The 'Baldwin Piano Company' is the largest
US-based manufacturer of
keyboard instruments, most notably
pianos. It is a subsidiary of the
Gibson Guitar Corporation.
History
The company can trace its origins back to 1857, when Dwight Hamilton Baldwin began teaching piano, organ, and violin in
Cincinnati,
Ohio. In 1862, Baldwin started a
Decker Brothers piano dealership, and in 1866 hired Lucien Wulsin as a clerk. Wulsin became a partner in the dealership, by then known as D.H. Baldwin & Company, in 1873, and under his leadership, the Baldwin Company became the largest piano dealer in the
Midwestern United States by the 1890s.
In 1889-1890, Baldwin vowed to build "the best piano that could be built",
[1], and subsequently formed two production companies: Hamilton Organ, which built reed organs, and the Baldwin Piano Company, which made pianos. The company's first piano, an upright, began selling in 1891. The company introduced its first grand piano in 1895.
Baldwin died in 1899, and left his estate to fund missionary causes. Wulsin ultimately purchased Baldwin's estate and continued the company's shift from retail to manufacturing. The
company won its first major award in 1900, when their model 112 won the Grand Prix at the
Exposition Universelle in Paris, the first American manufactured piano to win such an award. Baldwin manufactured pianos also won top awards at the
Louisiana Purchase Exposition and the
1914 Anglo-American Exposition. By 1913, business had become brisk, with Baldwin exporting to 32 different countries in addition to having retailers throughout the United States.
Baldwin, like many other manufacturers, began building
player pianos in the 1920s. The models became unpopular by the end of the 1920s, which, coupled with the beginning of the
Great Depression, could have spelled disaster for Baldwin. However, the company's president, Lucien Wulsin II, had created a large reserve fund for such situations, so Baldwin was able to weather the difficult time.
During
World War II, the US War Production Board ordered the cessation of all US Piano manufacturing so that the factories could be used for the US war effort. Baldwin factories were used to manufacture wooden airplane parts for various aircraft such as the
Aeronca PT-23 and the
C-76 Caravan. Lessons learned in the construction of wooden aircraft wings ultimately enhanced Baldwin’s laminated pinblock designs.
After the war ended, Baldwin resumed selling pianos, and by 1953 doubled production from their prewar capacity. In 1946, Baldwin introduced the first
electronic organ, which became so successful that the company changed its name to the Baldwin Piano & Organ Company. In 1961,
Lucien Wulsin III became president. By 1963, the company had acquired
C. Bechstein Pianofortefabrik and remained its owner until 1986. As even more evidence of their growth, the company built its one millionth upright in 1973. The company attempted to capitalize on the growth of
pop music. After an unsuccessful bid to buy
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, Baldwin bought
Burns of London in 1965 for $380,000, but the guitars did not sell well through Baldwin's piano outlets.
[Gretsch guitars, which had its own sales force and outlets, but even this was not a great success, and Gretsch was sold back to the Gretsch family in 1989.]
Throughout the 1970s, the company undertook a significant bid to diversify into financial services. Under the leadership of Morley P. Thompson, Baldwin bought dozens of firms and by the early 1980s owned over 200 savings & loan institutions, insurance companies and investment firms. In 1982 the piano business contributed only three percent of Baldwin's $3.6 billion revenues. Meanwhile, the company had taken on significant debt to finance its acquisitions and was finding it increasingly difficult to meet its loan obligations. In 1983 the company was forced into bankruptcy with a total debt of over $9 billion--at that time the largest bankruptcy ever.
The Baldwin piano business was sold in 1984 as part of an effort to meet claims against the parent company. However, difficulties continued as demographic changes and foreign competition slowed sales of keyboard instruments. The company responded by acquiring Wurlitzer to increase market share and by moving manufacturing overseas to reduce production costs. Through the 1990s the company had some success but by 2001 it was again in difficulty and entered bankruptcy once more.
The company is currently part of the Gibson Guitar Corporation and manufactures instruments under the Baldwin, Chickering, Wurlitzer, Hamilton, and Howard names.
Notable Baldwin artists
The Baldwin Piano Company notes the following as "Baldwin Artists":[2]
General references
★ Crombie, David. ''Piano: Evolution, Design, and Performance.'' Barnes and Noble, 2000. First printed by Balafon Books, Great Britain, 1995. (ISBN 0-7607-2026-6)
★ Baldwin Piano & Organ Company ''Encyclopedia of Company Histories.'' Answers.com. Accessed March 1, 2007.
External links
★ Baldwin Pianos
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