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).
With both the Elkhart and Worcester facilities
running smoothly and obviously bringing in a handsome profit, Col. Conn
enjoyed several years in pursuit of two of his other passions--journalism and
politics. He founded the Elkhart Truth (1889), purchased the troubled
Washington [D.C.] Times (1895), and served terms in both the Indiana
state legislature (1889) and the U.S. Congress (1893-95). Turning down the
opportunity to run for a second term in Congress, Col. Conn returned to
Elkhart in 1897 to resume a more active role in the operation and development
of his musical instrument company.
Detail of a bust of Charles Gerard
Conn by Ulric Stonewall Jackson Dunbar (1862-1927), December 1896.
Plaster cast
made from a life mask. Gift to the National Music Museum from
Charles Gerard Conn, Sr., Louise Conn, and Charles Gerard Conn, Jr.,
1991. Photograph by Simon R. H. Spicer.
© Copyright 1997 by The National Music Museum.
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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
This page updated April 5, 2000.
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