Europe’s piano manufacturing industry began decades before it did in the United States. Established in the 1790s in Dresden, Germany, Ernest Rosenkranz built a number of elaborate, expensive and high quality square and upright pianos throughout the 19th Century. Rosenkrantz pianos are a bit rare in the United States, indicating that they were not aggressively exported. A large Philadelphia retailer, Henry Gunther, contracted Rosenkranz to build a number of pianos for his retail stores which were sold primarily in the north eastern United States. On a historical note, President Woodrow Wilson owned a Rosenkranz square grand piano which was a treasured family heirloom.