Frank Holton Company
1920 Holton logo
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| Industry | Musical instruments |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1898 |
| Founder | Frank E. Holton |
| Headquarters | Elkhart, Indiana, USA |
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Number of locations
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1 |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
| Products |
Trumpets, Cornets, French horns, Trombones |
| Owner | Conn-Selmer |
| Parent | Steinway Musical Instruments |
| Website | www |
Holton is a brand owned by Steinway Musical Instruments' Conn-Selmer division. Founded by Frank Holton, a trombone player in 1898 in Chicago, Illinois, the firm built brass instruments in Elkhorn, Wisconsin from 1918 until 2008 before moving all current production to Elkhart, Indiana and Eastlake, Ohio.
Frank E. Holton was born March 10, 1858 in Allegan, Michigan to farmers Otis (b. 1827) and Hanna A. (b. 1829) Holton. He grew up with three sisters: Emma E. Holton, Alice Holton and Leona Holton. By the time he was 34, Frank Holton was an accomplished trombone player and principal trombone of the Sousa Band, a role that would later be filled by Arthur Pryor. In 1885 he had partnered with James Warren York in York & Holton, York's successor to the instrument maker Smith & York which became J.W. York and Sons before Holton established his own company in 1898.
Frank Holton's wife Florence was a music teacher. They had no children. Frank Holton, though not an instrument maker himself, expanded his company to manufacture instruments which was his occupation until retiring at age 80. Frank Holton died after a protracted illness on April 16, 1942 at the age of 84.
Frank Holton's first business venture on his own was a small rented shop with a desk, two counters and two chairs that he had to paint himself at Clark and Madison streets in Chicago, in 1898, where he sold used instruments and his own formula slide oil for trombone. Unable to make the rent at times, Holton was known to pawn instruments at a shop on Clark Street between 1898 and 1900.
By 1907, a skilled horn maker had been hired, and the production of Holton instruments required the construction of a factory on the West Side of Chicago. It would be home to Frank Holton & Company for only a decade.
In April 1918, Holton opened a factory in Elkhorn, Wisconsin moving over 200 employees and 85 carloads of machinery from Chicago. The city had lured Holton to Elkhorn through the efforts of a group of local businessmen, who, acting under city mandate, built the new factory which was turned over to Holton and Co. upon their arrival. That building remained as the core of the Holton factory until the decision in 2011 to merge Holton horn production with King and Conn instruments in Eastlake, Ohio.
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Wikipedia