A Brief History of the Conn Company (1874-present)*
by Margaret Downie Banks, Ph.D.
Curator of Musical Instruments
National Music Museum
Vermillion, South Dakota
© Copyright 1997 by The National Music Museum.
All Rights Reserved.
No portion of this site, including this page and any of the separate
pages, may be copied, retransmitted, reposted, duplicated or otherwise
used without the express written permission of The National Music Museum.
*Excerpted and updated from Elkhart's Brass Roots: An Exhibition
to
Commemorate the 150th Anniversary of C. G. Conn's Birth and the 120th
Anniversary of the Conn Company by Margaret Downie Banks (Vermillion,
South Dakota: The Shrine to Music Museum, 1994).
Pressed into service by the government during World War II, the band
instrument factory completely retooled in order to manufacture compasses,
altimeters, gyro-horizon indicators, and other related items for the war
effort. No musical instruments were produced for civilian use after August
1942, although the company did fulfill orders for the military bands,
"practically by hand," according to Carl Greenleaf's recollections. While
Conn was for all practical purposes out of the instrument business from the
fall of 1942 to 1946, many of its dealers turned to smaller instrument
companies, which were allowed to continue producing instruments on a limited
basis, to fulfill their orders. This, coupled with a 110-day strike by the
factory's U.A.W.-C.I.O Union, October 1946-February 1947, which delayed the
reconversion of the Conn factory to peace time production, hurt the
company's business. As a result, C. G. Conn Ltd. never totally regained its
pre-war status as the world's leading band instrument manufacturer.
The Conn factory was surrounded by a chain-link fence when the plant ceased
manufacturing musical instruments in 1942 and was
retooled for the production of
products for use by the military
during
World War II. From the Postcard
Collection of Margaret Downie
Banks.
© Copyright 1997 by Margaret Downie Banks.
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Dr. Margaret Downie Banks, Curator of Musical Instruments
National Music Museum
The University of South Dakota
414 East Clark Street
Vermillion, SD 57069-2390
E-mail: mbanks@usd.edu
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