William E. Wheelock

Photograph of William Erving Wheelock. Published in Pianos and Their Makers: A Comprehensive History of the Development of the Piano from the Monochord to the Concert Grand Player Piano.

William Erving Wheelock (September 24, 1852 – February 14, 1922) was an American piano manufacturer and businessman.

Life and career

The son of Adam Dexter Wheelock and Laura A. Wheelock,[1] William Erving Wheelock was born on September 24, 1852, in Brooklyn, New York.[2] His father was the first president of the Nassau Trust Company of Brooklyn.[3] He married his first wife, Anna Frances Crandall, in Providence, Rhode Island, on March 10, 1885.[1] He married his second wife, Esther L. Giese, in Brooklyn on April 15, 1912.[4]

Wheelock entered the piano manufacturing business in 1873 as a partner in the firm of Billings & Wheelock. This firm dissolved in 1877 and that same year he began manufacturing his own pianos under the name of the Wheelock Piano Company (WPC). He built a large factory on 149th Street in New York City.[5] It specialized in making high quality pianos which were just a small step away from the highest quality instruments on the market.[6] In 1886 he established a second piano company, the Stuyvesant Piano Company, which made a less expensive mid-grade piano.[7] These pianos were made in a separate second factory, but both it and the WPC factory were under the same management.[6]

In 1892 Wheelock acquired the Weber Piano Company which he led under both the WPC[8] and Weber-Wheelock Company names.[9] His partners in the firm at this time were Charles B. Lawson and John W. Mawson.[6] The Weber piano was considered a top quality instrument at the highest end of the piano market, thus diversifying the WPC to offer three different pianos (Weber, Wheelock, and Stuyvesant) at varying qualities and price points.[6]

Wheelock was head of the WPC until 1903 when it was acquired by Harry B. Tremain following a merger with the Aeolian Company.[9] He remained with this merged organization as the Aeolian Company's treasurer.[10]

Wheelock died in Brooklyn on February 14, 1922, at the age of 69.[2][11] At the time of his death he was a trustee of the Nassau Trust Company,[11] a position he held since 1910.[3]

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 "William Erving Wheelock" in the Rhode Island, U.S., Marriage Registrations 1853–1922
  2. 1 2 "William Erving Wheelock" in the New York, New York, U.S., Index to Death Certificates, 1862–1948
  3. 1 2 "William E. Wheelock". New York Herald. February 15, 1922. p. 11.
  4. ↑ "William E Wheelock" in the New York, New York, U.S., Marriage License Indexes, 1907–2018, License Number 4094
  5. ↑ Dolge 1972, p. 325.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Dolge 1972, p. 326.
  7. ↑ Dolge 1972, pp. 325–326.
  8. ↑ Roell 2018, p. 98.
  9. 1 2 Swenson 2003, p. 446.
  10. ↑ Roehl 1973, p. 6.
  11. 1 2 "Obituaries: William E. Wheelock". Brooklyn Times-Union. February 15, 1922. p. 9 – via newspapers.com.

Bibliography

  • Dolge, Alfred (1972). Pianos and Their Makers: A Comprehensive History of the Development of the Piano from the Monochord to the Concert Grand Player Piano. Dover Publications.
  • Roehl, Harvey (1973). Player Piano Treasury (2nd ed.). Vestal Press. ISBN 9780911572001.
  • Roell, Craig H. (2018). The Piano in America, 1890–1940. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9781469610610.
  • Swenson, Edward E. (2003). "Weber Piano Company". In Palmieri, Robert (ed.). The Piano: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. ISBN 978-0415937962.


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