Henry Kroeger

Biography

Henry Kroeger is mentioned as the New York teacher under whom James H. Butler studied scale drawing, part of Butler's self-directed technical education after a course in physics at the Mechanics' Institute of Cincinnati and before he was appointed superintendent of the Smith and Nixon piano factory in 1893. Henry Kroeger is described as being "of Steinway fame" and operated a factory in New York where Max Richtsteig had the opportunity to study for one year before returning to Bush and Gerts in Chicago. No further biographical detail is given in this text. From Spillane (1890): Henry Kroeger, Sr. was a practical piano-maker, inventor, and acoustician who founded the firm of Henry Kroeger & Sons in New York in 1879 with his sons Otto and Henry Kroeger, Jr. Born in Germany in 1827, he was apprenticed at fifteen to a leading manufacturer of Hamburg and worked in several of that city's leading factories between 1847 and 1855. He arrived in New York in 1855 and became employed at the factory of Steinway & Sons, where his skill was soon noted and he was promoted to an important position. In founding his own firm his stated ambition was to manufacture only the highest possible grade of pianos, a standard the firm continued to uphold. He held patents including a Capo d'Astro bar issued in 1886 and an acoustic sounding-board adjustment method taken out in 1884.

Highlights

• Taught James H. Butler scale drawing in New York
• Ran a factory in New York "of Steinway fame" where Max Richtsteig studied for a year
• Apprenticed to a leading Hamburg manufacturer at age fifteen
• Worked at Steinway & Sons after emigrating to New York in 1855
• Founded Henry Kroeger & Sons in 1879; held patents for a Capo d'Astro bar (1886) and a sounding-board adjustment method (1884)

Sources

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. II (1913), pp. 54, 97.

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), p. 290.

Public domain.