Frank C. Decker

Biography

Frank C. Decker was born at Albany in 1857 and came to New York with his father in 1859. After public school he apprenticed under his father, was admitted to partnership in 1878, and took over the business of Decker and Son upon his father Myron A. Decker's death in 1891. He continued his father's conservative business policy, maintaining the firm's reputation. He was honored by fellow manufacturers as president of the New York Piano Manufacturers' Association in 1907-08 and as president of the National Association of Piano Makers in 1909-10. Decker was the son of piano maker Myron A. Decker. He was admitted to partnership in his father's business in 1877, at which point the firm was renamed Decker & Son. After his father's death in 1901, Frank C. Decker continued the business, and when the firm was incorporated in 1909 he became its president and manager, overseeing the continuation of the Decker piano-making tradition into a new corporate era. Decker appears in a gallery of portraits of presidents of the National Association of Piano Manufacturers of America, with a portrait inscribed "To Alfred Dolge" and dated 1904 in the printed caption (a year already assigned elsewhere in the same gallery to Jno P. Bent, suggesting a possible discrepancy in the original plate's labeling). No further biographical detail is given in the text. From Spillane (1890): Frank C. Decker, junior partner of Decker & Son, was born about 1858 and received a good education before entering the piano trade. In August 1873 he began a formal apprenticeship in his father Myron A. Decker's factory, starting at the bench, then progressing to tone regulating and practical tuning, in which he became regarded as an expert throughout the trade. He was formally admitted as his father's sole partner in 1875.

Highlights

• Admitted to partnership with his father Myron A. Decker in 1877, when the firm was renamed Decker & Son
• Became president and manager when the firm was incorporated as a corporation in 1909
• Appears in the gallery of association presidents, inscribed to Alfred Dolge and dated 1904 in the source
• Born at Albany in 1857; apprenticed under his father and was admitted to partnership in 1878
• Took over the family firm Decker and Son upon his father Myron A. Decker's death in 1891
• Served as president of both the New York Piano Manufacturers' Association and the National Association of Piano Makers
• Began apprenticeship in his father's factory in August 1873, starting at the bench
• Became regarded as an expert in tone regulating and tuning
• Formally admitted as his father's sole partner in 1875

Sources

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), p. 317; Vol. II (1913), p. 79.

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), pp. 240, 241.

Public domain.