William Wallace Kimball

Biography

William Wallace Kimball, descended from English stock, was born on a farm in Oxford County, Maine, in 1828. After schooling and a stint teaching, he became a commercial traveler and settled in Chicago, establishing himself as a piano dealer in 1857, selling Chickering, Hallet & Davis, and Emerson pianos. After Joseph P. Hale introduced his commercial piano, Kimball took it up so energetically that he became the West's largest piano dealer. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed his warerooms, but Hale immediately wired him $100,000 in credit, and Kimball resumed business from his home and barn until finding new quarters. A born organizer, Kimball became a large-scale jobber, employing Edwin S. Conway as field organizer to bring pianos and organs to farmers across the sparsely settled West. He began manufacturing organs and, in 1882, started his own piano factory, later placing his nephew W. Lufkin in charge of manufacturing. In 1890 he added church-organ building, and by 1904 his player-piano mechanism and music rolls were also made in-house. His business grew to an institution turning over more than $4,000,000 annually. Kimball died on December 15, 1904; the corporation continued under C. N. Kimball as president, E. S. Conway as vice-president, and W. Lufkin as treasurer.

Highlights

• Born on a farm in Oxford County, Maine, in 1828; became a Chicago piano dealer in 1857 and grew into the largest piano/organ dealer in the West
• Rebuilt rapidly after the 1871 Chicago fire destroyed his warerooms, aided by a $100,000 credit line telegraphed by Joseph P. Hale
• Expanded into organ manufacturing in 1882, piano manufacturing that same era, and church organ building in 1890, building the business into a turnover of over $4,000,000 a year before his death in 1904

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), pp. 339, 340, 343.

Public domain.