William H. Poole
born December 21, 1864
Biography
William H. Poole was born at Weymouth, Massachusetts, on December 21, 1864. After graduating from public schools and business college in 1884, he clerked in his father's country store, then in 1887 became a bookkeeper for piano action maker Sylvester Tower. He subsequently worked as a traveling salesman for C. C. Briggs and Company until 1893, when he started his own business making the Poole piano, building grands, uprights, and player pianos into a successful enterprise. Active in public life, Poole served on the town committee of Belmont, Massachusetts, where he lived, and in 1912 was elected to the Massachusetts Legislature as a Protectionist Republican, serving on the Mercantile and Labor Committees. The text describes him as quiet by disposition and a great student of economics.
Highlights
- Founded his own piano-making business in 1893 after working as bookkeeper and traveling salesman
- Built a successful business manufacturing grands, uprights, and player pianos
- Elected to the Massachusetts Legislature in 1912 as a Protectionist Republican
Source
Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. II (1913), pp. 163, 164.
Public domain.