Kimball Pianos

American music for the millions: Kimball pianos

Kimball pianos are no longer manufactured, but they still live on in the homes of many Americans playing great music.

W. W. Kimball & Co. was founded in 1857 by William Wallace Kimball, a Maine farm boy who moved to Chicago and began selling pianos. kimball pianos were the world's largest supplier of pianos throughout the late 1800's until the Great Depression. The Kimball factory was known to be one of the largest manufacturing operations in the world with railways that ran through the factory to drop off materials and pick up finished products for shipment.

In 1959, the last of the Kimball heirs decided to sell the company which had dropped significantly in the piano industry. The man that bought Kimball Pianos was Mr. Arnold F. Habig, president and founder of the Jasper Corporation. By 1970, Kimball pianos were back on top of the industry providing more pianos to the world than anyone else and living up to its motto of "music for the millions."

However, time passed and society changed. By the 1990's the market for pianos began to shrink until the global market for pianos was less than the number of pianos produced by Kimball. This prompted the board of directors to cut their losses and halt the production of pianos. The last of the Kimball pianos were produced in 1996 and the final piano that Kimball manufactured sits in their Kimball International Showroom in Jasper, Indiana.

Although Kimball pianos are no longer being produced today, they are still in demand and regarded as great pianos for all types of players. You can still find Kimball pianos in many American homes still playing and still making music for the millions.