Martin Band Instrument Company Elkhart, Indiana 1835 John Henry Martin (photo 2, c.1900) is born on February 23 rd in Dresden, Saxony (obit.) c1850 John apprentices as an instrument maker (obit) 1854 John emigrates to NY (obit & census) 1862 Henry Martin, instrument maker, #45 Marion, NYC (this is his only appearance in the city directory and only a few doors from instrument maker Godfrey Martin at #59 Marion; probably a cousin or older brother to John) 1866 son Henry Charles Martin (photo 3, c.1900) is born in NY in January (census); the family probably moves to Chicago later this year (obit) 1868 son William E. Martin (1868-?, photo 4, c.1900) is born in Chicago in January (census) 1870 Henry Martin, musical inst maker, Chicago (census) 1871 Martin loses his business in the Chicago fire (obit) 1878 John walks to Elkhart to get a job with Conn (obit) 1880 John Martin, horn factory worker; son Henry is working at a paper mill, Elkhart (census) 1881 son Henry starts working for Conn 1890 John and sons Henry and Moritz (1871-1943, below L) are working for Conn; sons Charles E. (1873- after 1940, below C) and Fred (1868-1951, below R) are cigar makers (dir) 1900 John & Henry are horn makers (census) 1902 John retires from Conn due to first of eight strokes (obit) 1903 C. Henry Martin is living in Grand Rapids, MI and receives patent #736,756 for a cornet tuning slide design (below); it
is said that he was working for J W York at this time; his son Robert H. is born in Grand Rapids in December 1904 the J H Martin Band Instrument Co. is founded (Reed) 1906 the Martin Band Instrument Company is incorporated with Charles Henry Martin president, Robert J. vicepresident (1878-1932, photo 1 c.1900), Charles E. secretary, and Frederick treasurer; they may have worked out of Henry s home at #111 Pacific (1900 census) which address is also listed for Buescher in 1895 (Sanborn map) Factory workers photo from c.1906 (standing: Robert Martin, Moritz Martin, uk Schuman, Charles Martin, uk, William Martin; seated: Fred Martin, Henry s son Bob (b.1903), John Martin, Matt Schuman, uk) (photo courtesy Marcia Haut); John appears to be holding an S-leadpipe cornet similar to photo 5 1907 brother Ernest Charles Martin (1884-1956, photo 2 c.1900) is a machinist (probably for Martin Co) 1910 John is not working; Henry, William & Robert are band instrument makers, brother-in-law Oscar Myers is a case maker, and Henry s sons Charles E. (b.1891) and Wright (b.1893) are workers at the factory; brothers Frederick and Charles E. still have a cigar factory; Moritz is working in a carriage factory (census)
1910 the Sanborn map (photo 1) shows the factory at #429 Baldwin Ave., a 2-story brick building measuring about 40 x 60 (photo 2), the 1 st floor is an office and machine room while the 2 nd floor is polishing and woodworking; John, William & Robert are living at #421 Baldwin which is a residence on the same property in the bottom of photo 1 (census) 1910 John dies on November 25 th following an 8 th stroke (obit) 1911 Henry Martin receives patent #1,003,931 for a valve design, he applied for this in 1905 from Elkhart 1912 William Martin, band instrument maker (marriage doc.) 1912 four year employee Francis Compton (1885-1962) buys a majority of stock in Martin to become the vp and gm; he started as a bookkeeper; it is said that the brothers had been fighting bitterly over the company (obit) The 1912 catalog shows the Renowned trumpet 1913 Henry Martin receives patent #1,071,526 for progressive bell thickness design [possible copy of the Buescher 1907 patent for Split-No-Tone bell] 1916 Compton brings in William Gronert, founder of the Elkhart Musical Instrument Co. in 1911, to be the GM, the two companies are merged; Gronert is also involved in the American Manufacturing Co. with Harry Pedler c.1917 the Handcraft models start
1917 the factory now has a one-story brick addition to the rear of the original building that measures about 40 x 140 and is the new machine room (Sanborn map below) 1918 Francis Compton, pres. of Martin Band Inst. Co. (draft) 1919 William Gronert dies and Martin is reorganized when the majority interest is sold to Orville P. Bassett 1920 Orville Bassett, band instrument manufacturer (census); William C. Reid, horn maker (census) [he was formerly with Elkhart BIC]; Henry Martin, superintendent for band instrument factory (census); Moritz is a carpenter, Charles is in cigars, Robert is in Brooklyn working for a religious publisher & Ernest is a grocer (census) 1921 Fred Holtz starts as sales manager for Martin (photo 1) 1922 Henry Martin ends presidency and starts with Buescher; Martin listed at #425-433 Baldwin with James State as president and Howard E. Wurlitzer (photo 3), of
Cincinnati, as vp [Howard was president of Wurlitzer at this time and they sold Martin instruments] 1919 ad 1920 cornet ad 1922 the Superlative trumpet is a new model in May (MTR)
1923 the Handcraft inscription is added to the bell; trumpet #88913 is stolen from a dealer (MTR) 1924 ad for new Dansant & Symphony model trumpets 1927 Bassett is manager of Martin (marriage doc.); the factory is now all 2 stories and a new office has been added along the street 1928 Fred Holtz and James State incorporate the Indiana Band Instrument Co. to make low-priced instruments at the Martin factory (logo and two instruments on right); trumpet #88913 was stolen from a store in August (MTR) 1929 new Master model trumpet with nickel silver bell (MTR, May) 1930 Martin buys Harry Pedler & Co., a woodwind maker across the street at #430 Baldwin; new Sport model trumpet and cornet in June (MTR) 1931 Bassett dies and Holtz becomes president & GM of Martin; Louie Armstrong buys a Martin Troubador model trumpet which were new and quite popular at this time (MTR, Nov)(bottom photo) c.1933 the Imperial model replaces the Superlative 1939 the Committee model trombone is introduced
1940 Charles E. Martin, horn maker, #1611 Main St. (census); the Committee model trumpet is introduced 1942 The Indiana Band Inst. Co. merges with Martin and becomes their student model 1948 Holtz retires from Martin and becomes president of the Pedler Co., a subsidiary of Martin 1953 Robert L. Stahr is president & GM of Martin; Holtz the same for Pedler; F.A. Holtz Jr. is sales manager for Martin and H. J. Martin is comptroller (Reed) 1955 the Magna model replaces the Imperial 1958 Martin sells the Pedler Co. to Selmer 1961 Martin is purchased by RMC (Roundtable of Musical Craftsmen) (photo 1) 1964 RMC folds and Martin is purchased by Wurlitzer 1960s Wurlitzer introduces the Martin Galaxy (photo 2) & Magna (photo 3) trumpets 1971 Martin is sold to Leblanc and design work is done at the old Martin factory 1980s a Bach trumpet is used to design the new Holton T-series trumpets at the old Martin factory 2004 Martin becomes part of Steinway Musical Prop. 2008 Conn-Selmer ends production of Martin instruments Instrument photos from Horn-u-copia.net & auctions