Contributed by Maine Historical Society
- MMN #148477
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Description
Calvin Edwards & Co. built this piano in Portland at their studio on the corner of Middle and Lime (Market Street as of 2024) streets, where they operated as early as 1844. Calvin Edwards's studio created instruments including pianos, organs, and melodeons, which he also tuned and repaired from 1833 to 1866. Smaller than a modern grand piano with horizontal strings running diagonally across the instrument, people in the Victorian era used upright square pianos for small gatherings in the home.
Calvin Edwards made pipe organs in Gorham before moving to Portland, where he operated Portland's first piano factory with Moses Clark, called The Portland Pianoforte Manufactory. They operated on Lime Street from 1833 to 1836, when they moved to Exchange Street. The Maine Charitable Mechanics awarded a gold medal to Clark & Edwards for a piano entered in the Mechanics's fair in 1838, competing against manufacturers such as Chickering. William G. Twombly apprenticed with Clark & Edwards in Portland after learning to make pianos in Boston, and made the wooden case of the award-winning piano.
By 1844, Edwards & Co. transferred their piano business back to Lime Street, on the corner of Middle Street. Moses Clark died in 1847, and William Twombly, whom had been traveling across the United States, joined the company. Advertisements in the Portland Press Herald show the business there in 1848.
In 1858, about the same time Edwards created this piano, an advertisement noted Edwards & Co. specialized in instruments, “of style of finish and tone unsurpassed by any made in the country, constantly for sale.” By October of 1864, William Twombly joined Calvin Edwards as a partner in piano manufacturing at a new location at 337 Congress Street in Portland.
The Great Fire of Portland destroyed the piano studio in 1866. In November, 1866, Calvin Edwards and William Twombly dissolved the firm Calvin Edwards & Co.
About This Item
- Title: Upright square grand piano, ca. 1860
- Creator: Calvin Edwards & Co.
- Creation Date: 1860
- Subject Date: circa 1860
- Location: Portland, Cumberland County, ME
- Media: Brazilian Rosewood, ivory, metal
- Local Code: 2021.151
- Object Type: Physical Object
Cross Reference Searches
Standardized Subject Headings
- Edwards, Calvin (ca.1794-1873)
- Percussion instruments
- Piano makers--Maine--Portland
- Pianos--Maine--Portland
- Twombly, William G. ((1811-1894)
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For more information about this item, contact:
Maine Historical Society485 Congress Street, Portland, ME 04101
(207) 774-1822 x230
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