Rudolph Gross

Biography

Rudolph Gross was a native of Europe who learned the action-making trade there, working in several of the best shops in various countries before coming to New York. Once in New York he found employment in Steinway & Sons' action shop, where he formed the personal friendship with Adam Nickel that led to their successful business partnership. In 1874, together with Nickel and Otto Wessell, Gross helped found the action-manufacturing house of Wessell, Nickel & Gross. The firm grew from a modest start -- Wessell personally peddling week-old stock to the trade -- into a business employing over five hundred hands and holding several action-improvement patents within sixteen years. Spillane names Gross, with his partners Wessell and Nickel, as deserving special distinction in the history of American pianoforte manufacture, describing the three men as self-made, liberal, and devoted to one another.

Highlights

• A native of Europe who learned action-making there before emigrating to New York
• Worked in Steinway & Sons' action shop, where he became friends with Adam Nickel, leading to their business partnership
• Co-founded Wessell, Nickel & Gross in 1874

Source

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), pp. 323, 324, 325, 326.

Public domain.