The “Epworth” brand name was built by The Williams & Sons Piano & Organ Company of Chicago. Williams & Son was established in 1855 by J. W. Williams as the “J. W. Williams Company”, and in 1884 the name was changed to “J. W. Williams & Sons”. The firm incorporated as the “Williams & Sons Piano & Organ Company” in 1889. They built a large, state-of-the-art factory at Fullerton Avenue in Chicago where both their pianos and reed organs were built.

Williams enjoyed a very good reputation for building higher quality, durable instruments. They built pianos and organs under the brand names of Williams & Sons, Epworth, and Pennington. The firm was out of business before the Great Depression.