Portrait and biographical record of Queens County (Long Island) New York, Part 65

Author: Chapman, firm, publishers
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : Chapman Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1220

USA > New York > Queens County > Long Island City > Portrait and biographical record of Queens County (Long Island) New York > Part 65

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The property purchased by Steinway & Sons at Astoria consisted of about four hundred acres, over a mile long, and having a water frontage on the East River of more than a half-mile, opposite One Hundredth to One Hundred and Twentieth Street, New York City, and four miles from the New York pianoforte manufactory. In 1872 they erected a steam sawmill, iron and brass foundries, boiler and engine houses, and a large building for the drilling, finishing and

japanning of the full metal frames and other metal portions used in the construction of the pianofortes, which are manufactured under the sole and special supervision of the house. Each of these buildings is three stories high, con- structed of brick and stone. They are situated between the canal and west side of Blackwell Street, forming a hollow square, with a frontage of three hundred and twelve feet, and a depth of two hundred feet, and also contain the key- board and wood-carving departments. The wa- ter front, on the canal, is occupied by the dock and bulkhead, three hundred and eighty-four feet in length; also enclosing a basın, 100x300 feet, stocked with millions of square feet of logs, designed for sawing into required thicknesses for manufacturing purposes. At the sawmill all the lumber, rosewood and various other kinds of wood used in the construction of a Steinway piano, are sawed under the personal supervision of a member of the house, and every faulty por- tion cast aside.

The large piano case factory was erected in 1879. The building is four stories in height, 248x60 feet in dimensions, with an adjoining engine and boiler house. In this building the cases for all the Steinway square, upright and grand pianos are constructed, and they are sent completed to the New York factory to receive the sounding board, the necessary exterior varnish and polish, and the interior construction. In addition to the case-making factory are the dry- ing-rooms, a four-story brick building, 40x100 feet, containing the drying kilns below and the drying rooms above, with over five hundred thou- sand feet of air-dried lumber constantly under the process of kiln drying. In the lumber yards are constantly stacked upwards of five million square feet of the choicest lumber in the open air, for seasoning purposes, each separate piece of which is exposed to all the atmospheric changes for two years, and then kept in the steam drying kilns for three months prior to being used in the factory. The Astoria factories contain eight steam boilers of the aggregate power of five hun- dred horses, by which the necessary amount of steam is generated for the sixty thousand feet of pipe used in heating the drying rooms and workshops, and driving four steam engincs ag- gregating three hundred horse power, which in turn put in motion the various labor-saving ma- chines. All the buildings are lighted by gas, and fitted up with electric bells, centering in the

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two-story office building erected in 1884, from which by private telegraph and telephone the establishment is brought into direct communica- tion with Steinway & Sons' finishing factory at Fourth Avenue and Fifty-third Street, and Stein- way Hall in Fourteenth Street, New York.

To the development of the village of Stein- way the firm has been a large contributor, and the public-spirited character of William Stein- way, the president of the company, is shown in the many improvements he has made and the enterprises he has fostered. In 1877 a fine pub- lic school was built by the firm, with capacity for one thousand children, and they have since maintained, at their own expense, in addition to the common branches for which teachers are fur- nished by the city, a teacher for free tuition in music and the German language. They also have a free circulating library and a model kin- dergarten. In 1881 a public bath was built at the expense of the firm, containing fifty dressing rooms and surrounded by a public park, 250x200. The Protestant Union Church, which has a seat- ing capacity of one thousand and is 100x125 feet in dimensions, has been endowed by the firm, who also presented it with the grand cathedral organ formerly at Steinway Concert Hall.

Nor have these gifts been the limit of the benefactions of Mr. Steinway. In his native town of Seesen he has founded six annual prizes for the three male and three female students who excel in their studies, and he also pays the annual school money for the children of no less than seventy-five parents. To that village he presented a park, which the citizens named in his honor, and also made him an honorary citi- zen. In 1894 he founded two annual prizes at the New York Normal College, gold watches of $75 value, one to be given to the most proficient German student, and the other to the student showing the greatest progress in that language. In him destitute musicians, aged teachers and ambitious but poor students have a helpful friend, one who is never too busy to aid them with a word of counsel and a substantial gift. Many educational and charitable institutions have re- ceived from him pianofortes or other benefac- tions.

It is a noteworthy fact that not only has the success of the firm of Steinway & Sons put an end to the importation of pianos from Europe, but at the present time large numbers of pianos (of which seventy per cent. are made by this firm)

are exported. So large has the foreign trade be- come that it has been necessary for the firm to establish warerooms in London and Hamburg, and in the former city they have also opened a music room, known as Steinway Hall. The business importance of Long Island City will be greatly facilitated by the erection of the new bridge, extending from the foot of Sixty-fourth Street, New York, across Blackwell's Island, to the Steinway property in Long Island City, which work is now well under way.

From this résumé of the life work of Mr. Steinway, it might be supposed that his personal affairs had engrossed his attention to the exclu- sion of public matters; but not so. His adopted city has had no citizen more patriotic or progres- sive than he, and his connection with civic ques- tions has been praiseworthy to himself. Nature endowed him with a fine physique, capable of long endurance, and a sonorous voice and remarkable memory, to which, by education, he has added fine oratorical ability, and these qualities have won for him success as a public speaker. In addressing large public gatherings, he is im- pressive, forcible and winning. In 1871 he was a member of the Committee of Seventy ap- pointed to bring to justice the Tammany ring of those days, which had robbed the city of millions of money. The success attending the prosecu- tion of William M. Tweed and his associates is now a part of the history of New York. October 29, 1886, he presided at the mass-meeting of citi- zens at Cooper Institute, which endorsed the nomination of Hon. Abram S. Hewitt for the mayoralty, and it was largely due to his tact in guiding the meeting that Mr. Hewitt's nomina- tion resulted. In 1888 he was a member of the Democratic National Committee of the United States, representing the state of New York, and was a delegate to the convention that nomi- nated President Cleveland for the second terni.

While, as has been said, Mr. Steinway is in- tensely patriotic and American in his plans and opinions, yet he has never lost his interest in the land of his birth and the home of his childhood. The German people have in him a friend, a brother, ever alive to their interests, and the people of that nationality, who form so large and honorable a portion of the population of our country, look to him as one of the leaders and representatives. In February, 1889, under his guidance as president, a large fair was held at the American Institute for the benefit of the

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German Hospital. The enterprise was an unpre- cedented success, the receipts being $118,000 and profits $112,000. October 27, 1892, he presided at the mass meeting of German-Americans at Cooper Institute, at which twenty thousand peo- ple were present, the speakers being himself, Oswald Ottendorfer, Dr. Joseph Senner, Carl Schurz and Grover Cleveland.

In February, 1890, Mr. Steinway was one of the committee of citizens of New York appointed to secure the World's Fair of 1893 for New York. In a meeting at the city hall he opened the subscription list with $50,000. When Con- gress finally decided that the fair should be held in Chicago, he contributed $25,000 toward its success. Among the Democrats of New York he has long wielded a powerful influence, and while invariably refusing public offices, including . a number of federal positions offered by Presi- dent Cleveland, yet he has always been willing to serve on any committee that has for its object the promotion of the party welfare or the ad- vancement of the city's interests. In the Presi- dential election of 1892 he was one of the Dem- ocratic Electors-at-Large for the state; and he was unanimously elected president of the Elec- toral College when it met in Albany, January 9, 1893, to cast the vote of the state for Presi- dent. His services as Rapid Transit Commis- sioner of the city of New York have been espe- cially important and valuable, and the many conflicting problems brought to him for decision have been met with sagacious judgment and keen discrimination. In the new Rapid Transit Act, which became a law May 22, 1894, among other things abolishing the old commission, he was unanimously re-appointed by the legislature as a member of the new commission. His com- pensation of $6,250, as member of the old con- mission, was distributed by him among fifteen charitable institutions of the city.

Mr. Steinway has been twice married. His first wife died in 1876, and his second wife, Elizabeth C. Ranft, passed away March 4, 1893. His children are George A .; Paula, wife of Louis von Bernuth; William R., Theodore E. and Maud S. Socially, Mr. Steinway is connected with the Manhattan Club; the Liederkranz So- ciety, of which he has been president twelve terms; the Arion, of which he is an honorary member; the American Geographical Society, New York Historical Society, New York Cham- ber of Commerce, the Royal Academies of Fine

Arts of Berlin and of Stockholm, and the Royal St. Cecilia Society of Rome, of which he is an honorary member. Assisting in the organiza- tion of the Bank of the Metropolis, he is now one of its directors, and is also vice-president of the German Savings Bank, New York, the Queens County Bank of Long Island, and the New York and College Point Ferry Company. He is also president of the New York Pianoforte Manu- facturers' Society.

Seldom does it fall to the privilege of the biographer to record a life of continuous and un- interrupted success, a life of duty nobly dis- charged, rewarded by fortune and friends. While Mr. Steinway has met with many obsta- cles, they have but stirred him to greater efforts, and he has never found any but that, with the aid of his indomitable will, he has been able to overcome. Exercising in all his business rela- tions the highest principles of honor, he has won a large fortune and world-wide fame, and now still in the prime of his mental vigor, he retains the characteristics of perseverance, energy and determination that were noticeable in his youth and that led to his success.

H ENRY E. STEINWAY, founder of the great piano manufacturing house of Stein- way & Sons, and father of the gentleman who is now its president, was born in Wolfs- hagen, Brunswick, Germany, February 15, 1797, and died in New York City, February 7, 1871. Of his ancestors it is known that one served as captain in the army under Christian of Denmark, in the Thirty Years' War, and took part in the battle of Lutter, August 27, 1626, where he was severely wounded, and as a result was unable to proceed with his regiment. His family was among the well-known residents of the city of Stralsund, on the Baltic Sea, and some of its members occupied positions of responsibility prior to the Thirty Years' War, while the city belonged to the Hansa Union. One of the name, who held the office of burgomaster, heroically defended Stralsund during the siege, in 1628, by the Austrian forces under General Wallenstein. With the fall and impoverishment of the city, the family disappeared from it.

The family of which Henry Engelhard Stein- way was a member consisted of twelve children. but at the age of fifteen he was the sole survivor. his father and the others having lost their lives

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in the War of 1806 and that of 1812, and in a shocking catastrophe. Concerning the latter, the particulars, as often related by. Mr. Steinway, are as follows: With his father, three older broth- ers and two hired men, he was one day, in the summer of 1812, in a forest near the ancient city of Goslar, and several hours' walk from home, when a violent thunder storm arose. The party found shelter in a collier's hut made of stakes and barks of trees, and situated on the Bruchberg near the Brocken. Soon afterward, while the lad was crouched on his hands and knees, endeav- oring to kindle the fire into a blaze by blowing into the smoking brushwood in the fireplace, he was blinded by a vivid flash of lightning that filled the room with its lurid glare. The shock rendered him unconscious, and, on regaining his senses, all was dark and still. He called, but there was no reply. He then felt in the dark for his companions, whom he found lying, stiff and almost cold, on the floor of the hut. The body of his cldest brother still retaining some warmth, he placed his ear to his chest just in time to catch the last pulsation of the heart. Almost dazed with fright, he fled barefooted (having hung shoes and stockings to dry near the fire- place on entering the hut) through the wildcr- ness to the mountain town of Altenau, where he remembered a physician resided. When he reached there in the morning, his torn and bleed- ing feet and physical condition, but above all his story of the disaster, aroused the deepest sym- pathy. Horses and wagons were secured, and the six lifeless bodies were taken to his father's house.

Nor did the misfortunes of the orphan boy end here. His father was the owner of several houses, which were taken in charge by the French Westphalian officers of the Crown, but with the downfall of Napoleon, the houses were sold and the proceeds vanished with the officers in charge of them. Penniless and alone in the world, Henry carned his living by hard, ill-paid labor. At the age of seventeen he enlisted under the Duke of Brunswick, who fell at Waterloo in 1815. While in the service, he learned to play on the cithera, which he had constructed of seasoned spruce during leisure hours, and among his acquaintances he enjoyed a reputation as a musical genius. At twenty-two, having declined the office of sergeant, he was honorably dis- charged from the army, and went to Goslar, where he sought to apprentice himself to the

cabinet-maker's trade; but trade guilds were in power, and required five years' apprenticeship and a similar experience as a journeyman, before a workman became independent. Mr. Steinway therefore decided to learn the art of building church organs, and for this he prepared himself by working as a cabinet-maker for a year under a so-called "wild boss," after which he secured work as a journeyman organ builder, although it was his ambition to become a maker of stringed musical instruments. Securing employment in Seesen, a town of about three thousand inhabi- tants, in the Duchy of Brunswick, he made that place his home until he came to America. In February, 1825, he married Julia Thieme, and their eldest son, C. F. Theodore, was born November 25 of the same year. About this time, by work- ing nights, Mr. Steinway constructed a piano, in which he combined the merits of the old Eng- lish and the new German pianos, and which, by its purity of tone, attracted wide attention. It soon found a purchaser, and enabled the maker to devote his energies to the work.

As early as August, 1839, Mr. Steinway ex- hibited one grand, three-stringed, and one two- stringed square piano at the state fair of Bruns- wick, with the composer, Albert Methfessel, as chairman of the jury, who, besides giving him the first prize, also praised the tone and work- manship of the instruments. As the sons, Theo- dore, Charles and Henry, grew up, they became skillful piano-makers under their father's instruc- tion and also proficient pianists. In 1843, the establishment of the Customs Union in Prussia, into which Brunswick entered, but Hanover did not, caused Seesen to be completely cut off from the rest of the world by custom-house officers. The duty imposed upon pianos was so great as to almost ruin the business, and the final catas- trophe was consummated by the Revolution of 1848.

The outlook being discouraging, the family resolved to emigrate to America, and in April, 1849, Charles was sent ahead to investigate the prospects in this country. So favorable were his reports that in May, 1850, the entire family, except Theodore, who remained behind to con- tinue the business there, took passage on the "Helene Sloman," an ocean propeller making its first trip. After reaching New York, the father, and Charles, Henry and William, worked for three years in different New York piano factories. In March, 1853, they founded the

WILLIAM G. MILLER.

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house of Steinway & Sons, and so great was their success that they soon moved from their original quarters in Varick Street to No. 88 Walker Street, a few doors east of Broadway. After one year's operation, they gained note by receiving the first premium at the Metropolitan Fair held in Washington, D. C., in March, 1854, for both three and two-stringed instruments; and in the fall of the same year were awarded a gold niedal at the American Institute Fair, held in the Crys- tal Palace, New York. The next year they re- ceived another gold medal at the same place, where they exhibited a square piano constructed on a new system. It was an overstrung, square piano, in which the newly constructed iron frame was so applied as to secure its benefits to the durability and capacity of standing in tune, while the nasal, thin tone which had previously char- acterized pianos with the iron frame was done away with, and a lasting tone, of full, harmonious quality, produced.

In 1858 the firm purchased almost the entire block of ground bounded by Fourth and Lex- ington Avenues, Fifty-second and Fifty-third Streets, on which a model factory was built in 1859, and occupied in April, 1860. The archi- tecture of the building is of the modern Italian style, and the best brick is used in its construc- tion. The factory buildings cover twenty city lots, and have a surface flooring of one hundred and seventy-five thousand, one hundred and forty square feet. The improvements made by the firm, and for which they obtained patents, ex- tended also in the direction of manufacturing grand pianos. In 1863 they built their marble palace, in which their pianos are now sold. In the rear of the palace in Fourteenth Street they built a grand concert hall, forty-two feet high, with seating capacity of two thousand; and, in addition, a hall seating four hundred, separated from the larger building by sliding doors. This building, known as Steinway Hall, was built in 1866, and received its final interior decoration two years later. The acoustical properties of the hall were so accurately calculated that the result has been pronounced unsurpassed by the famous artists and lecturers who have tested them. I11 1865-66 the firm gave especial attention to the manufacture of upright pianos, resulting in an entirely new construction of such power and beauty that from that time the public evinced a growing fondness for their use.

While successes came in rapid succession to

the house of Steinway & Son, many bereave- ments came to the household. Henry Jr. died March II, 1865, and Charles on the 31st of the same month and year. In 1877 Albert fell a victim to typhoid fever, his death occurring May 14, at the age of nearly thirty-seven. The wife and mother died August 9 of the same year, aged nearly seventy-four. Six years previous to her de- mise, or February 7, 1871, the husband and father, to whose efforts the success of the firm was large- ly due, passed away at the age of about seventy- four.

W ILLIAM G. MILLER. The business and social career of the subject of this sketch is a striking example of what may be accomplished by the American youth who possesses energy and determination to win in the great battle of life. His success has been honestly deserved and bravely won by upright business methods and great energy and should be an encouragement to all young men who are ambitious to succeed. Mr. Miller was born in Suffolk County, February 2, 1853, a son of James G. and Elizabeth W. (Wasson) Miller. The father was a prominent and successful farmer and fruit grower, and, being a man of unblem- ished reputation, he was greatly respected in the community in which he lived, was active in all good works and was a zealous and faithful member of the Presbyterian Church. He held a number of minor official positions, but was never very active in that respect. His estimable wife, to whom he was married in New York City in 1848, still survives him. They became the par- ents of five children, of whom four still survive, William G. being the eldest son.

The early life of our subject was spent in health- ful farm work and in attending school during the winter months until he was seventeen years of age, when he determined to seek his fortune in the city of Brooklyn. He first mastered the de- tails of the building business, and when only twenty-one had already become a skillful man- ufacturer of small cabinet ware, his goods being shipped to all parts of the United States and Canada. While in this business he acquired a keen insight into business methods and this has been of material benefit to him in carrying on the many undertakings in which he has since been engaged. In 1882 a partnership was formed with J. J. Randall, the firm taking the name of Randall

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& Miller, and together they embarked exten- sively in the building business, particularly in Brooklyn, where a very extensive business is still carried on. These gentlemen are largely in- terested in valuable tracts of land in the vicinity of Freeport, and the progress, development and rapid growth of this village must be almost en- largely attributable to the energy and push of this firm.

Mr. Miller has always been remarkably public spirited, and helped to organize the Freeport Bank, of which he has been one of its directors from the beginning. He is president of the Queens and Suffolk County Insurance Company, and was one of the organizers of the Seventeenth Ward Bank of Brooklyn, being a director in each of them. He favored the incorporation of the village of Freeport, pushed the question of water works, has served continuously as a member of the board of water commissioners, and after one of the village school houses was burned and the entire place threatened with destruction, he was one of the first and most enthusiastic to favor the organization of a thoroughly equipped fire de- partment. He also joined the progressive ele- ment and urged the building of the present splen- did school house, and immediately after he and his partner had erected this building, he was elected a member of the board of education, thus showing the appreciation with which his efforts had been regarded. Three times he has been elected president of the village, being the present incumbent, and is also president of the board of water commissioners. In several large financial institutions of Brooklyn he is a director, is actively engaged in contracting and building, and has often discharged the duties of trustee and exec- utor, from which it will be seen that he is a very busy man.

Mr. Miller is very genial and cordial in man- ners, and his success has not removed him from, but rather brought him in closer touch with the people, from whom he commands universal re- spect, affection and confidence, and by whom his advice is often sought. Politically he is an ardent Republican, and he has often served as president of political organizations. Although political of- fices have frequently been tendered him, he has always declined them, except such as were with- out salary, as the demands of patriotism lay upon loyal citizens. The same earnestness and fidelity which have marked his business and public life have also characterized his religious obligations,

and he is a devoted member of the Freeport Methodist Episcopal Church. At Freeport he joined heartily in the erection of the new Meth- odist Church, and he and his partner took the contract to build the church at cost. He is now president of the board of trustees and is one of the constant attendants of the services.

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Portrait and biographical record of Queens County (Long Island) New York, Part 65

Author: Chapman, firm, publishers Publication date: 1896 Publisher: New York ; Chicago : Chapman Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1220

Author: Chapman, firm, publishers
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : Chapman Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1220