The mighty Kimball Piano Company fell from being the largest piano company in the world to seventh.īy 1959, only 15-25 pianos were completed each day at Kimball’s Melrose Park factory. This huge facility however was plagued by poor performance and high costs, which caused the Kimball Company to fall into an even deeper financial hole. In the mid-1950s a new Melrose Park, Illinois piano factory was built. As the years went on the company fought to stay afloat. Kimball went into a financial decline due to questionable decisions by family management. The Kimball factory-made aircraft parts for major military contractors during this period of global unrest.Īfter the war ended, the normal production of pianos resumed at the company. Like many other piano companies, Kimball produced items for the war effort during World War II. “Music For The Millions.” – Past Kimball Slogan Kimball Company continued to expand through the years with player pianos being experimented with during 1901 and phonographs produced between 19. Utilizing an army of door-to-door salesmen and dealerships, Kimball was able to make his pianos a household name. These early years saw Kimball push their pianos very aggressively, especially in the Midwest. With the early instruments suffering from mediocrity, he quickly hired piano veterans from companies like Steinway & Sons and Bechstein to improve the build quality of the instruments. In 1887 an imposing five-story factory was constructed for the building of Kimball pianos. KIMBALL ROLLS INTO THE 20 th CENTURYĪs the piano grew in wild popularity toward the end of the 19 th century, Kimball grew to meet the growing demand. Kimball would continue to see success and go on to produce over 400,000 organs throughout their time in business. In 1882 a large factory was built for the manufacturing of organs and it was soon churning out as many as 15,000 of these instruments per year. In three years that goal was achieved and he began offering organs for sale that were made entirely by his company. Earhuff and cases made by other contractors, he slowly moved toward full, in-house production. Kimball began assembling reed organs for sale in 1877. Based in Chicago, the company sold a number of brands such as Chickering and Sons, Hallet-Davis and other leading companies at that time. Kimball and Company as a piano and organ dealership. Working as a real estate broker in his younger years, he liquidated his investments and moved to Chicago, Illinois.
William Wallace Kimball was born in Rumford, Maine in 1828.
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