Jacob Estey
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Jacob Estey ( 1814 - 1890 ) was born in Hinsdale, New Hampshire and ran away from an orphanage to Worcester, Massachusetts, where he learned the plumbing trade. He arrived in Brattleboro, Vermont in 1835 at age 21 to work in a plumbing shop which he soon bought and thereby began his long career as a successful businessman.
By the 1840's some of the earliest melodeon makers in New England had established themselves in Brattleboro, and Jacob Estey saw the manufacturing and sale of these instruments, later known as reed organs, as a new business opportunity. In 1855, Jacob Estey organized the first manufacturing company to bear his name, Estey & Green, which was followed by Estey & Company; J. Estey & Company; Estey Organ Company; and finally Estey Organ Corporation, until the company went out of business in 1960.
There were also Estey pianos made in New York City.
During these more than one hundred years, Estey became the largest and best known manufacturer of reed organs in the world, building more than 506,000 instruments, all of which carried the inscription of "Brattleboro, Vt. USA".
In 1902, Estey Organ Company embarked on the manufacture of pipe organs and built more than 3200 pipe organs all across the country before 1960. Following World War II, Estey undertook the development and manufacture of electronic organs, and thereby joined a limited number of companies which manufactured all three types of organs.
The Estey family had a long tradition of company leadership and community involvement, including residential development such as Esteyville; banking; town government; schools; fire protection; military units; churches; and Vermont state politics and government.
