Books › Ayars, Contributions to the Art of Music in America by the Music Industries of Boston (1937) — the Squier, Farley, Rettberg, Rockwell and Elias Howe matter, 1937 › scan 135
Scan 135
Ayars, Contributions to the Art of Music in America by the Music Industries of Boston (1937) — the Squier, Farley, Rettberg, Rockwell and Elias Howe matter, 1937
10 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 113. See the scan on archive.org.
1Mr. Chickering at once purchased land in what was then called "The Neck," an undeveloped strip of land on the outskirts of the city leading to Roxbury, and began building a new factory. The premises comprised an entire square of about five acres situated on the westerly side of [address hidden] between Camden and Northhampton Streets. When completed in 1855 this was said to be the largest building in the United States under one roof with the sole exception of the Capitol in Washington, D. C. Dubbed "Chickering's Folly" at one time, it had a capacity for making five thousand pianofortes a year. The rough stock was taken in at the lower door in one wing, passed up that through the main building and down the other wing, and delivered in the warerooms finished. Thus almost literally forests entered at one end of the building and came out the other perfect pianofortes. Unfortunately, Jonas Chickering did not live to see it completed, as he died December 8, 1853.
3The sons continued the business, Colonel Thomas E. Chickering having charge of the manufacturing aided by his younger brother, George H. Chickering. C. Francis Chickering, "who was one of the most accomplished scale draughtsmen of his time," 4 settled in New York City in charge of the wholesale department which outgrew two locations, first at Broadway and Reade Streets and then at [address hidden] So Chickering Hall was built to provide suitable warerooms for demonstration and sale of the pianofortes, with offices connected and a large auditorium for recitals. This was located at [address hidden] and 18th St., and from its dedication in 1875 it became the musical centre of New York for twenty-five years. In 1901 the trend of business was away from its location, hence the hall was given up, and the wholesale and retail departments were moved to the Boston factory so that the entire business was under one roof.
5New scales and other improvements were made from time to time by C. Francis Chickering, and the pianofortes were displayed at all exhibitions, both local and international, obtaining many first medals and awards which helped the company's prestige.
7The business grew amazingly so that the most important cities in the United States had a representative selling Chickering pianofortes, "and many foreign countries had representatives regularly
94 American History and Encyclopedia of Music p. 320.
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