Weber (Ontario, Canada)
The Weber Piano Company of Kingston, Ontario (not to be confused with The Weber Piano Company of New York) was originally founded by John C. Fox and George M. Weber in 1865. John C. Fox started working in the piano industry in New York in the 1850s. By 1860, Fox is listed as building pianos at 86 Walker Street, New York City. John C. Fox had a very good reputation for building high quality pianos and he was very successful.
In about 1862 John C. Fox and his brother Charles F. Fox moved the business to Kingston, Ontario, Canada. In 1865, George M. Weber joined the firm. John C. Fox died in 1869 and George M. Weber took full ownership of the firm, reorganizing the firm as “G. M. Weber & Company”.
By 1881, G. M. Weber was joined by his brother John Weber and by Mr. W. H. Stevenson. Mr. John McManus was a short-term partner in the firm in 1885. In 1887 the firm was renamed “Stevenson & Company” for a short time, but was quickly reorganized as “The Weber Piano Company”. During this time the firm was building pianos under the Weber and McMullan brand names.
In 1896, William Wormwith was admitted into partnership. In 1907, the firm was reorganized as “The Wormwith Piano Company”. The Wormwith Piano Company built a full line of upright pianos and grand pianos under both the Weber, Wormwith and Columbia brand names. In 1912 the firm began building player pianos under the Weber brand name.
William Wormwith retired in 1919 and Mr. Henry Richardson bought controlling interest in the company. Richardson reorganized the firm as “The Weber Piano Company, Kingston Limited”. The firm struggled financially to survive the Great Depression years and became insolvent by the late 1930s. In 1939, The Lesage Piano Company purchased the assets of The Weber Piano Company Kingston Ltd. The Lesage Piano Company continued to build pianos under the Weber and Wormwith names until about 1961.
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19th Century Advertisement for Weber Piano Company