before the appointment of Charles Henry Bartolomee as plant superintendent, Alvin Detloff Meyer (1879–1970), a Straube purchasing agent and longtime employee, took charge of manufacturing. Around June 1936, Straube Piano Company moved its offices from the First Trust Building in Hammond to the Straube factory at 5049 Columbia Avenue in Hammond. And its board of directors elected Lemuel (Lem) Kline (1868–1945) as secretary-treasurer.〔〔 ; 1937 adjudicated bankruptcy : On January 19, 1937, the Straube Piano Company was adjudicated bankrupt in United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, Hammond Division. In March 1937, the receiver for the Straube Piano Company sold all remaining assets for $4,655 to individuals who planned to continue the business. The dividend amount is not known. The assets consisted of the name and goodwill of the business, unfinished pianos — about twenty in process of construction — thirty piano cases unassembled, and various supplies of finished and unfinished materials and parts used in the construction of pianos, along with piano strings and wire and other parts for piano manufacturing.〔 ; Reorganization A new company was formed in Indiana on March 27, 1937, as Straube Pianos Inc. located at 5049 Columbia Avenue and production of Straube pianos resumed in the leased portion of the Hammond factory that the former company once owned. The 1937 executives were : Walter Ernst Schrage (1912–1982), president, whose father, William Ernst Schrage (1884–1941), was president of the Bank of Whiting, Hammond, Indiana : Max B. Pattiz (1890–1979), vice-president and general manager (former president of Lauter Piano Company, maker of the Lauter-Humana player piano, Newark, New Jersey) : Harry E. Powers (1899–1954), secretary and treasurer;〔 Powers was a lawyer from nearby Whiting, Indiana ; 1940 move to Chicago On May 1, 1940, Straube Pianos Inc. moved to Chicago Heights to occupy 48,000 sq. ft. of a warehouse owned by National Tea.〔 :; 1940 executives : Walter Ernst Schrage, Jr., president : Charles Henry Bartholomee (1874–1960), who began as superintendent in 1935 and became Vice President of Straube Pianos Inc. in July 1940〔 : Penfield Emory Mason (1875–1963), sales manager (sales manager many years with the Haddorff Co.) : Charles Roy Arnold (born 1900), Atlanta manager (later, president) of Continental Music Inc., a division of C.G. Conn :; 1941 executives : Charles Henry Bartholomee, vice president Straube Pianos Inc. : Herbert A. Koehlinger (1902–1955), vice president and New York manager (Eastern Manager of the Continental Music Co.); Koehlinger later was sales manager of the Fred Gretsch Manufacturing Company : Paul M. Gazlay (1896–1966), president of Continental Music Inc.; Gazlay was president of C.G. Conn from 1949 to 1958 ; Sale of Straube to C.G. Conn C.G. Conn acquired Straube Pianos Inc. in October 1941. For the previous two years, Continental Music Co. of Chicago — a subsidiary of Conn — had been the sales representative for Straube, with P.E. Mason as sales manager.〔〔〔〔〔 Mason, in the mid-1920s, had been vice president of the Cable-Nelson Piano Company before it had merged with the Everett Piano Company in 1926. C.G. Conn extended the relationship with Continental and kept Bartholomee as the head of manufacturing.〔 Mason, who for many years had been the sales manager for the Haddorff Piano Co., Rockford, Illinois, joined Continental when C.G. Conn acquired Haddorff in November 1940.〔 ; World War II Sometime before May 12, 1942, the U.S. War Production Board restricted piano production by C.G. Conn, Ltd., to 120 pianos a month. On May 12, 1942, C.G. Conn, Ltd., announced that it would consolidate its piano manufacturing by moving its Straube manufacturing from Chicago Heights to its Haddorff Piano manufacturing plant in Rockford, Illinois, at Railroad Avenue and 9th Street—a leased facility that Haddorff shared with the Rockford Chair and Furniture Company. Haddorff had sold its original Rockford plant on Harrison Avenue in 1940. In December 1940, a month after C.G. Conn's acquisition of the Haddorff Piano Company, Conn moved the Haddorff's manufacturing operations into the Railroad Avenue plant, which it had modernized. On May 30, 1942 — a few weeks after C.G. Conn consolidated the manufacturing of Haddorff and Straube pianos at the Haddorff plant in Rockford — the War Production Board (WPB) ordered that manufacturing of pianos at the Rockford plant cease by July 31, 1942. Under a war contract between C.G. Conn, Ltd., and the U.S. War Department, the Rockford plant produced parts for gliders and trainer planes from 1942 to 1946.〔 ; Cessation of production of Straube pianos The last published reference to the sale of a Straube piano was in July 1946, when the Haddorff Piano Co. of Rockford, Illinois, exhibited a complete line of Haddorff and Straube grands and spinets at the Palmer House in Chicago during the Convention of the National Association of Music Merchants.〔 Production of Straube pianos ceased in 1949. ; Dissolution of the Straube corporate entities C.G. Conn retained ownership of Straube Pianos Inc. until 1969, when C.G. Conn was acquired by the Crowell-Collier MacMillan Company. The assets of Straube Piano Inc. included those acquired from the March 1937 receivers sale of the former Straube Piano Company. The Indiana corporate charters of (i) Straube Pianos Inc. (incorporated March 25, 1937), (ii) Straube Piano Company Inc. (incorporated November 14, 1941), and (iii) Struabe Piano and Music Company (incorporated October 24, 1922) expired January 1, 1970. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Straube Piano Company」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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