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Kelso & Company

The small but successful firm of Kelso & Company established by Mr. Sears. R. Kelso, Sr. in 1891 in New York. Records show the first factory was located at 16 Horatio Street, New York City.  By 1920, the firm had grown to occupy several blocks of West 140th Street in New York City.

Kelso & Company started by building upright pianos, but soon added player pianos and baby grand pianos to their product line. In addition to the Kelso brand name, the firm also built pianos under the “Ernest Piano Company”, “Kramer Piano Company” and “Kewpie” brand names.

Instruments by Kelso & Co. were known to be durable, well-made pianos of moderate cost. Instruments by Kelso & Co. are a bit rare today; we actually see more instruments with the Kramer brand, indicating that most of their instruments were likely built under The Kramer Piano Company label.

The firm appears to have gone out of business with the Great Depression.

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