George J. Dowling

Biography

George J. Dowling was born at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1864, and graduated from Boston schools at fifteen. Choosing piano making as a profession, he served an apprenticeship under Theodore J. Neff at the Emerson Piano Works, then in 1885 joined Vose and Sons as a repairman to learn the products of other manufacturers. His close study of the strengths and weaknesses of many pianos in the repair shop laid the foundation for his later success, though he found his greater talent lay in the commercial field, and he was put in charge of Vose and Sons' Boston retail sales room. In 1893 he moved into wholesale sales, and in 1898 was appointed manager of Vose and Sons' Western branch in Chicago. In 1908 The Cable Company of Chicago, seeking capable men for its large business, offered him the vice-presidency, and he took charge of its sales department, a role for which his broad experience as maker, retailer, wholesaler, and branch manager had well prepared him. The text identifies him (on the following page) as president of The Cable Company.

Highlights

• Apprenticed under 'exacting master' Theodore J. Neff at the Emerson Piano Works before joining Vose and Sons as a repairman in 1885
• Rose through Vose and Sons from repair work to retail sales, then wholesale, then manager of its Chicago Western branch (1898)
• Accepted the vice-presidency of The Cable Company of Chicago (a roughly five-million-dollar corporation) in 1908 to head its sales department

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. II (1913), p. 57.

Public domain.