H. Paul Mehlin

Biography

H. Paul Mehlin was born in New York in 1864 and, after finishing public school and the College of the City of New York, entered a commercial career. In 1889 he joined his father Paul G. Mehlin's firm and thereafter directed its financial and commercial departments. As a young bookkeeper for a large New York wholesale dry-goods house, he was suddenly sent across the country to take the place of a top salesman who had died in San Francisco, and reported $67,000 in orders booked on his first day, at age nineteen. Described as a hard worker and genial mixer, he was active in civic affairs, serving as president of the Board of Education in his home town of Maywood, N.J. He was a charter member of the National Association of Piano Manufacturers and served as its treasurer, vice-president, and president (1903-4-5), and also served two years as president of the Piano Manufacturers' Association of New York. His eldest son, Paul G. Mehlin II, was preparing to become a piano maker, representing a third generation of the family in the trade. From Spillane (1890): H. Paul Mehlin was the oldest son and partner of piano maker Paul G. Mehlin, head of P. G. Mehlin & Son in New York. He was described as practical in piano-making and as having gone through an arduous commercial course, making him eminently equipped for his duties in the firm. He was also noted for personal qualities that made him very popular in both private and business circles. Paul Mehlin was the eldest son of piano-maker Paul G. Around 1888, father and son together founded the New York firm of P. Mehlin & Sons, in which the younger Mehlin joined his father in continuing the family's piano-manufacturing enterprise.

Highlights

• As a teenage bookkeeper, was sent to San Francisco to fill in for a deceased salesman and booked $67,000 in orders his first day
• Joined his father's firm in 1889, directing its financial and commercial departments
• Served as treasurer, vice-president and president (1903-4-5) of the National Association of Piano Manufacturers, and president of the Piano Manufacturers' Association of New York
• Co-founded P. G. Mehlin & Sons with his father, Paul G. Mehlin
• Oldest son and business partner of Paul G. Mehlin
• Practical piano maker who also completed an arduous commercial course, well equipped for his duties in the firm

Sources

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. II (1913), p. 159.

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), pp. 294, 296.

Public domain.