The Kimball story began in 1857 by William Wallace Kimball as a simple piano dealership in Chicago. By 1864 he was able to move to larger premises selling pianos from many of the well established piano makers on the East Coast. Sadly, all was destroyed by a tragic fire 1871. Despite the heavy loss W. W. Kimball carried on business by selling the pianos from his home.
In 1877, W.W. Kimball, seeing there was a strong demand for reed organs, began producing his own, using organ parts from the J.G. Earhuff Company and cases make by contractors. After only three years, the reed organs he was offering for sale were made completely in house. Progress was impressive and In 1882, the company was incorporated, a huge factory built and production increased to 15,000 organs a year. By 1922 when production stopped, the company had made 403,390 instruments. A spectacular achievement!
Meanwhile, in 1887, Kimball began building his five-story factory for making its own pianos. At first these instruments were of unexceptional quality, but hiring skilled craftsman from the likes of Steinway and Bechstein, the standard of his pianos improved markedly. By 1893 Kimball pianos were highly rated for their build quality and the company noted for their efficient manufacturing processes. With 35–40 traveling salesmen, covering vast areas of the country, the company’s sales practices were very aggressive.
Diversifying somewhat, in 1901 he was associated with making Player Pianos. From 1917 until 1929 he produced Phonographs.
When piano production resumed after 1945, W.W. Kimball Jr was by now, leading the company. Due to some bad financial decisions over the next ten years or so, the company’s prospects slipped into downward spiral. In the mid-1950s, a new, up-market factory in Melrose Park was built. But with the high costs, poor performance and weak sales, Kimball was all but insolvent - having been toppled from being the largest piano maker to being merely the seventh largest! How the mighty have fallen!
In 1950, Mr. Arnold F. Habig began ‘The Jasper Corporation’. In 1959, the Corporation purchased the W. W. Kimball Company from the Kimball family, and piano productions relocated to West Baden, in Southern Indiana. The Jasper/Kimball company was by now known as Kimball International. A decade later, The Kimball piano was once again the world’s largest piano Company.
© Steve Burden
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