William Lincoln Bush

Biography

William Lincoln Bush, born in 1861, apprenticed as an organ and piano maker with Geo. H. Woods & Company and worked as a salesman for the W. W. Kimball Company from 1881 to 1883. In 1886 he joined his father, William H. Bush, and John Gerts in founding W. H. Bush & Company (later the Bush & Gerts Piano Company) to manufacture pianos. In 1901 he founded the Conservatory of Music connected with the Bush Temple of Music, appointing Kenneth M. Bradley as director and Mme. Fannie Bloomfield-Zeisler (later succeeded by Mme. Julie Rivé King) to head the piano department; the violinist Ovide Musin also taught there. A talented musician himself, Bush was described as solicitous for the school's lasting success and established similar institutions in Dallas, Texas, and Memphis, Tennessee. He was also known for using his pen forcefully in defense of trade ethics, opposing illegitimate stencil pianos and dishonest selling methods and insisting that a maker's name appear on every piano sold at a fixed price.

Highlights

• Born 1861; apprenticed as organ and piano maker with Geo. H. Woods & Company, then sold pianos for W. W. Kimball Company (1881-1883)
• Co-founded W. H. Bush & Company in 1886 with his father and John Gerts
• Founded the Conservatory of Music connected with the Bush Temple in 1901, and established similar music schools in Dallas, Texas and Memphis, Tennessee
• A talented musician himself, he campaigned in print against illegitimate stencil pianos and dishonest selling practices

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), pp. 355, 357.

Public domain.