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.
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*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).
Daniel Henkin (b. 1930) left his position as advertising manager with
Conn in 1970 to purchase the K. G. Gemeinhardt Co. Inc. (flutes) of
Elkhart. He sold that company to CBS in 1977, just three years prior to
his historic purchase of C. G. Conn Ltd. and all its subsidiaries from
MacMillan (1980). According to the November 1985 issue of The Music
Trades, the multi-million-dollar deal represented the largest single
sale of musical instrument manufacturing facilities to one individual.
Companies included in the deal were C. G. Conn Ltd. (Lombard, Illinois),
Conn Brasswind Co. (Abilene, Texas), Slingerland Drum Co. (Niles, Illinois),
Scherl & Roth (Cleveland), Artley, Inc. (Nogales, Arizona), Continental
Music Distributors (Atlanta), The Productos Musicales, S.A. (Sonora, Mexico),
Camex, S.A. (Sonora), Goshen Case Co. (Goshen, Indiana), and Coin Art
Manufacturing (Nogales).
With every intention of resurrecting and reestablishing the Conn
company in Elkhart, Henkin hosted an extravagant "Welcome Home Conn Week" in
Elkhart in May of 1981. He eventually brought the corporate offices back to
Elkhart, appointed popular "Tonight Show" band leader Doc Severinsen as Vice
President of Product Development, introduced the Severinsen trumpet and Henkin
student clarinet, and attempted to strengthen Conn's holdings with the
acquisition of both the W. T. Armstrong Company (1981) and King Musical
Instruments (1985). However, citing medical reasons as well as his decision
"to become a free man," Elkhart's self-proclaimed "Music Man" sold his
extensive holdings in October 1985 to the Swedish conglomerate, Skäne
Gripen (the Slingerland Drum Co. was not part of this transaction).
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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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