Patrick Conway

Patrick "Patsy" Conway (July 4, 1865 – June 10, 1929) was a prominent American bandleader during the golden era of professional bands. He often was referred to as Pat Conway or Patsy Conway.

Conway was born in Troy, New York, but moved to Homer, New York as an infant. He learned to play cornet as a young man while working in a carriage factory, joining the popular Homer Cornet Band and eventually becoming leader of the Cortland Band.

After a successful appearance by the Cortland Band at the 1894 Central New York Volunteer Fireman’s Association convention in Ithaca, New York, Conway was recruited by the judges (including music educator Hollis Dann) to relocate to Ithaca in 1895. He served as director of the Cornell University Cadet Band (predecessor of the Cornell Big Red Marching Band) from 1895 to 1908. He also began teaching students at the new Ithaca Conservatory of Music (predecessor of Ithaca College) at a time when teaching band music and brass instruments was uncommon.

Conway formed the Ithaca Band in 1895 and brought the ensemble to national popularity and acclaim. By around 1910, the ensemble came to be known as Conway's Band or Patrick Conway and His Famous Band. In Ithaca, they had a standing contract with the trolley company to perform at Stewart Park (then Renwick Park), but extensive tours brought them around the country to the St. Louis World's Fair, Canadian National Exhibition, Cincinnati Zoo, Corn Palace, Willow Grove Park, the Pan-American Exposition, Atlantic City, Oaks Amusement Park, and the Panama-Pacific Exposition.

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