William Knabe

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William Knabe, was an American industrialist and piano-manufacturer, based out of Baltimore, Maryland. Knabe was born in Kreutzburg, Saxe Weimar, in 1797, and moved to the United States as a young man, where he settled in Baltimore, intending to live there only briefly before moving on to Missouri. He began working for a piano maker, and wound up staying in Baltimore. In 1837, Knabe, Henry Gaehle and Edward Betts formed Knabe, Gaehle & Co. which became the largest piano manufacturers in the south, employing over 100 workmen at their factory at Eutaw street by the early 1850s. The partnership dissolved following the death of Henry Gaehle in 1857, and Knabe purchased the remaining stock and materials to establish Wm. Knabe & Co.

Wm. Knabe & Co. pianos are now manufactured as a premium piano by one of the world's largest musical instrument manufacturers, [Samick Musical Instruments, Ltd.] http://www.smcmusic.com/