The Estey Organ Company was founded by Jacob Estey when he bought out a Brattleboro, Vermont manufacturing business in 1852. The company went on to become the largest manufacturer of organs in the United States. The original company had been founded in 1846. It employed more than 500 people and its high-quality items were sold as far away as Africa, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand. Around 500,000 to 520,000 reed organs, or 'pump organs' as some term them, were built between 1846 and 1955.
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In 1901, the company began manufacturing pipe organs, building over 3000.
By the 1840s 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, 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. In 1926 the company had the name Estey-Welte Corporation, it acquired in the same year the Hall Organ Company of West Philadelphia and a new built six-floor building at 695 Fifth Avenue as showrooms and salesrooms. This would become the new home of the company and the offices of the Welte Mignon Studios, as well of the other subsidiary companies. This were the Estey Piano Company, the Welte Mignon Corporation, the Welte Organ Company, the North American Discount Company, the Estey-Welte Securities Company and the Eswell Realty Corporation.[1] In 1926 Estey-Welte formed The Welte-Mignon Stuidos of Florida, Inc. in Palm Beach.[2]
There were also Estey pianos made by the Estey Piano Company 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 520,000 instruments, all of which carried the inscription of "Brattleboro, Vt. USA". In 1901, Estey Organ Company embarked on the manufacture of pipe organs, becoming among the largest of USA pipe organ manufacturers, and built more than 3200 pipe organs across the USA, even shipping some abroad, before 1960. The company provided organs for many important locations, including New York City's Capital Theatre, the Sacramento, CA Municipal Auditorium, and Henry Ford's home in Dearborn, Michigan. 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. Estey Hall on the campus of Shaw University is named after Estey, who contributed to the construction of the building.